College Board Says 4,000 SAT Scores Wrong

<p>I was affected--my revised score was only 10 points higher though. But hey, it's still nice to get a refund!</p>

<p>chapstick, how do you know you were affected? did you get an email? I called CB today and they refuse to release that info until tomorrow via email.</p>

<p>I have to disagree. 0.3% IS very minimal, but you are neglecting that I happen to be that 0.3%. I can't help your hating those that ETS has screwed over because of their error, but I can tell you that you can't grasp the affect this error had on people like me. Because of ETS's mistake, I had to completely rethink my college plans because I no longer had the confidence to apply to any Ivys. I started dimming down and focused only on states and a couple of private colleges because I was so insecure about my score. And then, AFTER the deadline college applications, and for many merit scholarships , ETS has the nerve to say "Whoops, made a mistake"? The SAT score was 170 points off, the difference between attending a dream school and being forced to settle for a safety. </p>

<p>So in other words 0.3% might not be deserving of compensation in your opinion, but for me, crushing a teenager's dreams is a crime, whether it's .3% or 99.7%</p>

<p>"CB has a long history of arrogance and abuse. They have no interest in using their margins to improve the system. The problem is that they are a powerful monopoly that has been abusing their power for years. Hopefully, some of the colleges will band together and use this latest error as a mechanism for positive change. The company does not deserve to be in business, let alone wield this much power."</p>

<p>amen.</p>

<p>College Board is a virtual monopoly, acceptance of ACT scores aside. Colleges and universities are the power players here, not students or parents. Hopefully this incident will spur the institutions to demand more accountability. And although CB claims only 8 tenths of one percent of Oct test takers were affected, the NYT articles cites NY Institute of Tech who found that 50 of 2,000 applicants (and is that all applicants, not merely applicants who took the Oct SAT?) were affected. That is 2.5% which is not insignificant. Wonder if it's really more????</p>

<p>um, the article said that the largest mistake was only 130 points.</p>

<p>dcmom3, I here it largely affected testers on the east cost, especially around NY, NJ.</p>

<p>In a notice on their website, the College Board said .8% of the test-takers that administration were affected.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/scores/oct_2005_sat.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/scores/oct_2005_sat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>For that particular session (October test day). It is about 0.28% of all test takers (all test dates in a year).</p>

<p>Hey dell guy, if you thought your scores were SO FAR off, why did you neglect to retake?</p>

<p>You got a 2180 anyway, probably just as good as this October test.</p>

<p>My CR was 660 (90% National) and was revised to 740 (98% National)
My Math was 630 (81% National) and was revised to 720 (96% National)
My Writing was the same, 700</p>

<p>The mathematics is simple, Critical Reading difference is 80, Math difference is 90, add it all up, 170. </p>

<p>Again, Collegeboard is letting things slip through their fingers.</p>

<p>I was right, this test was lower than your score of 2180. Really little impact on you- in the long run.</p>

<p>
[quote]
chapstick, how do you know you were affected? did you get an email? I called CB today and they refuse to release that info until tomorrow via email.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>mom&dad, I recieved an e-mail today saying my score had been affected, and checked the website to look at my revised score. Maybe they sent some of the e-mails out earlier.</p>

<p>ETA: I'm from Washington State, I guess I was one of the few west-coasters who was affected.</p>

<p>When I first read about this, I assumed that CB and ETS had extensive disclaimers of liability, doubtless limiting damages to a refund of the test fee. But I couldn't find any such disclaimer on either website. It may still be there, or in some written materials handed out at the test site. I don't know.</p>

<p>Interestingly, ETS apparently misgraded some PRAXIS teacher exams in 2003 and 2004. A bunch of class action suits were filed around the country, and eventually consolidated in a multi-district case in the Eastern District of Louisiana. It has been slogging along, as these things do, without a lot of substantive progress. </p>

<p>A motion was filed for approval of a proposed settlement a couple of weeks ago and it reveals that ETS reported 4,100 failures that should have been reported as passes. On ETS's motion, the court dismissed the plaintiff's antitrust claims. The court has not yet ruled on another portion of ETS's motion, invoking the "economic loss" rule, essentially claiming that plaintiffs cannot recover tort-like "emotional distress"-type damages in what is a contract case. The court has not ruled on this motion.</p>

<p>The proposed settlement could cost ETS around $11 million (depending on how many class members can substantiate claims), about half of which will go for administrative costs and attorneys fees.</p>

