The rules of the SAT’s change every few years, sections of the test come and go, and vocabulary words are never the same. However, the pressures surrounding the dreaded SATs will always come with hilarious but cringe-worthy stories!

The Odds of Lightning takes place over one night—the night before the SATs, during a wild thunderstorm that threatens to shut down New York City. That’s when lightning strikes. Before they know what’s hit them, four teens embark on an epic all-night adventure to follow their dreams, fall in and out of love, reconcile the past, and overcome the fears that have been plaguing them since that one lost summer. By the time the sun rises, odds are that they’ll discover there’s a fine line between science and magic, and that the mysteries of love and friendship can’t be explained. Start reading an extended excerpt of The Odds of Lightning right now until August 14th!

Unfortunately, not every SAT story can involve magic, fthese Riveted horror stories will make you laugh. And no matter what happens for your SATs, it’s not the end of the world, it’s only one test (that you can even take again!).

A bunch of friends and I signed up to take the SATs at the same time and place, so we could meet up before and after for moral support.  As the start time for the test got closer, though, I couldn’t find my friends.  When I texted them asking where they were, they responded, “We’re here, where are you? You’re going to miss the exam!”  It turned out, my dad had dropped me off at Livingston High School instead of Governor Livingston High School, where I’d registered.  Miraculously, they were giving the SAT at the same time at the high school I was at, so after a kerfuffle and some hand-wringing, the proctor allowed me to take the test even though I wasn’t on her roster.  Talk about stressful!

My SAT tutor had encouraged everyone in the SAT prep class to eat “brain foods” before the test. You know, Salmon, broccoli, vegetables, etc. I was obsessed with eating these things the entire week before the exams, so I could be as prepared as possible. The most important brain food, I was told, was eggs. So I got up early the day of my SATs so that I could calmly eat eggs before making my way to the test location. My mom, being the supportive woman that she is, even offered to make them for me. Now, my mom isn’t the best cook (sorry mom), so when I started eating them and they tasted a little funny, I didn’t really think anything of it.

BIG MISTAKE.

I started feeling sick almost as soon as I got to the school. But I sat down and tried to do it anyway, determined to not let all my hard work the week before go to waste. I got through two sections of the test before the nausea became overwhelming. I raised my hand to beg to go to the bathroom, but it was too late and I wasn’t strong enough. I projectile vomited all over the poor girl in front of me, not to mention all over myself. I even got it on my test paper! The worst part was that neither of us were even allowed to leave. I had to sit behind her for another couple of hours, she had to take her test covered in vomit, and I had to try to transfer my answers from one test-sheet to another while also trying to answer the subsequent sections. And no, I didn’t get any extra time. Needless to say, it wasn’t my best score. Luckily, I took it again a couple of months later and drastically brought up my numbers.

P.S. The eggs that tasted funny? Yeah, that was because there was dish washing liquid left on the pan my mother used. So I literally ate eggs and soap for breakfast…

The school I was testing at decided to test their PA system and alarm bells during the SATs. There were thin wall partitions between testing rooms, so we could hear the announcement and bells going off on either side of us throughout the exam…not exactly ideal conditions, but definitely not as bad as being thrown up on!

During my SAT test there was a large spider running around the room! Okay, maybe it wasn’t “large” but it was a spider and I’m deathly afraid of spiders. I kept looking at the spider through out the test. It’s hard to focus on questions when you’re worried about a spider climbing up your leg! At one point the proctor yelled at me for cheating because I was looking across of the room, and I had defend myself by informing the rest of the room about the spider.