How to Prepare Your Network

You can prevent many testing delays if you measure your network speed before test day and make a few adjustments:

• Start by checking the network speed in your building to establish the total number of students who can test at the same time.
• Next, look at the device maximums of wireless access points (WAPs) within range of each testing room to establish the number of students who can test in each room.
• Then, if necessary, work with the test coordinator to adjust room assignments or testing schedules.

Part 1: Network Requirements

Make sure testing devices can connect to the internet using a network with enough bandwidth to support all simultaneous test takers. Internet access and bandwidth requirements vary by test.

Internet Access Requirements

• SAT Weekend test centers: Some students and staff will use personal devices and be unaffiliated with your institution.
• In-school testing: Depending on school or district policy, you may need to provide internet access to students and staff who are unaffiliated with your school or using personal devices.

Bandwidth Requirements

Part 2: Network Speed in Your Building

The Bluebook™ network speed test estimates the number of students who can take a test in your building at the same time.

Before You Run the Bluebook Speed Test

Make sure you understand what the speed test measures—and what it doesn’t. The speed test estimates how many students can take the exam at the same time in your building—not in the room where you run it. 

The estimate is based on your entire building’s unused bandwidth, as measured from your location at the moment you run it. In other words, estimates will vary depending on when and where you run it.

How to Run the Bluebook Speed Test

For the most accurate results, run the speed test:

• When competing network activity approximates test day
• In the same rooms used on test day
• On networks test takers will use

We also recommend running the tests several times in 10 minutes in each room to account for normal bandwidth fluctuation.

Run the speed test at speedtest.collegeboard.org.

Insufficient Bandwidth

If your speed test results show you don’t have enough unused bandwidth to support all simultaneous test takers, there are a few things you can do.

Minimize competing activity: On test day, reduce the risk of delays by throttling or delaying scheduled backups.

Use different rooms: If a room has unusually low bandwidth, run the speed test again in case your original result was an anomaly. If you need to, look for rooms with better wireless coverage.

Adjust testing plans: 

• For SAT School Day and PSAT-related assessments, advise the test coordinator to test different groups at different times or on different days.
• If an SAT Weekend test center network can’t support the capacity entered in their renewal form, the test center coordinator should call ETS® as soon as possible so College Board can limit registrations appropriately.

Part 3: Room Capacity and Wireless Access Points

Assigning too many students to a single WAP can delay testing and prevent answer submission. That’s why it’s critical to check the coordinator’s choice of testing rooms.

A WAP is network hardware that makes wireless connections possible.

Best Practices

• Choose rooms where digital tests were successfully administered in the past.
• Give the coordinator a list of recommended testing rooms with the device capacity of each.
• Recommend backup rooms that use a different WAP.
• Avoid rooms with inconsistent Wi-Fi coverage.

How to Determine Room Capacity

For each testing room, compare the expected number of test takers to the device capacity of the WAPs within range.

1. Identify the brand and model of each WAP within range.
2. Refer to the manufacturer’s best practices and device maximums for that model.
3. Make sure the number of students assigned to the room is lower than the combined maximums of all WAPs within range.
4. Assign even fewer students if environmental factors at your school could lower the room’s true capacity.

Part 4: Network Information for Test Day

Provide the coordinator with the network passwords they’ll need. Also, list backup testing rooms, if possible, and provide the phone number of a network manager who can help on test day.

Part 5: Network Configuration

1. Ensure that all necessary content filters, firewalls, and proxy servers are open.

2. Allow traffic to and from College Board on test day so student responses can be submitted. Use a wildcard at the root level: *.collegeboard.org
3. To enable Bluebook updates on Macs and iPads, allow traffic to and from the Apple and Mac app stores.