@Julie928 I’m so so sorry that you’re son is going through this. I think it would just about kill my d if I had to ask her to test again. Since your son has already accepted a place at college, would it be possible to contact the school, explain that the test has been called into question (you don’t have to say cheeting) and ask if they will simply accept his 26? If they say yes, then maybe you don’t have to do anything?
Let me see if I get this right:
Scored a C25 December 2016
Scored a C23 Winter/Spring 2017
Scored a C26 Spring 2017
Scored a C25 June 2017
Scored a C28 October 2017
And NOW, 7 months after his most recent test, they accuse his of cheating?!?!? Absurd.
Judging from his first four tests, he’s a solid C25 test taker. And he “jumps” to a C28 and that’s cause for concern???
And they wait six full months after the latest scores are released to make the accusation???
I am speechless.
I am getting ready to pay my $200 arbitration fee (insert smart comment) and submit paperwork as to why I don’t believe the appeal was fair. My main thing is where is my protection on the seating charts and assuring they are correct? I was reading through the Test Proctor responsibilities and it went into a lengthy discussion in the manual where they have the option of sitting the Examinees in alphabetical order or 1st Examinee to the left, 2nd Examinee middle and 3rd examinee to right. My daughter swears that they chose alphabetical order each time. My question is if that’s the case and that’s what I am arguing that the seating chart wasn’t correct when sent to us…why doesn’t ACT have to go back on the seating and verify that it wasn’t alpha seating and prove that to me? Second question…Isn’t it posted somewhere within the fair testing, rules, etc. that ACT has a certain timeframe to notify you regarding questionable test scores? And possibly the last question (as my head is spinning from all of this) is there anyone on this thread or anyone know of a situation where they have actually went in and dropped the test score and the college in turn notify the student? This thread has helped me so much. I’m hoping that you all can “carry me through” the arbitration. This has certainly been a horrible time in my Senior’s life.
Wow, I just finished reading this whole thread in one sitting and I am appalled at what you all are going through! There were several times I teared-up at the undue stress and anguish this situation has caused for so many students and their families. I’ve been lurking for a little while as my D just finished her freshman year in HS and I thought I better join soon to start this daunting process of the college acceptance journey. This thread prompted me to join today, especially after seeing that post by the ACT representative. Seems like this thread has struck a nerve over there, as it should! I want to voice my support for all you are doing and my appreciation at your sharing of these nightmare stories to raise awareness. We will steer clear of the ACT unless D is well-prepared and will only take once.
Update. The second response we received was not in our favor, so I contacted the University and Im happy I did.
ACT cancelling her score will NOT revoke her admission.She will be on academic probation first semester and no one will know situation except her academic advisor. Also she only has to maintain a 2.0 GPA. We have decided not to arbitrate with ACT I rather spend my money elsewhere.
@Julie928 This seems so ridiculous to me as your son’s scores are really in the same range in my opinion. What an awful thing to happen. My son has taken it one and will take it again on June 9. I’m wondering if we should ask for some sort of assurance or proof of the seating plan. I wonder if this issue is clustered at certain ACT testing centers – something that has not been discussed on this thread.
FYI ACT is on high alert after responding to this CC Thread. We are starting to “All of a sudden” hear of students either winning in arbitration or ACT clearing their scores. Funny thing is all the proof and presentations that are now winning are mirror images of those of us who have lost. This confirms their sloppy and very prejudice system. How can some win and some lose with the same/equivalent supporting documents. Sounds like discrimination of our students! Keep going ACT you are only helping us in the long term!
MAandMEmom, you mentioned in your post that you might request some sort of assurance or proof of the seating plan. Even if you have this proof, it may not make a difference in the end. The ACT will provide a seating plan and in our case it reflected the correct seat where my child was seated; however, it doesn’t seem to matter where your child is seated. I’ve read posts on this thread that the student accused of cheating was sitting directly in front of the other student, directly behind the other student, and other posts have mentioned that the student in question was not even seated immediately around the other student. The ACT will argue that the proctor can’t be expected to watch every student during the entire exam; therefore, cheating can occur even in the proctored exam setting. There are other threads like this one from years ago that didn’t have the same momentum as this one, but you can find the same type of examples. Even if the seating chart is correct, it will not matter.
Going to appeal. Going through the tedious process of gathering all of our information, letters, receipts. I threw away all of his practice tests and prep books. Will keep you all posted.
