Offsite Testing and Technical Readiness
Whether you’re testing offsite because of insufficient bandwidth or for other logistical reasons, you and your school or district technology staff should choose a facility carefully, work with their network administrator before test day, and check network readiness on test day.
Getting Help
We recommend partnering with technology staff at your school or district to make sure the site meets requirements. Ask them to talk to the facility’s network administrator for you.
Choosing a Site
You’ll need a facility that has the right technology and support:
Technical support. Ask who will configure the facility’s network before test day and provide support on test day if necessary.
Facility bandwidth. Make sure the network can support enough simultaneous test takers. To learn more, go to Measure Network Speed in Your Building.
Room Wi-Fi. Choose rooms with reliable and fast Wi-Fi. Ask for the device capacity of wireless access points (WAPs) within range of each room. To learn more, go to Check Testing Room Capacity.
Power. Make sure rooms have enough electrical service and outlets in case batteries run low.
Offsite Testing Checklist
Share Bluebook configuration and bandwidth requirements with the facility’s network administrator.
Ask for the Wi-Fi name and password and for complete connection instructions.
If your students test on Chromebooks, ask your technology staff to check the auto-connect setting, which can prevent students from using Bluebook outside your school.
Share the Wi-Fi instructions with proctors so they can post them in the testing rooms.
Check network readiness the day before your administration.
FAQ
How can school and district technology staff help me?
You’ll need help choosing testing rooms with good Wi-Fi, configuring the network to meet Bluebook requirements, and preparing devices (if your students are testing on school-managed devices).
Reach out to technology staff who have the expertise and permissions to configure the network and install Bluebook on managed devices. To learn more, go to the Technical Readiness Checklist.
How do I check network readiness for Bluebook test administration?
Shortly before test day, connect to the internet in every testing room:
Connect the same ways your students will, including guest Wi-Fi and the main network.
Use the same device options your students will, including one of your school’s shared testing devices and a device that’s not managed by your school. If you have backup devices set aside for test day, check those as well.
Go to collegeboard.org to make sure the network is configured to allow the necessary traffic.
Get the complete Technical Readiness Checklist.
What happens if students lose their internet connection?
An internet connection is required at the start and end of Bluebook testing, but students can keep testing if their connection drops momentarily. If students can’t get started or can’t submit their answers because they don’t have a connection, proctors and technology monitors should follow instructions in the Technical Troubleshooting Guide.
Learn more about network readiness for Bluebook test administrations.
I’m not confident about our internet—what can I do to avoid test day issues?
If you’re concerned about internet reliability and speed on test day, there’s a lot you can do to avoid test day issues.
First, make sure you understand Bluebook network requirements:
Bluebook is designed to minimize bandwidth needs.
Students can keep testing if their connection drops momentarily.
Demands on the network are greatest at the beginning and end of testing.
Because each student starts their test when they enter a code, their start and stop times are never perfectly simultaneous, even if they hear the start code at the same time.
Next, ask school or district technology staff for help as soon as possible:
Work with them to run speed tests.
Ask for their advice when selecting testing rooms.
Make sure they understand the configuration requirements.
Let them know if students need to connect to school Wi-Fi on personal devices. Important: This is required for SAT Weekend test centers.
Show them the complete Network Readiness Checklist.
How do I get the most accurate speed test results?
For the most accurate results, run a speed test:
- When competing network activity approximates test day
- In the same rooms used on test day
- On the same network test takers will use
To account for normal fluctuation, run the test several times in each room. For complete instructions, go to Measure Network Speed in Your Building.
Example: SAT School Day, PSAT-related assessments, and AP Exams
A school will administer an exam to 200 of their 500 students in the gym on a Monday at 12 noon. Their results could vary depending on when and where they run the test.
Most accurate: When the speed test is run in the gym on a typical Monday at 12 noon, the results show that 275 students can test in the building simultaneously.
Overestimate: When the speed test is run in the library (which has better Wi-Fi) over the weekend, the results show that 350 students can test in the building simultaneously.
Underestimate: When the speed test is run in the annex on the same Monday at 12 noon, the results show that only 100 students can test in the building simultaneously.
Example: SAT Weekend
Staff at a test center with the physical space to test 500 students want to check their network bandwidth. Their results could vary depending on when and where they run the test.
Most accurate: When the speed test is run in a classroom on a typical Saturday at 8 a.m., the results show that 600 students can test in the building simultaneously.
Overestimate: When the speed test is run in the library (which has better Wi-Fi) on a Saturday during summer vacation, the results show that 800 students can test in the building simultaneously.
Underestimate: If the speed test is run in the annex on a typical fall Monday at 1 p.m., the results might suggest that only 400 students can test in the building simultaneously.
How can I use one room to administer an AP Exam to students who attend different schools?
Test day is simpler if all students in a room attend the same school. If that’s not possible, use these best practices to administer AP Exams to students who attend different schools:
Each school’s AP coordinator needs to use Test Day Toolkit to add the room and assign a proctor before test day.
We recommend staffing the room with one proctor per school, each with their own device. That’s because each school’s students are listed on a different Test Day Toolkit roster, and only one can be viewed at a time.
One proctor can read the script, but each proctor needs Test Day Toolkit so they can provide their own students with their room and start codes, take attendance, and monitor their students’ progress.