5 minute mess up: Students impacted by SAT situation

Kiernan Furness, Reporter|September 30, 2015

On June 6, 2015, anxious students sauntered into C. Milton Wright High School, prepared to take a test that could determine their futures. So what happens when that life-altering score is invalid?

Senior Hunter Harbough, experienced this nightmare first hand. “I just heard on the news that it got misprinted,” she explained. “I wasn’t sure if I had to retake it or if they were just gonna fix the score.”

So what exactly happened? There was a misprint in the testing booklet, which gave some students extra time to complete two sections of the exam. The instruction booklet for supervisors in the exam room, however, had the correct amount of time.

As a result, different teachers handled the error in different ways;  some teachers allowed for  the 25 minutes the testing booklet listed, while others followed the proctors and cut students off at the 20 minute mark.

The difference of five minutes left students and parents frustrated and angry, and the College Board embarrassed.

Finally, after much deliberation, the College Board came to the conclusion that sections 8 and 9 of the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test, which is required to apply to most colleges) would not be scored.

Some students were relieved they didn’t have to redo the rigorous exam, while others were petrified their score would be lower than they deserved.

“There are enough other sections to provide overall valid SAT Scores for the students who took the test that day.” The College Board claimed.

Others are concerned that even if everyone who took their tests that day received fair scores after dismissing the two sections, are their scores still comparable to those who were graded based on all 10 sections?

Following the incident in question, The College Board announcement released the following statement:  “After a comprehensive review and statistical analysis, the College Board and [the Educational Testing Service] have determined that the affected sections will not be scored and we will still be able to provide reliable scores for all students who took the SAT on June 6. We expect to deliver scores within the usual time frame.”