An 'Easy' SAT and Terrible Scores

@Acadecathlete55 If unscorable questions were due to a CollegeBoard issue (contact them/continue following this thread), you can always ask for another fee waiver test, they might say no, but it’s worth a try. But, your current scores are very good.

Understand the curve process very well as it normalizes distribution but for someone to do very well on test (meaning many more correct answers) and receive lower score is not acceptable. This means that curve process is not working as intended. The fact that CB had to take 4 questions off table (unscorable in reading and writing) means that this test was poorly planned and made curve even more unfavorable to all test takers who did not get every single question right. Even single wrong answer is punished more harshly due to poorly planned curve. Someone has created petetition that you should look at:

https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/644/057/879/june-22018-sat-curve/?

It does not speak well to the work product of the College Board, as if we needed more examples of the drop in quality since College Board stopped subcontracting the test writing to ETS. Really glad my kid did not take the June test.

If you get more questions right on one test but get a lower score than on another test, then the test is not designed well. How are colleges supposed to make a fair and accurate judgement about a student’s ability if it’s more helpful to know the date of the test taken rather than the score itself?

I called the CB to ask if they planned on addressing the disparity in scaled scores. I was told that they were aware there was an issue and planned to address it (although there was no time frame given, I was told that they usually email students). I got the impression that the customer service person I spoke with didn’t really know what she was talking about. I specifically asked how a student could have seven more correct answers in a section and get the exact same score than she did on a test taken a few months ago. I did not get an answer that made any sense. The SAT costs too much and too much preparation goes into getting ready for the test to have scores all over the place.

I really hope they address the issue as soon as possible! I am so worried about my score right now! I only improved by 10 points total!

I am extremely perturbed by this year’s June SAT. As a rising senior, I thought that this was going to be my last time taking the SAT (3rd time now), as I need more time to prepare for college essays and the application process. However, after seeing that my score dropped 70 points by getting 1 more question right on math, I thought that this was getting ridiculous. I looked on college confidential and I was right: I was not the only one facing this problem. Here is my issue: on the August 2017 SAT with essay, I received a score of 1520, with 730 on EBRW and 790 on math. On this test, I missed 2 on math that got me a score of 790. Fast forward to March 2018. I took it again because I thought I could do better and get at least above a 1540. However, I did not do better, getting a 1480, with 700 on EBRW and 780 on math. On this test, I missed 4 on math. 4!!! This still gave me a score of 790. Alas, I took it once more in June, getting a composite score of 1400, which is a joke and I believe is not an accurate representation of my score. I got 720 on the math section, but I had only missed 3 questions. These 3 scores have convinced me that collegeboard has been going down financially as an organization, which is why I believe that they have purposely curved/changed the score distribution for everyone that took the exam so that individual would take it again. I hope that something happens to this test, as I am extremely distraught about my score.

Yes, this curve was ridiculous. I am a student who took both the March and the June SAT. I received a score of a 670 on both English and Math in March, and a score of 700 on English and 650 on Math in June. However, I got 13 questions wrong on the March Sat and got a 670, and in June I only got 8 wrong and recieved a 650. I also had 4 unscorable English questions and I feel robbed of points. I called the Collegeboard 3 times to no avail. They can’t help, they only want me to have my test hand scored for a 50 dollar fee. The sad part is I don’t even think this test was much easier than it’s predecessors, I just think the college board wants us to retake the SAT so they can make more money. I feel robbed of a good grade and on any other curve I would’ve recieved a score ranging from 1410-1450, but I got a 1350. This is ridiculous!

I was surprised at the scores as well. My son missed 2 (of 58) on the math section. Looking at the past curves on College Panda this should have yielded anywhere from a 770 to an 800, not the 750 he ended up with. Not pleased about that at all!

Someone earlier mentioned calling the College Board up about this - what is the number for that? I’m more than happy to join in on calling them on this. When they play this type of game they are no longer providing value to the test takers or to the colleges who use these scores - this does smell like them wanting people to just take this over again to generate more revenue.

Future test takers: Take the ACT and stop funding the College Board.

@Photonmaker Here’s the phone number: 1 (866) 630-9305
Please do call! The more people who complain, the amount of consideration put into this issue would be addressed more quickly!

What is the likelihood that they restore the test?

*rescore

The scale was ridiculous!! I missed almost 2x as many on the reading and writing section in march, yet it yielded a score of 20 points higher. I missed 3x as many on the math section in march yet only improved on the june test by 20 points.

The number to speak specifically about the SAT is (866)-756-7346

Went on google and found this: https://blog.prepscholar.com/sat-curve

Thanks for the number. This is also being discussed on Reddit as well - lots of numbers being posted if you want to compare.

My DS has 2 math omissions. Both are in the same self response section ( 2 consecutive questions) as yours. He is also pretty sure that he didn’t leave anything blank as the test was easy and he had lots of time to check again. It is possible that he only fill in the answer but forgot to bubble. Since this scoring process took so long he can’t remember any more. It is said that the rescore will not change anything if you didn’t bubble.

“The SAT costs too much and too much preparation goes into getting ready for the test to have scores all over the place.”

The old test also had scores all over the place as well. That’s how superscoring got started. Looks like the new test might not be any different.

Note to future testers: prep, take twice. Not three times. If the experiences on this thread don’t convince you of that, then nothing will, sadly.

Note to those waiting for their scores to be “revised”: If there was a systemic problem then CB might, indeed, do this. But don’t hold your breath because that would be one rare occurence. Sounds like this was a very easy test with a harsh curve. Same thing happened in fall 2016. It might be best to move on to other parts of your application at this point.

There’s a Princeton Review blog article out about the June score situation and I’m amazed that I agree with all of it.