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The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

Claire Paul '23 smiles with a cupcake as she celebrates getting accepted into the school before seventh grade.

Highway to Harvard-Westlake

Administration, staff and students discuss the impact of developments in the school’s admissions process in recent years.
Ella Yadegar and Davis Marks
February 9, 2023

Sixty anxious sixth-graders sat in a crowded boardroom facing a PowerPoint presentation at the Center for Early Education (CEE) in the fall of 2022. Greg Gonzalez, Interim Head of Admission and Enrollment...

Photo from Getty Images

Standardized Dissatisfaction

James Hess, Assistant Opinion Editor
February 19, 2022

In the course of its nearly century-long history as the foremost standardized test for American high schoolers, the SAT has undergone major changes: in 1936, administrators split the exam into two...

With the College Board's recent announcement regarding the SAT, students reflect on how these changes may affect them on the road to college.

College Board announces SAT changes

Lily Lee
February 1, 2022

The College Board’s SAT will be digitized and shortened to two hours starting in the Spring of 2024. In addition to the two main format changes, reading passages will be shorter and also reflect a wider...

College Board to no longer administrate SAT Subject Tests, will phase out the SAT Essay

Fallon Dern and Konnie Duan
February 17, 2021

The College Board announced the discontinuation of the SAT Subject Tests and optional SAT essay Jan. 19. Although the SAT Subject Tests were canceled immediately in the U.S., the optional essay will...

PSAT cancelled following updated COVID-19 guidelines

Will Sheehy
February 1, 2021

The school cancelled the administration of the Jan. 26 PSAT on Jan. 8 following a series of COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which required schools to...

Illustration by Alexa Druyanoff

Upper school deans release updated standardized testing plans

Tessa Augsberger
October 17, 2020

In accordance with new guidelines released by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, the Upper School Deans Office released updated information regarding the school’s standardized testing plans...

Illustration by Alexa Druyanoff

Going The Extra Mile

Tanisha Gunby
August 27, 2020

When John Szijjarto '21 opened an email from College Board on Aug. 29, he was disappointed to find out that his SAT exam had been canceled for the fifth time. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, test centers...

Fear of uncertainty

Ella Moriarty
June 3, 2020

I was in history class March 11, and I had everything planned out: I would get my homework done at school so that I would have time to put the finishing touches on months of preparation for the SAT. I...

Upper school deans announce that AP exams are optional

Hannah Han
March 26, 2020

The upper school deans announced in a campus-wide email March 25 that the school will no longer require students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses to take AP exams at the end of the year due to the...

Photo Illustration by Haley Levin '20

Unfair Advantage: The SAT’s New Adversity Score

Casey Kim
May 30, 2019

Tutoring and prep books combined, Sandra’s* parents spent $2,000 on their child to score a 1570 on the March SAT. Without their support, Sandra said she would not have been able to reach her score....

Start putting extra time to the test

Start putting extra time to the test

Jessa Glassman
February 2, 2019

As many students struggle to bubble in all of their answers while taking the infamously time-crunched ACT, some are given between 50 and 100 percent more time to complete the exam. These students are...

Photo Illustration by Alena Rubin.

Bonus Points: Are Expensive Tutors Worth It?

Alena Rubin
October 6, 2016

Blake Wong ’17 sat across from his tutor, reciting his answers to the latest ACT practice test. The room, he said, felt like home, flooded with natural light and complete with warm wooden cabinets. "Yup,"...

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