Testing center lines spike to 45-minute waits in week five

Students waited up to 45 minutes to take exams at Utah State University’s Logan Academic Testing Center during the fifth week of the semester as a line stretched out the door and onto the sidewalk. 

Wait times have since returned to normal, according to Shari Peterson, the testing center manager. She said the average wait during the week-five rush was closer to 25 to 30 minutes, with 45 minutes marking the longest it got. 

Staff, including Peterson, daytime testing coordinator Alli Gilbert and evening and weekend testing coordinator Eli Weaver, said the rush was expected. In 2024, wait times reached two hours and the line extended down to the Eccles Conference Center, and staff said week five has been on their radar ever since. Peterson said wait times were much shorter this year despite similar numbers of students. 

“The lines were long, but the wait time was short,” Peterson said.  

Week five, along with finals, is among the testing center’s busiest stretches, though weeks eight and 12 also draw heavy traffic. Peterson said Wednesday through Friday are the busiest days of the week, with the highest demand between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. 

Despite the lines, the testing center never reached capacity during the rush in weeks four and five. According to Peterson, the main testing room has 193 seats, and nine more are available in a reduced-distraction room. Staff also worked with the library to create a door between the testing center and an overflow room, which allows more students to test at once. 

“We never hit capacity, so we never ran out of seats,” Peterson said.  

Peterson said the testing center typically only hits capacity during finals.  

One of the biggest changes since 2024, Peterson said, is a “line director,” who now oversees the testing center. The director shows students to open check-in stations. 

Students put phones in locked bags at the Logan Academic Testing Center on Oct. 6.

The approach “shaves off seconds, which increases to minutes,” Peterson said. 

The testing center employs three full-time staff members and 52 student workers, with 10 to 12 proctors on a typical shift. Peterson said extra shifts are offered during peak weeks. 

For students, the lines have become a familiar part of testing. Hanah Kolata, a sophomore studying veterinary science, said every exam she has taken this semester has involved a line, typically lasting 10 to 15 minutes. 

Kolata said that during her second test, she was late to class despite having an appointment because she had scheduled it close to another class and had to wait longer than expected. She said the lines were not this long last year. 

“I think right now it’s just hard because all the professors are scheduling tests at the same time,” Kolata said. 

Kolata said she expects the lines to ease as the semester goes on. 

Peterson said there are occasionally students who come in expecting to be able to skip the line because they have an appointment. However, appointment times do not guarantee a spot at the front of the line. As many as 193 appointments can be scheduled for the same time slot. 

Wait times are posted on the testing center’s website, and students who cannot afford to wait can reschedule online or by contacting the testing center, Peterson said. 

Testing center staff said they will do everything they can to reschedule test takers who are unable to make it due to wait times. 

The testing center’s new phone system, which requires students to place their phones in locked bags, has added to the checkout line, though staff said it has not significantly affected check-in.  

Peterson said the testing center’s computers, installed over the summer, still have technical issues daily. She said those problems can delay exams after students check in but do not affect the wait to enter. 

“There are no current plans to expand the testing center,” Peterson said. “We are making do with what we have.”  

Peterson said the staff’s goal is to keep wait times as short as possible. 

“Wait times, unfortunately, are inevitable, but it’s our goal to make them as short as we can,” Peterson said.