By Julia Glum (Newsweek).
If you’re older than 17, then scrolling through Twitter this week is like reading a different language. There are jokes about toothbrushed tomatoes and about bits and bobs. There are GIFs galore featuring seagrass and pingpong balls. And, for some reason, everyone keeps insulting shrimp ex-husbands.
PSAT memes are back.
Students across the country on Wednesday took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, an annual standardized exam administered by the College Board and known more simply as the PSAT. It’s a serious test—students’ results can determine their eligibility for major scholarships and give them an idea of their college readiness—but the aftermath is chaos. On Wednesday, teenagers put down their pencils and picked up their phones to share memes about the test questions, simultaneously creating a nationwide inside joke and a colossal problem for the College Board.
The PSAT memes phenomenon started in 2014, when a user on the subreddit /r/teenagers made a thread saying, “hey guys let’s illegally discuss the PSAT,” according to Know Your Meme. The user was referring to students signing an agreement not to discuss the test content in social media posts, emails or text messages. Read the article
