Another SAT problem

Parents Forum
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<p>By chance, I had an opportunity this morning to review the May SAT test for students with extended time. The test was given on Monday, May 8, and Tuesday, May 9. As you know, most students took the SAT test on Saturday, May 6. The Monday/Tuesday test was exactly the same as one of the Saturday tests. (I also had a chance to see two of the Saturday tests, which varied by only a handful of questions, although the order of questions was different.) A student taking the Monday/Tuesday test could have visited CC on the afternoon of the 6th and all day on the 7th, thus learning almost all the questions. Although answers given here may not have been correct, familiarity with the questions would give a student a huge advantage. </p>

<p>CollegeBoard should change their procedures. Students receiving extra time either should take the test on Saturday or should take an entirely different test. Some of you may have been aware of this problem, but I was not. </p>

<p>P.S. There's no sour grapes here. This did not at all affect my offspring.</p>

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<p>ellen, did you send a pm or post this to the admin of this site? I believe based on past actions taken by mods/admin that this site is concerned about the issue and would like to hear your take on it. Obviously there is an issue here.</p>

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<p>I do see the problem you are suggesting. However, I doubt seriously that most kids taking the SAT remember ALL the questions from the test. My very serious student didn't even remember the whole writing prompt. Yes, this is an issue, but I do not think that students really are going to be able to get the answers to ALL of the questions.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. We have had similar reports on College Confidential, and I know of at least one case where a student who was an active participant was thrilled to death to be faced with a test that had been dissected and debated to death a mere 2-3 days before. </p>

<p>Alas, what can be gained from the answers on CC--often unreliable for a few days-- might pale in comparison to the resources of the larger testing companies that send "spies" to almost every test. In addition, how to obtain extended time under falso pretenses has been a poorly kept secret, as some unsavory characters openly advertise services leading to the prize. Astute packagers know where to locate both of those service providers, and arm their students with a bunch of additional weapons.</p>

<p>If the College Board cannot do much-if any--about the "fake" extended time as their hands have been tied by the various associations protecting the rights of disabled students, there is plenty they can do to ensure that the tests are absolutely different. It would be a shame to see the accomplishments of students who really need the extended time to be questioned.</p>

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<p>Sometimes I think the level of paranoia gets too high here, but in this situation it's warranted. There's no way CB should be giving the same test on three different days, with a day in between. Whether it's strategic planning on the part of nefarious consultants or just a kid with legitimate accomodation needs listening to friends chat, there's way too much opportunity for getting invalid testing results on the later days. It certainly wouldn't take kids memorizing the whole test to cause a problem. Getting 48 hours' notice on 9-10 difficult questions could make a pretty significant difference in a kid's results.</p>

<p>If this were widely anticipated as a possibility, one would see statistically anomalous results from the M/T test dates and -- both in terms of the distribution of scores from M/T vs. Saturday, and in terms of improvement in the case of kids who had taken the test before. If anything like that happened, it ought to set off loud alarm bells.</p>

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<p>One of the problems, I believe, is that only CB knows who took the test on M/T since they no longer indicate whether a test was taken with accomodations (they used to in the past) - so if there is any advantage to the M/T test date, the public won't notice it.</p>

<p>It's sheer laziness on their part. Or maybe they like to think of it as being competitive in the business world - laziness = more money in Gaspar's (sp?) pockets. You would think, with the problems they've had in the past year, they would strive to be squeeky clean. They just don't seem to get it.</p>

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<p>Aren't SAT scores "norm referenced" when scored? That is, aren't they scored based on students raw scores on that particular administration? If so they can't really give a different test. Why can't they give the entire test on the national date for the extended time kids? Limit the exstention to 50% and for a 4 hour test they would get an extra 2 hours. Not unreasonable to have a test administrator stay an extra 2 hours (with extra pay).</p>

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<p>My child receives extra time. I was not aware that it was the same test. From what I know the test must be given in a 5 day window. So it is also a possibility that the LD student has taken the test before the regular test date.
My child has taken the test once. He was scheduled to take it on Friday and Sat morning. He would have ended up finishing the test at the same time as the other students. Unfortunately the high school lost the test and he was not able to take it as planned. After a frustrating week a make-up test was sent. I have no idea if it was the same test. And I am sure my son doesn't know either. But he also attends a high school where students would not think to discuss actual questions.
I don't know the percentage of students who receive 100% time. I think my son is the only one in his grade at his large over 2000 student high school. Most students I know of who have accomodations only receive 50% time and they take it at the regular test time.</p>

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<p>Do they really give the same test two days later? That doesn't make much sense, especially since I'm pretty sure the Sunday test (given for students with religious reasons for not testing on Saturday) I took was different from the Saturday test my friends took. Or was my test a Saturday test given in another part of the country? Whatever is going on, it sounds like they need to be more careful.</p>

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<p>ICargill, the single difference between the M/T test and one of the Saturday tests was that the M/T test did not have an experimental section. In every other way the two tests were identical in every respect, down to the order of the sections and the order of the questions within the sections. As JHS mentioned, having a heads up on the toughest questions and the essay questions could give students significant advantages. Of course, many students don't know about the resources available on the web, however many others do. Hmm... perhaps a national newspaper would be interested in the problem. Again, I lay no blame on CC; students will obtain the questions and answers elsewhere if they don't see them here. The fault lies with CollegeBoard.</p>