A fire alarm rang out at 8:30 in the morning of October 11, interrupting the PSAT, which had only started minutes before in the gym of Fossil Ridge High School. All students were quickly ushered out of the school before being allowed back in approximately 11 minutes later. The PSAT continued, with extra time provided to account for the precious minutes spent huddling on the curb before the students were allowed to continue. They recommenced and finished around 11:30 AM.

The fire drill itself was not expected by Fossil, and only unintentionally coincided with the standardized test occurring at the time. “It was a standard district and PFA drill for all schools in the district in October,” says Ryan Wulff, Dean of Students at Fossil. The drill was a surprise and was conducted by the Poudre Fire Authority. “We do a practice drill as a school and then the PFA conducts a surprise one,” explains Wulff.

To understand the ramifications of this drill and its ill timing, it’s important to first understand the significance of the PSAT.  “The PSAT is a preliminary SAT, so it’s like a pretest. All juniors take the SAT test and then the PSAT is like a practice test,” states Matt Murphy, counselor and coordinator of the PSAT at Fossil. However, this test is not singularly an exercise in preparation for others. “For 11th graders, it’s the National Merit qualifier,” provides Murphy. “Any student that scores at a really high percentile, usually the top two, maybe three, percent, can qualify as a National Merit semifinalist, and then, if they fill out an application,  they can move on to be a National Merit finalist, and then there could be a lot of scholarships from colleges, and the money and recognition that comes from that, so it’s a really important test for those really high students that could score really well,” he explains. The PSAT provides an opportunity for 11th grade students to receive recognition and award for their academic performance.

Fortunately, the test results will not be invalidated by the unforeseen drill. “Students. . . in general, felt okay. They rolled with it, and we got them back into the gym testing as soon as we could,” claims Murphy. “We did everything we were supposed to do as staff to make sure the students were safe and that the tests were secure, and since I coordinated that test, I’ve contacted College Board and filled out all the paperwork necessary to make sure everything was good to go. So I think we’re okay,” he elucidates.