College Board Error on June 6, 2015 SAT?

Haha – ambulance chasers are joining the self-proclaimed experts in the oldest common cause … lining one’s pockets.

@xiggi

You are repeatedly referring to a whole pile of issues that can happen during the test, but this specific ordeal is unprecedented.

Stop exaggerating this and calling it a “Chicken Little” situation. Nobody here is running down the streets, arms flailing, screaming that the world is going to end because of ETS’s misprint.

What people ARE doing is seeking reparations, because after all we did spend 3-5 hours and $50 taking a test.

But hey, there’ll always be people like @NickFlynn who will claim that two sections can somehow still reflect one’s scores accurately. And yes, there will always be people who complain about their scores–that’s pretty much stating the obvious, and not really adding anything to this debate.

To me, this “solution” seems like the “easy way” out of the mess. We sent them the testing booklets in addition to our answer sheets after all, so why can’t CB at least eliminate one of the sections, the only one which was affected, rather than two? What do the last 5 minutes of the affected section have to do with the other section’s entire time?

Also, I have not received an e-mail from College Board regarding that free retake option. Their site still does not state this information. Is this also a rumor?

P.S. College board has now actually removed their notice from the website…I can’t see it unless I use the link from the forum.

@Aleksandr7 " why can’t CB at least eliminate one of the sections, the only one which was affected, rather than two? What do the last 5 minutes of the affected section have to do with the other section’s entire time?"

Hmmm, let’s think about this?

a) Because they observed patterns in the scores that led them to believe that both the CR and Math sections were impacted by the timing typo, and don’t want to give a group of test takers an unfair advantage.
b) They are out to get you.
c) Their customer service reps were having a slow month, so this is a way to keep them busy.
d) Some other insidious reason.

I think a) is almost certainly the answer, and since you and everyone else is so concerned about the test being “fair” and “accurate,” you should be happy about that, right?

And as for the “reparations” thing - they have offered to waive the fee for the October test for anyone who wants to take them up on it. Whether or not you can or can’t find this on the web site or whether or not you have gotten an email (check your spam folder recently?) doesn’t really matter - the offer is out there and I have not seen one person anywhere claim that College Board DENIED them a fee waiver.

Of course now, thanks to the good folks at Fairtest, they are involved in litigation over the test, so everything that is posted on the web site or emailed out is going to have to run a gauntlet of legal oversight that normally wouldn’t be in place (and, to be fair, CB’s customer service / public relations people do seem a little less than world class)…so who knows what is really going on.

Bottom line - until you actually try to get a waiver for the October test and are denied, what is the point of going on and on about this?

@NickFlynn " Because they observed patterns in the scores that led them to believe that both the CR and Math sections were impacted by the timing typo, and don’t want to give a group of test takers an unfair advantage."

What patterns? How could extended time for one section somehow impact another?

Also, I’m going to reiterate (for perhaps the 100th time) that not everyone was impacted by these timings…you know what, I’m tired of trying to explain this.

@Aleksandr7 “How could extended time for one section somehow impact another?”

Seriously, my friend, think about it for about 10 seconds. HINT: Those sections of the test were taken at the same time.

“not everyone was impacted by these timings”

Again, think about this - if some groups of people had different test conditions (more time to finish the section, perhaps disruption in the room when people became aware of the problem), how can their tests be compared fairly? And how could CB possibly determine exactly what happened in every room across the country? And what would your reaction be if you found out some people were being scored on 3 sections, and others on 2?

At this point, you are either clearly just determined to keep complaining no matter what, or you are perhaps incapable of grasping basic points of logic. I don’t care which it is, but find someone else to play with…I’m done here.

@NickFlynn The answer to the quiz, above, is (b).

No question about it. It also explains why some people are so outraged over this. It all makes sense now.

For extra credit: The answer they want you to choose is ©. Don’t fall for it.

The availability of the waiver (for unhappy June 6th test takers) for the October test was announced on the Today Show this morning.

US only

I took the SAT with accommodations, @NickFlynn , which means a couple things:

  1. I did not have an experimental section (which is part of CB’s statistical analysis)
  2. my test booklet did not have any times printed and therefore did not have any printing errors
  3. My last two sections were not Math + Reading–section 9, which is one of the sections that CB plans to throw out, was Writing for me…and the Writing portion only has 2 sections in total, the 35 question one and the 14 question one…so if that gets thrown out, then my Writing portion will be severely skewed

Furthermore, let me ask you this: what if one of those sections, 8 or 9, was experimental for other students? If that gets thrown out it won’t make a difference since the experimental is not scored anyways…but for me, it will have a negative impact.

