Teens Have Made The PSATs Into A Meme

Standardized tests are not a source of great comedy fodder. But kids these days are creative, and if they have to be separated from the internet to spend a few hours filling in bubbles, they're going to get their revenge. Yesterday, high school juniors across the country sat down to take the PSATs — and today (like in years past) those wily youths have memed the experience. Along with vocab and algebra questions, yesterday's tests featured a warning — as they have every year — that students must not discuss the test. But teen rebellion runs deep. Just hours after they put their pencils down, students started joking online. This year, the prime target was a woman named "Herminia" who appeared in a reading comprehension package. According to our teenage source (who would only correspond with us via text and on a condition of anonymity), "It takes place in the Dominican Republic during the rule of a cruel dictator." She writes that Herminia, "the main character, writes poems about how the citizens are mistreated and oppressed," and then publishes them in a national newspaper. She continues against her parents' wishes, even after her father "got angry because she was putting their lives at risk." This story is not hilarious, in and of itself, our source clarifies — the test is. "The PSAT is funny because you read such a variety of stories that have nothing to do with each other, many of them about insignificant and irrelevant topics."

Students also LOL'd over a passage about Frederick Douglass. Guess you had to be there? Last year, redditor NO_USERNAMES_FREE hopped on the subreddit for teens the day after the test to start the thread "Hey guys lets illegally discuss the PSATs."

Some high schoolers are even going so far as tagging their PSAT jokes on Tumblr #PSAT fandom, putting it (sarcastically or not) in the same category as their favorite movies and TV shows. The College Board, which runs the PSATs, tweeted out an appeal yesterday after the hashtag started to trend, asking students not to share content — complete with an emoji and a photo of Anchorman's Ron Burgundy. Look how relatable you are, College Board! The ruthless youths certainly won't be mocking that move with the shade of a thousand mean girls.