<p>Clearly, ETS thinks it is at risk for more than a fee refund (though I could not determine from my cursory look at this whether it relied in the litigation on any kind of liability or damage-limiting disclaimer in its contract). Personally, I would expect that ETS would probably prevail on its "economic loss" rule argument, but in the absence of an enforceable disclaimer, it still could be liable for damages like the lost income from a lost job. </p>

<p>I'm not advocating that anybody sue anybody, or suggesting that aggrieved SAT takers would have a claim. Claiming lost income from not getting into a "tier 1" school is pretty speculative compared to a teacher that can demonstrate that he/she had a job offer that he/she couldn't take because of ETS's error. In addition, there may be differences in the "contract" with SAT takers that are not barriers for the teachers. I'm just saying that it may not be as clear-cut an ETS "win" as I initially thought it would be.</p>

<p>Although CB said they would be emailing students tomorrow, I guess they changed their mind. From the CB web site:</p>

<p>October 2005 SAT: Important Information</p>

<p>The College Board recently discovered that a technical processing matter affected a very small percentage of October 2005 SAT test takers. As a result, approximately 4,000 students (0.8% of the SAT Reasoning Test takers who tested during that administration) did not receive credit for some correct answers; therefore, their scores are higher than originally reported.</p>

<p>Students who were affected have been notified by email.</p>

<p>Please note:</p>

<pre><code>* If you were affected, you have received an email notification and you will receive a revised official score report in the mail.
* Students who have been notified can access their revised scores at www.collegeboard.com/satscores.
* We are only contacting students with revised scores.
* High schools and colleges that were affected have been notified.
* The score difference for the vast majority of students was less than 100 points across all three sections of the test.
* We are refunding those students' test registration fees as well as any other fees associated with sending scores from the October test administration.
</code></pre>

<p>Our research has determined that this scoring anomaly was a one time problem, and only involved the October 2005 SAT Reasoning Test.</p>

<p>I got an email from them!</p>

<p>My score before read as 1170 (610M, 560V, 540W) on the old scale even though my score before was 1300. I just checked my new score: 720M, 700V, 690W. So, 2110 (1420 old). 250 old scale points, 400 new scale points unaccounted for (I didn't think it would be that much). That <strong><em>ing *</em></strong>es me off! How is that even possible! I feel like that kid on that movie "Orange County" when he finds out the counselor sends in the wrong transcript to Stanford, and I'm sure that kid earlier who got his handscored feels worse because the CB has this "holier than thou" ******* attitude that they make no mistakes. This ****ing monopoly needs to be destroyed!</p>

<p>I got deferred from my top choice (though, it's not my top choice anymore) during EA, and this may have had something to do with it. I smell a lawsuit.</p>

<p>DESTROY THE CB MONOPLOY! WHO'S WITH ME?</p>

<p>Whoa...</p>

<p>But yeah, this just confirms my time-honored hatred of the College Board. This definitely hurt a lot of people and probably caused some unfair rejections.</p>

<p>400 points off? that's absolutely ridiculous.</p>

<p>Do you think they may have messed up scores prior to that or on the Janauary SAT's? since they did not discover the problem until recently?</p>

<p>I used a fee-waiver... so, I don't think I get a refund :(. <em>sigh</em> Oh well, I got into GT at least and I'm very happy to be going there!</p>

<p>And, they said only in NJ? I live in GA, and my test was affected. <em>shoulder shrug</em></p>

<p>"CB has a long history of arrogance and abuse. They have no interest in using their margins to improve the system. The problem is that they are a powerful monopoly that has been abusing their power for years. Hopefully, some of the colleges will band together and use this latest error as a mechanism for positive change. The company does not deserve to be in business, let alone wield this much power."</p>

<p>Amen to that. They don't care about keeping their customers happy. People and universities have been wanting the writing section for years (well, not the students in high school, but alot of educators) and the CB had "discussed" it and never did anything. You know how they FINALLY got it on there? The University of California system, which has 300-400 thousand students in its system (thus, its applicants make up a large percentage of SAT takers), threatened to stop requiring it and instead focus on the ACT since it tested more material (including grammar). Then, CB shifted its ass! It's time for universities all over the nation to start doing this! Let's give them a wakeup call!</p>

<p>Of course there have been mistakes, but never (at least what the CB is willing to admit) been such a big mistake. Hey, since CB standardizes the tests so that they have the similar score distributions, I wonder if people who were not affected recieved some extra points?</p>