@julia928. Good luck!
The belief that one is innocent until proven guilty is clearly not how the ACT runs its organization, unfortunately.
@CALKYmom my daughter just got a letter from Rice Univerity stating that ACT had cancelled her June 2017 score of 28 and she was denied admission, AFTER SHE HAD BEEN ACCEPTED TO Rice 7 months ago!! A 300,000 dollar education gone, with a full scholarship.
Interesting after reading this that everyone’s accusations are almost the same, down to the number of inaccuracies on the test.
We just found out two days ago. I’m going to hire a attorney, which is what I should have done in the first place to stand up for my daughter. This has caused not only financial damage, but emotional damage and distress on her senior year.
I’m thankful I found this website.
@Mhunter1976 I am so sorry to hear this not only for your daughter but also your family. It is sooooo unfair what is happening. Curious to know…did you go through arbitration and everything with your case? I will say an extra prayer for you that this all works out. Is your daughter scheduled to start college this Fall?
@Mhunter1976
So sorry about your daughter. We are still going through this process and are preparing for the worst. It seems that this process is a hopeless cause. Did you lose in arbitration and are now looking for an attorney to go to court? If you have an attorney, does he/she have experience with this type of situation?
Any lawsuit PLEASE COUNT ME IN. I will support any and all. We need a class action. Everyone needs to contact their local State Attorney General. We have at least 6 states represented on this site alone. Pass the word - FB, Twitter. We need it all. Many going through this have not found this site yet. ACT - I AM NOT STOPPING!
Please excuse me if this is an ignorant question, but why are people refusing to do the retake? According to the ACT link, if a student scores within 3 points of the original score their original score is released. I understand that a kid who thought they were done might not want to spend a Saturday morning taking a test they thought they’d left behind, but with the time and expense required to fight ACT it seems a free retake would be the easiest way to go.
Because the ACT notification came so late in the process it put in jeopardy the student’s acceptances & scholarship awards. Typically the affected student has already declined other offers of admission as well.
Also, probably because the student did not cheat & the accusation is insulting.
For a student with any degree of test anxiety, he or she may not be able to replicate previous results under that kind of pressure.
@Sue22 , I get your point. I’m a test prep tutor. I have seen students not able to get he same result many times. There cn be many reasons for this. Maybe they didn’t sleep well, are anxious about something, or just found a particular test hard for whatever reason. There isn’t that much difference between a 32 and a 34, and it’s quite normal for a score to go up or down by a couple of points on a given test. But there’s a huge difference between a 30 and a 32, especially in terms of possible merit awards or scholarships. A college might well give money for 32, but not so likely for 30.
I definitely get that it’s a huge issue when the scores are invalidated at a late date, after its too late to take the test again. Does the ACT offer students preferential test registration?
@Mhunter1976’s situation seems particularly insane. There should be a statute of limitations on score invalidation. If the ACT can’t figure out that there’s an issue within a month or two it should be their problem, not the student’s. I wonder what ACT’s excuse is for cancelling a score a year after it was taken. Or did I read the post wrong and the family was notified of the cancellation earlier?
As to attaining the same score on retest, a 3 point swing seems reasonable. A student who can score a 34 on the test should be able to score a 31 on a retest. I know that sometimes students can make big gains after test prep but I haven’t heard of cases where the students score has gone down by 4 or more points on a later test.
In any case, I’m sympathetic. It must seriously suck to have to deal with this.
Sue22, This is a fair question. The biggest reason to fight this is not about the retesting. These students are being falsely accused of a hasus act. I can speak from our own experience that we chose the arbitration option for multiple reasons. 1. My daughter received her letter right on top of finals her senior year. 5 months after she took the ACT test. The ACT canceled her last 2 test scores, which where both 25’s due to these increasing from the prior 20. Reason 2. My daughter was crushed by this letter. She was an AP Honor student and was devastated to be labeled as a cheater. We stood up for what was right. It taught her not to back down to false accusations and to fight for what she stands for and believes in. 3. Due to the corruption of the ACT, we did not have the confidence that ACT would give my daughter a fair re-test. I had 2 hour+ long conversations (recorded) with the testing manager and ACT legal counsel. Both refused to discuss the fairness of the retest process or the test level they use when re-testing. I hope this makes sense.