Texas Students Required To Retake SAT After Answer Sheets Fly Off UPS Truck

After videos made the rounds on social media showing SAT answer sheets blowing across Mesa Street in El Paso, the students whose tests were lost have learned their fate: they must retake the SAT.

El Paso ISD said the exams from the October 27 testing date at El Paso High School were "securely submitted to UPS," but what happened next was something of nightmares. The SATs were "lost in transit" after they flew off a UPS truck. Drivers saw the dozens and dozens of completed answer sheets on the street, filling the high schoolers with worry about taking the test again.

All but 55 of the 315 tests were recovered. Even though the majority of the tests were accounted for, they are still considered compromised and they would have to retake the test, senior Ezra Ponzio told The New York Times. "They were like, 'Hey, this is not our fault whatsoever. It’s on the UPS, but you still have to retake it.' So that was annoying," Ponzio said.

UPS issued the following statement about the incident:

We have apologized to the school and extend our apologies to the students. The driver’s actions in this case are not representative of UPS protocols and methods, and we have addressed this with him. Safely and reliably meeting our service commitments is UPS’s first priority.

The affected students were offered free waivers to take the ACT on December 10, but that doesn't help many students who were hoping to apply early to college. One of those students is Ponzio, who planned on applying for early admission to Texas A&M University. "It kind of puts a strain on things. I don’t see it affecting the whole of my senior year, but I feel like it’s just like an added stressor on the side," he said.