By Jude Unrein ’23

THE ROUNDUP

Brophy staff members are making changes to the way the ACT and SAT  will be taken in order to keep testing as safe and available as possible.

Some of these changes include increasing the number of testing rooms to decrease the number of students in one room, having desks spread at a distance of at least 6 feet and spraying down desks after every use.

This summer, juniors and seniors across the country faced unique challenges. Due to COVID-19 safety concerns, many ACT and SAT testing sites were shut down.

 This made college applications a lot more stressful on students as  many students were forced to travel in order to take their tests.

However,  most colleges are now test optional , which means that these standardized tests are not required to apply to that school. 

Noah Wickey ’21 took his ACT and SAT in March at Brophy. However, every school he applied to was test optional. 

Wickey decided to take the tests because at the time the schools had not stated if they were test optional or not and he wanted to make sure that he had the tests if needed.

Wickey said he felt no extra stress put onto him during the college application process this year due to there being no testing requirements. 

Brophy took many precautions last spring while hosting standardized tests, “When we walked in, all the desks were socially distanced for us already,” Wickey said. However,  the College Counseling department at Brophy is making even more of an effort to carry these tests out  more safely for the 2020-2021 school year.

 As for the changes themselves, Ms. Megan Erdely said “We’ve reduced our numbers, we’ve added more classrooms so there’s not as many students in there.” These changes are also being paired with Brophy’s AMDG protocols to maintain the highest level of safety. 

Ms. Erdely also recognized the difficulty and uncertainty of this time. “It’s really a difficult time for people who are, especially for the seniors, trying to get tests.” Ms. Erdely said. 

Due to the protocols that started early in March as well as testing center closures, most students were only able to take each test once.

“Being able to retest is important, but many students haven’t had that opportunity.” Ms. Erdely said. 

According to Ms. Erdely, the entire College Counseling department at Brophy is working hard to help students get access to testing by creating a safe, stable test environment at Brophy.