Despite the best efforts of Diamond Bar High School administration to hold the PSAT on campus this year, it was announced last month that the exam slated to take place in January would be cancelled. Because of this, hundreds of DBHS sophomores and juniors will not be permitted to take the PSAT, as there will be no makeup exam dates. 

The termination was announced on the DBHS website, where administration clarified that the Jan. 26 alternative PSAT testing date would be cancelled due to the coronavirus. All students who signed up were also mailed a refund check.

Juniors are expected to be the group most impacted by this, as the PSAT also functions as the National Merit Scholarship Qualification Test. As they will not be able to take the exam, they will have to make use of one of the National Merit Scholarship corporation’s alternative entry methods. Instead of submitting PSAT scores, students must submit an alternate entry form, which can be found on the National Merit website, by April 1, then take an SAT exam before June 2021. Applicants must then send their official SAT scores to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation before Oct. 15. 

The sudden adjustments made to the application process poses an obstacle to juniors looking to become National Merit Scholars.

“I was kind of disappointed since I had studied quite a bit for the PSAT already,” junior Allen Wang said via Text. “I also think that other students will be discouraged because of all the uncertainty surrounding the scholarship.” 

Other students foresaw the cancellation based on the school’s prior unpreparedness and opted not to study.

“I did not really prepare for the PSAT as I had a feeling that it would be shut down,” junior Bobby Zhu said via Text. “Instead, I prepared for other exams and did online volunteer work which is more doable in this covid situation.” 

Zhu sympathized with students as he believes many may feel intimidated by having to take the SAT rather than the PSAT, as the SAT is a more difficult exam.