For the first time at Sunny Hills, juniors who signed up for the Wednesday, Oct. 11, PSAT will use Chromebooks to take the College Board exam in the gym, school officials said.

The College Board announced the new requirement for schools to administer the PSAT online in January of 2022, introducing its Bluebook platform. 

“We are confident that everything will go smoothly, but we will see what issues, if any, will arise on the day of the exam,” said counselor Cindy Moreno, who is among a team of counselors in charge of administering the test that many opt to take to be eligible for a National Merit Scholarship based on how high their scores are.    

The score for the PSAT still ranges from 320-1520 with a total of two sections (Reading and Writing; Math), consistent with the print version. However, the College Board will shorten the exam to two hours and 14 minutes for all parts, approximately 30 minutes less than previous years, according to the College Board’s website.

The college testing service also instructed high schools to download the Bluebook testing software on personal or school-managed devices like Chromebooks, an application designed for students taking any College Board standardized exams online. For testing security, exam-takers will not be allowed to use hot-key buttons to take screenshots of the PSAT or to copy and paste to a Google Doc as students will not be logging into Chromebooks, school officials said.

Instead, once the device is opened, the juniors taking the PSAT will click on the Bluebook application, which then disables those types of Chromebook features.

The 105 juniors who signed up to take the PSAT were summoned to the library from Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 3-4, to complete a digital readiness test to familiarize them with the program.

There, juniors could choose to submit their phone numbers to receive a message within 2-4 weeks after the test, instructing them to download the BigFuture School app to access their score.

On the day of the test, school officials will provide Chromebooks, but students are required to bring their school ID card. School officials also informed students to bring a No. 2 pencil to use for calculations on scratch paper.

During the test, the cheer room will store prohibited student belongings, including backpacks and phones, SH site technician Anthony Jara said.          

After reporting to the gym by 7:15 a.m. on test day, students will go through a quick check-in process on the Chromebooks, with a “Help” button to troubleshoot if they run into any issues during the test.

Students who have signed up for the upcoming exam have mixed reactions about the PSAT’s new digital format.

“Even though it’s a new unfamiliar version of the test, I’m weirdly excited to take it,” junior Evan Sereg said. “I signed up for it myself, and I’m studying for it myself, so it’s a new experience for me.”

Sereg said he feels more comfortable with a digital format because he can easily navigate through the pages on one screen instead of flipping through a booklet. 

“I think I prefer a digital test because I’d finish it faster,” he said. “It would be easier to select and change answers later on in the test.”

Junior Hannah Saab said she would feel more comfortable with a physical exam but can see the advantages of taking the digital one.

“I think digital might be easier because the questions are shorter; you don’t have to read as much, but then again it would be harder to annotate,” Saab said. “Either way, I think it’s good to have that experience just for colleges and scholarships.” 

junior Anthony Mitri said he feels part of his prior knowledge and strategies about the paper test is now rendered useless.

“I feel a bit disappointed that the shift online is so spontaneous,” Mitri said. “My two older brothers have taken the PSAT on paper and have given me insight on it, so doing it on a different platform does extinguish a little bit of my excitement.”

Bluebook, which is also the platform College Board uses for some of its Advanced Placement exams, implements a variety of online testing features to help students navigate the PSAT, including an annotation tool to highlight text in the reading portion of the test, an elimination tool to cross out answer choices, an online calculator for the math portion and a marking tool to flag questions to come back to them later, according to a Tuesday, April 25, College Board YouTube video.  

“I took this when I was really young, and I didn’t know anything about it, so from your guys’ standpoint, this is amazing,” Jara said. “Bluebook lets you practice outside of school any time you want, and that’s a game-changer.”

By the end of the test, the app will automatically submit the exam online and block students from reopening the exam and changing their answers, according to the College Board’s website.

The PSAT, which costs $20 for students to take, has lost its value since California public universities have changed their stance toward standardized testing post-COVID-19, Moreno said. 

“I think students aren’t really thinking about whether they should take this exam or not because of the new [digital] format, but because our two public university systems in California are no longer requiring the SAT for admissions,” she said.