As the Class of 2028 prepared to sit down for the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test 10 (PSAT 10) on Thursday, Oct. 23, a districtwide internet failure disrupted all but three of the testing classrooms. Sophomores able to begin the test were interrupted by the internet disruption, terminating their testing session. For two hours, testers sat confused and anxious while administrators entered and exited rooms with ever-changing information.
“My class started pretty early around 9:15 a.m., and everything was going good until we saw people in our grade leaving, and then we learned we were one of three classes that took the PSAT,” Youjia Yu ‘28 said. “Our APs [Assistant Principals] kept coming in, and it was kind of all over the place. This one kid started late when the Wi-Fi came back on and was escorted by the APs while the timer was running.”
The PSAT 10 marks the first College Board standardized test administered by the school that sophomores sit for. The sophomore year PSAT familiarizes sophomores with the format of the standardized testing and offers vital insight into areas of improvement. The test is meant to prepare sophomores for the junior year PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). For students vying for semifinalist status next year, the stress associated with the PSAT was exacerbated by the internet outage.
“My PSAT experience was okay because I was with a nice teacher, but it was annoying and disappointing because [the PSAT] was on schedule,” Ayushi Thakur ‘28 said. “I was also frustrated that it wasn’t managed very well because, being that it ended earlier than anticipated, they told us [to] just go to lunch. People were confused, and it was just a mess. People were prepared to take it.”
The sophomore PSAT was rescheduled to 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29. For some students and staff, the rescheduled date proved inconvenient as it meant losing yet another day of classes. Attempting to beat the disruption in advance, administrators initially instructed teachers to resume testing if connection was restored before 11 a.m. Though the internet came back on before 11 a.m., the reasoning behind rescheduling the PSAT is still unknown. Internet connectivity varied from student to student: while some students were automatically kicked out when attempting to access the Bluebook app, other more fortunate students with stronger Wi-Fi were able to start the test and told to continue as the Bluebook testing application maintains an initial strong signal upon starting the exam.
“I understand that losing Wi-Fi was not planned, but it was frustrating to see an unorganized event,” Vandya Agarwal ‘28 said. “I don’t know [about the] other rooms, but the majority of my class got Wi-Fi back 20 minutes before [11 a.m.] and we could’ve started. I just think that losing another day is harmful to me and other students. I understand why we are [losing another day], it’s just inconvenient.”