Is this printing error problem happened only for the students appeared in the United states?? or is that happened in India as well??

Your latest announcement of waiving fee for October SAT test , is that hold good globally or only for the students appeared in the United States.??

@Aleksandr7 I don’t know where you have gotten the idea that your section 9 (writing) is not going to be scored - that’s not consistent with ANYTHING that CB or anyone else reasonably well informed has said, to my knowledge.

This is what is going on:
CR will be scored on the first two sections only for all test takers in the US.
Math will be scored on the first two sections only for all test takers in the US.

If people who took the SAT with accomodations are being handled differently, no official statement has been issued that I know of, and your particular scenarios about experimental sections or tossing out a Writing section seem highly unlikely, If you are concerned about the specifics, get in touch with them (I’d recommend email) and I’d also recommend just asking how the situation is going to be handled for people who had accomodations (skip the accusations and speculation) and then read their response and make sure you understand it.

@Aleksandr7 They are throwing out the sections that were supposed to be 20 minutes. They will obviously take into account the people who had testing accommodations which means they will take out 7 and 8 for you.

Sections 8 and 9 can’t be experimentals.

Much of the coverage that I have read makes a big deal about the misprint, which kind of misses the point. To me, the point isn’t that students were “confused” because their booklets had different times, the point is some of them had 25% MORE TIME on one or two sections, while others did not. The only experts I have seen quoted are in the NYTimes article, and they both raise issues with the CB solution:

"It’s a well-known fact in test theory and analysis that fewer items lead to less reliable scores,” said Herbert J. Walberg, an emeritus professor of education and psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who gave the College Board credit for admitting its error.

Andy Porter, a University of Pennsylvania professor of education who specializes in student assessment and psychometrics — the science of designing tests — said the College Board and the Educational Testing Service, which develops and administers the test, “would like to come up with the easiest possible, cheapest solution for them, and that’s what they’re proposing.”

I still think, for all the kids out there who prepared for months for this, waiting until the October administration is unfair. First, it requires continued preparation, and second, those who planned on taking the SAT2 that date can’t take both. Finally, there’s no way of guaranteeing that colleges won’t look at June 6 scores differently.

@Squirg I agree. Many students are missing scholarship and early application deadlines because of this. What Dr. Walberg stated is exactly what I was trying to explain to the others here, but to no avail.

@Chrysanthemum14 Thanks for clarifying.

@NickFlynn I contacted CB a little more than a week ago, but they have yet to respond.

Thank you @Squirg. It is valuable to have the opinions of actual experts that are not associated with the College Board. The two points they make are so obvious, I have a hard time understanding why some are working so hard to dispute them.

@Aleksandr7 My advice is to wait until your scores arrive - my assumption would be that there will be an insert regarding your options for getting a waiver for the October test and whatever other explanation CB will provide. If you still aren’t satisfied at that point (and you may have specific questions regarding how your test with accomodations was handled), contact CB by phone at that point.

@palm715 You know what I find interesting about the experts quoted in that article?

Neither of them actually comes out and states that they believe the June 6th test is unreliable or that how CB is handling situation is wrong or unfair. The first quote is a generalized statement about “testing in general” that might or might not have any bearing on the reliability or validity of the tests in this case. Surely, if he had been willing to make a more definitive statement, that would have been the quote used. The second quote also makes no actual judgement about the validity of the test, rather just a generalized comment about CB’s possible considerations in deciding what to do.

Obviously, how anyone interprets it is going to be biased by your own slant on the issue, but those statements in particular strike me as pretty weak on specifics and “expert” analysis.

@NickFlynn My slant is paying for and watching my daughter diligently study for a test where the following is true: “fewer items lead to less reliable scores.” What’s your slant?

Unless the college board provided the experts with their specific data and analyses, I don’t think the experts could provide much more than generalities in terms of opinion.

@palm715 My slant is that the scores from June 6th test will be roughly as statistically reliable as any other SAT sitting, and there isn’t really any reason to assume otherwise at this point.

Go ahead and seize on the word “roughly” there and make a big deal of it if you want. What I mean by it is that some small but measurable number of kids will score outside their normal error band on this test (higher and lower) but that number is pretty low compared to the number of test takers. Hence, CB took the decision to score the test with fewer sections, rather than make all 500,000 kids retake the test.

Not that it matters, but kids I am currently working with took the test on June 6th.