Adrienne Green: What inspired you to become an SAT proctor?

Robert Rorison: I was an American-history teacher at Abington Senior High School, and the principal of the school approached a lot of the new members of the faculty and said that they needed help administering the SAT. My wife and I had just had our second child and we thought a few extra bucks would be helpful. [The salary] was much smaller [than my teaching salary], just enough to take your wife out to dinner. I enjoyed it, and they kept asking me to do it, so I did for 53 years.

Green: What was the average procedure for administering the SAT?

Rorison: In the last couple of years, we generally had about 300 kids per exam, and we did it seven times a year. The kids waited in the lobby of the school, and they were put in the auditorium until 8 a.m. We had quite a few kids and not all of them were Abington students; they were from surrounding school districts as well. Then, they were sent to the various classrooms and you checked their ID as they came in, and then you would proceed to go over the instructions for the test. The test changed over the years, particularly the addition of the essay portion. The students came in very apprehensive and nervous. The first break, you could tell they were uptight—a lot of trips to the boy’s and girl’s room. This was a very important thing for them and they were as tightly wound as could be, and I would try to get them to relax a little bit by offering a couple of kind words.

Green: How did the addition of the essay portion change the student’s reaction to the test?

Rorison: The first time they took the essay portion there were looks of shock. As the years moved on, they seemed to get used to it. Most kids take the SAT twice: once in the later part of their junior year, and again in the beginning of their senior year. You can almost always see the difference between the two; they're a little more relaxed. They know what's coming kind of approach the second time they take it.

Green: Certain colleges and universities no longer require SAT scores for admission. How do you feel about that, and have you seen that relieve some anxiety from students?

Rorison: I saw no difference in their approach. They wanted to do well. My job was to give an honest administration of the exam, and I observed them all during the test.

Green: Being a proctor requires a level of discipline. Would you say that your personal ethics are what led you to enjoy this job?

Rorison: Yes. I feel very keenly on that. I feel if you're taking an exam to enter a particular college, for you and for the college, they want an honest opinion of you. If you want to honestly demonstrate your skills, your abilities, that's fine. I'll go along with the honest way of doing it. There will be no cheating. No looking at somebody else's anything. This is the way I feel. I felt that way as a teacher when giving ordinary classroom tests.