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Changes for Fall 2024 SAT Weekend Testing

Based on feedback from educators and students during the spring 2024 SAT Weekend administrations, we're making some adjustments for fall. Here's what’s changing:

Student Experience

Changes to Policy

  • Clothing guidelines: Students may wear hooded shirts in the testing room, but their hoods must stay down during testing. Additionally, a student can bring a brimmed cap into the testing room, but caps must be put away, not worn, during testing.

Changes to the Bluebook™ Experience

  • Improved Mac device check in Bluebook: To avoid last-minute problems on test day, students testing on a Mac laptop or iPad will see an additional screen during exam setup to confirm that their device is ready to enter assessment mode.
  • More safeguards in Bluebook:
    • Improved error messaging: In the rare case where a student has two active tests available on their homepage (e.g., the original test date and a makeup test date) and they attempt to start the test that doesn't match the room or proctor they’re assigned, they’ll receive a more descriptive error message with instructions to start the correct test.
    • Proctor approval to reenter testing: If Bluebook crashes or a student attempts to exit Bluebook during their test, the proctor will manually approve their reentry into testing from Test Day Toolkit.
  • Highlights and Notes tool in Bluebook: Our annotation tool has a brand-new look in Bluebook. The tool now appears between the reading material and the answer choices for each question so it’s easier for students to see their highlights or notes. Students can also change the color of the highlight tool to organize their notes.

Testing Staff Experience

  • New professional account sign in experience: You'll now log in to your professional account to access Test Day Toolkit through a new system, Okta, that uses your email address as your username.
  • SMS updates: Stay informed about test day preparations through SMS messages. Subscribe here to sign up so you're alerted to the latest information about your College Board administration. You only need to sign up once to opt in across all future College Board Assessments. (Available only in the U.S.)
  • No more clock requirements: It's recommended, but not required, that testing rooms include an accurate, working clock. This change will give centers more flexibility when selecting testing rooms.
  • Proctor approval for student reentry: If Bluebook crashes or a student exits Bluebook during testing, the proctor will receive a notification in Test Day Toolkit that the student has exited, and they can manually approve the student to resume testing if applicable.
  • Printable room directory: Coordinators can access and print a room directory (with student names and room identifiers only) to post at the center to improve the flow of students entering the facility.
  • New honoraria payment vendor: Our new vendor, Raise, offers the following benefits to testing staff:
    • A user-friendly web platform allowing payment registration, real time updates to user information, and on-demand tracking of payment status.
    • Access to 24-hour customer services via phone, email, or chat.
  • New Training Status Dashboard: Coordinators can now see staff training progress in the training platform. In addition, all staff can access most resources and guides without a password.
    • Experienced staff may bypass familiar topics by completing a knowledge check. Once linked to their supported administration, we'll confirm if additional training is needed or if past training meets requirements.
  • New accommodations guides specific to the staff role: