Yep. My daughter missed 19 questions on the March SAT and scored a 1420. She did Khan Academy, studied hard, and took the SAT again in June – when she missed 12 questions and scored a 1380. No mild curve to correct for “minor differences in testing” can possibly explain that or the bizarre results your children are facing.
Something is very much amiss – and can and should be corrected. Unfortunately, College Board won’t fix it without national attention, individual stories, and public embarrassment.
Fortunately, I work in the national news media. So stay tuned – and pile on. Get out of your comfort zone and raise absolute hell with the school/education/college reporters in your local news media. You can do it. They are people. They will listen. Tell them your verifiable stories.
@RaleighDad - um, what about all those - and there must be a good number on this test - who scored a perfect 1600? Should they just curl up in a corner and hope their scores aren’t cancelled? >:P
@RaleighDad - you don’t know that. The ones who are complaining did worse than expected but you have no idea whether that’s a representative group of June testers.
It would be nice to mob-petition every time we didn’t do as well as expected but Life will prevent that from resulting in more than appearing like a bunch of entitled brats. I wouldn’t encourage that on my kids.
For the record, @RaleighDad, no one in our household even took the June test. Our S19 had heard anecdotally from friends that it was a very easy test compared to previous administrations and so their hopes were high this time around. He’s hoping it turned out well for them.
This can happen with a standardized test. Getting more correct doesn’t guarantee anyone a better scaled score. Had they NOT adjusted for difficulty, my S19 would have a complaint, right? He took a harder test.
I honestly do feel badly after reading all the posts here and elsewhere, but my son got a 1560. Perfect score in math. He did 130 points better this June test than his last March test.
There is a huge uproar but I can’t believe they could cancel this test, could they? That wouldn’t be right for those who did well.
I’m sure they’ll keep the test, but this goes to show why these tests are becoming optional at more schools every year as their validity comes into question.
We know kids who scored in the mid1500s too. I highly doubt CB would cancel a test. I just hope this one is an anomaly and the tests go back to being more like the tests before June.
The curve is decided BEFORE the test is given based on a pilot group of test takers. So CB administered the test knowing that the curve was significantly harsher than any other SAT in the history of the new SAT. It was so vastly different from all other SATs that this alone should have disqualified the test. Giving such an easy test with a harsh curve does nothing to help distinguish strong students between average students. Basically everyone does poorly except maybe those who are great test takers. Having an easier test with a ridiculously harsh curve is not equal to having a difficult test with a more generous curve. Why? Because it punishes silly mistakes to an extreme level. Let’s say “Johnny”, a very strong math student, takes the April SAT and misses 2 due to dumb mistakes. Now let’s say “Billy”, an equally strong math student, takes the June SAT and misses 2 due to dumb mistakes. Johnny gets a 790, Billy gets a 750. A 40 point difference! The curve is even more egregious when you look at Johnny missing 3 on the tougher SAT and Billy missing 3 on the “easy” SAT. Johnny gets a 780, Billy gets a 720. That is a 60 point difference! Test taking situations are stressed filled and thus making careless mistakes is not uncommon including bubbling errors. A curve is supposed to allow some cushion for that sort of thing. The June SAT allowed zero cushion and that presents a very unfair (and inaccurate) view into a the student’s capabilities.
I don’t think they should cancel the scores but I think they should allow those who did very poorly to have their individual scores cancelled and retake for free. Only when it hits CB’s pocketbook will they actually take action to make sure their tests are more standardized and don’t have wild swings like this. As I’ve stated in earlier posts, the fact that the the test was allegedly so much “easier” doesn’t mean it was actually an easier test to get a high score on. Why? Because such a harsh curve, literally taking 30 points off for one wrong answer, doesn’t allow ANY cushion for careless errors or bubbling errors–something that is bound to happen in pressure filled test taking situations regardless of how strong of a student you may be. It is the VAST swing in curve between the June SAT and all previous SAT’s (since the new SAT started in 2016!) that has everyone concerned. That along with 4 questions being judged “unscorable” which further hurt everyone’s scores. CB needs to address this and allow students to retake for free.
"So CB administered the test knowing that the curve was significantly harsher than any other SAT in the history of the new SAT. It was so vastly different from all other SATs that this alone should have disqualified the test. "
Um, no. The fall 2016 SAT generated the same complaints.
“Basically everyone does poorly except maybe those who are great test takers. Having an easier test with a ridiculously harsh curve is not equal to having a difficult test with a more generous curve. Why? Because it punishes silly mistakes to an extreme level. Let’s say “Johnny”, a very strong math student, takes the April SAT and misses 2 due to dumb mistakes. Now let’s say “Billy”, an equally strong math student, takes the June SAT and misses 2 due to dumb mistakes. Johnny gets a 790, Billy gets a 750. A 40 point difference!”
Um, no. Johnny is a stronger math tester than Billy, since his dumb mistakes were so few relative to a more difficult exam. That's why he got the higher scaled score. And BTW, a wrong answer is a wrong answer. Regardless of whether made via a dumb mistake or out of ignorance. This test isn't nearly as time pressured as the ACT so there is more time for thinking through your answers and a lower theoretical probability of making a "dumb", rather than an ignorant, mistake.
“Test taking situations are stressed filled and thus making careless mistakes is not uncommon including bubbling errors. A curve is supposed to allow some cushion for that sort of thing. The June SAT allowed zero cushion and that presents a very unfair (and inaccurate) view into a the student’s capabilities.”
This is a sweeping statement and ignores the achievements of those kids who did well on this test. Are you suggesting that there is a huge bulge of low math scores out there that you don't see on other tests? Highly unlikely. Striving for excellence is oftentimes stressful and small mistakes can cost you a good result. That's true for a lot of things, not just the SAT.
“I don’t think they should cancel the scores but I think they should allow those who did very poorly to have their individual scores cancelled and retake for free.”
Only if they add 30 - 50 points to everyone else's score - on all previous SAT's. To make it fair for everyone. :D After all, there are probably lots of kids on the earlier exams who didn't do well either and they didn't get to cancel their scores.
@Mojo1995
For those who scored well and are worrying about their scores being readjusted, chill out. To the user who said they got a 1560, wouldn’t you want to get a higher score? Maybe with the adjusted curve you can get a 1580? Yes, you improved but it could definitely be better unless you got a perfect score. Stop thinking about yourself and put yourself in other people’s shoes.
I second the recommendation to read the Princeton Review blog, which does a good job of explaining why there is an uproar about this specific test, and legitimately so among high-scoring students. I started to post a similar point earlier and got interrupted, but in a nutshell, an easy test does not adequately differentiate between students at the top of the scale. It’s not an issue for the average test-taker (whether those testers understand that or not), but at the upper end it can mean the difference between having a score in about the 35%ile or so and the >75%ile at some of the tippy-top schools. At some schools, that really matters for unhooked applicants.
BTW, 2014 was the old SAT, so it’s not comparable. This test is indeed atypical—perhaps atypically easy, but therein lies the problem.
My daughter is not a good test taker. She finds standardized test very stressful. If she has too much time she second guesses her answers. She runs out of time on ACT. On the March SAT she missed 43 questions (1250). She worked very hard for two month on prep, missed 28 questions on June SAT. She ended up with the same score (1250). She scored 1340 on her last two practice test. Just registered for the August test.
