Students and staff have expressed concern over the accuracy and availability of the rapid tests that have been rolled out in UK universities ahead of the Christmas holidays and will be deployed again in January at the start of the new year, after experts warned that they were not fit for use in the scheme. Dozens of students who wrote into the Guardian in response to a callout expressed concerns about the lateral flow tests, which were initially piloted in Liverpool. Some said they were alarmed that the tests were not more accurate, and feared inadvertently bringing home the virus to their families, and one said she had only been able to get one test due to capacity, rather than the recommended two. Isabella Grönevik, a 23-year-old media and communications student at the University of the Arts London, got two rapid tests, three days apart, on 2 and 5 December. The first came back negative, but the second was positive. “I was sure I was negative. I haven’t left my house and had no symptoms or anything. I really only did the test to make sure,” she said. “When I got my results, I was so confused. It took me by surprise and sent me into a panic.” Grövenik booked a standard NHS test, known as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test, immediately and was swabbed a couple of hours later. Her result came back the next day as negative. “I am very concerned about the accuracy of these results,” she said. “Students thinking they are negative when they are in fact positive and vice versa is scary to think about, considering they are getting tested so they can go home to see their families. I don’t think rapid testing is accurate enough yet to be able to be used in these scenarios.” Echoing Grövenik’s concerns, Sophie Ciurlik Rittenbaum, a 19-year-old student at the University of East Anglia, said that while her experience getting a test was “easy”, it was their reliability that was a problem. “I’m frustrated with the rapid testing scheme because it seems to be less accurate compared to PCR testing,” she said. Unlike Grövenik, when asked if she was planning to get another test, she said no, even though she “would have preferred to have been offered PCR tests”. Others got in touch to tell the Guardian of the pressures they were facing with the testing process in general. Joe, a PhD student and teaching assistant at a Scottish university, said she was concerned that the window to get the tests and travel home was too short. Some students who contacted the Guardian said their exams finished after the testing window, meaning they would have to sit assessments at home, where quiet study spaces and fast internet connection can’t be guaranteed. “At home, my students might not have a desk or a quiet space for studying,” Joe said. “They also won’t have access to physical books that are in the university library.” She also said the short window meant the testing scheme wasn’t always helpful for many postgraduate or mature students. “I booked my tests as late as I could, and I’ve been told I should leave as quickly as possible once I test negative. However, my partner, who lives with me and isn’t a student nor eligible for asymptomatic testing, might not be able to travel with me or bubble up with another household until 23 December,” she said. “Between now and then we could easily get infected, so probably won’t be able to travel or see anyone indoors at Christmas. “It’s great that there’s an option to get a test, but I think universities and the government have forgotten about postgraduate and mature students,” she added. “It would’ve been great if they offered a later date.” Emily, a 21-year-old sociology student from Durham, said the testing process was easy to administer and that her college had provided each student with two tests, which would allow them to travel home safely. But as young people faced the brunt of the blame for spikes on university campuses, some students felt they had been put under “unfair” pressure by the testing process. “Students haven’t been perfect, but I think they are seen as a cause of some of the spikes in cases,” Emily said. “We’re not independent actors – we do what the university and the government tells us is the best thing to do. “The travel window meant most people left university before the end of term or when they didn’t want to, and it’s already been a really hard time for students. There’s just a lot going on.”