Standardized testing season is upon us, and with that comes memes. Teens are flooding Twitter and TikTok with reactions to the PSATs this weekend, but these memes could be causing kids trouble. Recently, students who discuss standardized tests on any social media platform have started seeing their scores invalidated.
PSAT memes
It is common for students to vent on social media after stressful exams. Students post about general test anxiety, particularly funny or random exam questions, and of course about getting in trouble with the College Board after posting their memes. While some students block the College Board on social media or post on finsta accounts, others take their chances and are even bold enough to tag their memes #psat or #psatmemes.
the only reason i have will to live today is because after the test i KNOW there will be PSAT memes and i’m ready for it pic.twitter.com/AZMLWIUaAl
— sli (@soulkillia) October 16, 2019
Over the past few years, College Board has started to crack down on students discussing test material online. According to College Board’s website, “if you post to any form of social media during the exam or refer to unreleased exam content at any time after the exam, your score will be canceled, no retest will be permitted, and you may be banned from future testing.” College Board does note though that if free-response content is posted on its website, students may discuss their answers after 48 hours.
Make good choices today. 🙂 #PSAT/NMSQT pic.twitter.com/jrGIMXhynG
— College Board (@CollegeBoard) October 10, 2018
While concern over cheating via social media is valid, it is unlikely that memes posted after exams are doing any harm. College Board distributes multiple copies of tests and ensures that by the time East Coast students are finishing their exams, West Coast students have already begun and are offline.
While some people agree with College Board’s decision to invalidate scores of students who post about exams online, others feel this is too harsh a punishment, and even question why we place so much emphasis on a test that is so easily invalidated.
https://twitter.com/bakusbastard/status/1184432362639319040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1184432362639319040&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fpsat-memes-2019%2F
No matter how you feel about the College Board’s social media policy, students are unlikely to stop sharing their experiences via meme.
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