Murphy’s Law holds that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Such was true this past Saturday as students across the country ventured out of their homes in the hope of taking the ACT. Many of these students would soon learn that their ACT testing centers were closed — due, depending on their geography, to the pandemic and/or wildfires. But, hey, it’s not like these testing cancelations are all that surprising anymore. Acting surprised would be like dropping your jaw when President Trump spells a word wrong on Twitter. Hookt on Fonix worked for him!

More Than 500 ACT Test Sites Closed

In any case, as The New York Times reports in a piece on the ACT test cancelations, “More than 500 ACT testing centers across the country were closed because of the coronavirus, the wildfires on the West Coast, or both. Students hoping to take the test at one center in Reno, Nev., learned it was closed only after arriving to find a sign taped to a nearby car: ‘Canceled due to poor air quality.'” We wonder if they could have been more specific in their signage. Was the air quality bad because of the fires or in response to the latest CDC guidelines about COVID-19 that keep changing? All kidding aside, this was the first time the exam was offered since July and it didn’t exactly go seamlessly.

Cancelations May Be in Store for SAT This Coming Weekend

Will The College Board face similar difficulties as they attempt to administer the SAT this coming Saturday? Only time will tell but Ivy Coach’s famously accurate crystal ball hereby forecasts that, yes, there are going to be a whole lot of students intending to take the SAT this Saturday who can’t ultimately sit for the test. The last time the SAT was administered was back in August and about half of the 402,000 students signed up to take the test at the time encountered shuttered test centers. It wouldn’t be all too surprising if similar cancelations occurred this coming weekend. But let’s hope not. Fingers and toes crossed.