College Board Says 4,000 SAT Scores Wrong

<p>If anyone was rejected from their top choice university because of CB's error, it's called an APPEAL people. It's not the end of the world. Geez.</p>

<p>Something tells me you aren't in the same boat as many people that weren't affected, Sweet Ambrosia.</p>

<p>Sweet Ambrosia- You do not know what you are talking about. There are many situations where someone could be much more effected than this. Assume a 300 pt increase, which did happen for some people (albeit few).</p>

<p>Situation 1: Student was expecting around 2200 on SATs, scored 1900 and took their 1st choice Ivy college off their list, as well as all other schools of that calibur. It is now too late in the process to apply to those schools. So they are stuck at a school way below their level, taking a gap year, or transfering. All of those options are not ideal for most student and are unfair.</p>

<p>Sitation 2: Student applies to 1st choice college ED and is deferred. Student then applies somewhere else EDII since the chances of getting into to certain schools (depending on which ones) are really low after being deferred ED. Student is now committed to EDII college and can not go to the EDI college which they probably would have gotten in to.</p>

<p>Situation 3: Payed a nonrefundable enrollment deposit at a school. The school would probably negotiate because it was CB's error, but the student shouldn't have to go to all this work- CB should be fixing this for the student.</p>

<p>Financial Problems:
-Students paid not just to take the test but to send the test to different schools. That should be refunded as well since the wrong scores were sent
-Students may have applied to more schools with lower scores since the previous reaches on the list are now super reaches and safeties are matches, so real safeties would be necessary.
-If a student gets stuck at a school worse than what they would have gone to with the appropriate scores, differences in starting salaries vary quite a bit
-When students are accepted ED they do not need to submit the remaining applications. These application fees should be refunded if the student would have gotten in ED with new scores
-Student pays to take the ACT to make up for low SATs. Pays for test, sending to colleges, etc.
-Colleges are now forced to review applicants for a second time, with only 1 application fee
-Colleges are forced to review ED applicants instead of RD applicants, when they are already short on time as it is</p>

<p>Sweet!
Hot off the New York Times press:
"Errors in SAT Scores Raise Questions About Testing Company"
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/education/09cnd-sat.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/education/09cnd-sat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It pins the blame partly on Pearson's, a company that grades tests, and shows that its record on accuracy is anything but clean.
I hope this is the beginning of the end.</p>

<p>chocolateluvr88, agree with all your ideas! Worst case is like my s who totally changed his college plan!</p>

<p>Wow, this discussion is interesting. My SAT score wasn't affected (thank god!) but I feel the pain of those people who were affected. My best friend, who is in my opinion, smarter than me actually scored merely a 2100 something on her SAT when she actually got 2270! That is a 170 pts in difference. She took the January SAT too b/c she wasn't satisfied w/ her October score and scored even higher (2330!) She says that she wanted to thank collegeboard b/c if it weren't for her low test score, she wouldn't have retaken the SAT and studied even harder for it! Wohoooo!!!!!</p>

<p>I did not do so well, on the other hand. Only a 2180. I was hoping something was wrong with that score. But no. Too bad.</p>

<p>Wow guys . . I feel soo sorry for you all that recieved the wrong scores. I was about to take the October SAT too, but I didn't feel quite as ready. . it's so sad to see how unfair life can really be for people. These students put in soo much time, effort, and hard work in studying, and to not receive your deserved score because of a GRADING error is ridiculous, and then to have to send the completely WRONG SAT scores to partly determine college decisions . . it's just awful. Too many people were affected. . students, admissions officers, parents . . everyone pretty much involved in the college process has to redo all the work that was done. . I mean decisions have already been mailed, this is a huge mistake, even if it's only 2.5%. I don't care if only 1 student was affected, this shouldn't have to happen to anyone. CB should have AT LEAST looked into this problem when it was first reported. I agree with everyone who feels Collegeboard should be punished . . sure they aren't perfect, but they have killed many students' dreams with such a stupid error. And the SAT is not a "well sorry, grading messed up, we won't care until it happens to more people" . . it's a pretty serious matter and the corrupted system needs to be brought out on the table and the people in charge seriously questioned. It is time for them to leave, and I really do feel so sorry for you all with incorrect scores . .I wish I could do something to help . . but I'm only a junior, preparing for the test. Maybe if enough people say something about it and express their anger, hopefully something will be done, because something surely needs to be done asap, and all money that was wasted should be refunded. I feel bad for the Class of 06, having to deal with a new SAT test so soon, and then this . . God bless.</p>

<p>
[quote]
just ridiculous, collegeboard is a huge bureaucratic company that never responds to calls and i assume they are very corrupt, this was probably a leak, they probably messed up many times before, non profit organization my butt, these guys make billions every year, sat around 42 dollars, sat and ap scores sending is like 9 each , ap tests are 82, on top of that they sell books and online courses, they're not kidding anyone, class action suit is needed,

[/quote]
I completely agree . . this is just crazy and really sad that people have to deal with such careless behavior and have their entire college application process screwed up less than a month before many decisions are finally due. I hate Collegeboard, they have no sympathy or consideration for anyone else but themselves until they're threatened to lose millions of dollars, absolutely pathetic.</p>

