Add college entrance exams to the long and ever lengthening list of important events disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Students pursuing a college education would normally be busy preparing to take their SAT or ACT standardized tests this summer.  Now their main concern appears to be how, or even if, they will be required take the test for the college of their choice this fall.

In a Wednesday article from the New York Times, Anemona Hartocollis and Dana Goldstein reported that the June testing date for the SAT has already been cancelled and both the ACT and SAT are developing contingency plans in case social distancing is still required after the summer.

One option reportedly being considered, is allowing students to take the tests online.  It’s not difficult to understand that this option is fraught with potential obstacles and inequities.

The article reports that experts are concerned that online testing could be a bigger disadvantage for lower income students who may lack reliable internet service, computer availability or a distraction-free environment in which to take the exam.

After last year’s scandal involving The Edge College & Career Network, a company that devised a system whereby well-to-do parents could pay for an appropriate test score for their child, the potential for cheating on the exams is also a major concern.

Jeremy Singer is the president of College Board, the nonprofit company that administers the tests.  He described a remote-proctoring plan that would lock everything on the test taker’s computer except the functions required to complete the exam.  The computer’s camera and microphone would reportedly be used to detect the presence of anyone attempting to help the student take the test.

According to the article, personal privacy is the issue at stake here.  It is assumed that some might hesitate to turn over complete control of their family’s technology to an outside agency – especially one whose agents seem to have been tampered with in the aforementioned scandal.

Another, simpler action is reportedly being taken by a growing number of colleges, including the entire University of California system, in waiving testing requirements for new students.  The softening of SAT/ACT testing requirements reportedly follows a trend by many universities who are moving away from using standardized testing as a requirement for admission.