<p>I WANT THE ENTIRE UPPER MANAGEMENT AT COLLEGEBOARD FIRED!!!! HEADS MUST ROLL!!! And an official audit of all Collegeboard records. I totally agree, this is unacceptable. I want to see someone in upper management at Collegeboard FIRED. Not forced to resign, FIRED. As in, like the Donald Trump line. As in like pink slip. And I WILL NOT rest until someone does get fired, even though my score wasn't affected.</p>

<p>I remember when I was testing for CTY in 7th and 8th grade, they had computerized versions of the SAT. You could schedule a day at your convenience, go into a computerized testing center (same center as other comp based exams) and take the exam. You'd get a preliminary score report on the spot and an official one in the mail some weeks later.</p>

<p>Switching to such a system would likely eliminate stuff like this.</p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>"Only the low scorers were corrected. According to the board, 83 percent had a change between 10 and 40 points and one in 20 had a 100-point boost on a 2400-point scale. The 600 artificially high scorers get to keep their inflated grades. "We don't want to penalize students for something that was not their fault," says Brian O'Reilly, executive director of SAT information and services at the College Board." -<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060320/20sat.htm"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060320/20sat.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and the students who received a higher score now get to keep it? how is that fair to the rest of the SAT taking students?</p>

<p>The most effective and feasible solution to this is not firing CB executives. That's not going to do much good unless they're replaced by people with a completely different attitude towards college admissions. I'm guessing the people that are calling for heads to roll are doing so primarily out of anger. And you have every right to be ticked; I'm not trying to belittle you. I'm just saying that the good done by firing people will be minimal, except as a gesture to those affected.</p>

<p>What would work more in the long term is if colleges stopped putting such a heavy emphasis on test scores for admission and started taking SAT, ACT, and AP (don't get me started on the flaws of the AP system!) less seriously. If they took this attitude far enough, we would reach a point where except in the most extreme cases (like maybe gaining 400 points due to the error!), screw-ups like this just wouldn't matter that much.</p>

<p>Sly Si, this is not an appropriate solution. Obviously colleges think standardized test scores are important, and for good reasons. One flawed company does not mean that tests that have many merits should not be used. I know I certainly would not want to go to a campus with all 4.0 students who are not very smart and would score a 1000 on the SATs (and yes there are students like that). I'd much prefer to have some geniouses that focus on other things rather than grades or that were developed later and messed around some in high school. BTW, I have had far less problems in dealing with ACTs than with SATs.</p>

<p>Sly Si, that just wouldn't make any sense for many obvious reasons (which chocolateluvr88 briefly outlined).</p>

<p>Sly Si, all I'm saying is this stupid screw-up happened because someone who works for CB was ineffective, stupid and incompetent. I would say fire that person, for the betterment of CB as well as a gesture to those affected. A good manager also can turn ineffective people into effective people. I think the person's manager, that manager's manager, and that manager's manager's manager have all failed.</p>

<p>Let's say this was an accounting error instead of a scoring error. Would you keep that accountant around? Here's what I'd do: Off with your head! You're fired!</p>

<p>Here's an anecdote: A simple accounting error at the bank could prevent you from buying your dream house, that you're CLEARLY financially capable of buying. Then you end up buying the house that was your last resort (obviously cheaper than dream house), then after you close on it, your bank tells you that they will grant you the loan. Uh, too late.</p>

<p>Same thing.
Accounting error=scoring error
dream house=first choice college
last resort house=safety college
Close=enroll at safety college</p>

<p>Too many people are MUCH too quick to blame the College Board for these kinds of mistakes.
1. College Board is a non-profit organization
2. You aren't even sure that College Board grades the tests, as someone pointed out above, "It pins the blame partly on Pearson's, a company that grades tests, and shows that its record on accuracy is anything but clean."
3. The tests are not made by the College Board, they are made by the Educational Testing Service which IS a for-profit organzation.</p>

<p>The college board is just an organization that administers these tests.</p>

<p>And the poor folks over there have to endure your endless complaints to them - blah blah blah testing is so dumb blah blah blah why can't you be competent blah blah blah.</p>

<p>Why don't you blame the colleges huh? Its the colleges that choose to use this tool as for admissions?</p>

<p>Its right to feel sorry for the kids who were cheated out of their college, but its wrong not to blame the college for using a test like this anyways.</p>

<p>yo. ETS is non-profit, too. just look on their webpage: <a href="http://www.ets.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ets.org&lt;/a> . get your facts straight before you yell at people.</p>

<p>uhhhh can't say I pity the collegeboard too much guys...
my first oct SAT score and my real oct SAT score had a 440 pt difference. I had it rescored immediately and got the new result back in dec--with no refund. but now that they have admitted their mistake, they still would not return my calls or give me a refund. WHY!?!? evil >:O(</p>

<p>Non profit then should be forgive for any error that affecting other's future?</p>

<p>Anti-trust laws... wonder if they have any bearing in this.</p>