<p>OK, this is my first post as a new member of this board, and I am hoping the board regulars can help me out with the following issue:</p>
<p>My son took the PSAT in 2009 as a sophomore. His score came back, the school gave us the report, and we filed it away without looking at the incorrect problems on the answer sheet.</p>
<p>Tonight, however, we pulled up his online score report and began checking his answers. Here's what we discovered. 17 times he choose the right answer, i.e. the reported corrrect answer was the same as his answer, and it shows this on the report. For instance, 'correct answer 'c', you choose 'c'.' but a correct check mark wasn't in the column, so each answer was counted as wrong. So we then pulled out the actual exam booklet and verified his work (and circled answers) and they were the same as what was reported on the online answer sheet. He got 17 questions correct that Collegeboard counted as wrong, even though on collegeboard website itself, shows he choose the same answer as the correct answer.</p>
<p>Has anybody heard of this happening before, or know what's up/ And if so, how do we get it fixed?</p>
<p>Agree it is too late to do anything about it at this late date. But, as the others have said, the sophomore year PSAT is unimportant. The PSAT is only important for national merit and only the junior year PSAT counts for that.</p>
<p>It matters to us that his sophomore PSAT was graded correctly for 2 reasons. First his high school uses the scores as part of AP class placement assessment, and two, a much higher score may have generated more interest from universities. It turns out he only missed 3 questions on the entire exam, 2 math, and 1 writing. That would have given him a much better score; like 220-230 something, instead of the 196. And just in principle alone, don’t you believe Collegeboard should get it right? I mean, what if it happened on the junior PSAT, or the SAT?</p>
<p>If you want to fix the problem with AP placement, I would try the school counselor’s office. Take in your test materials and explain what happened. Other administrators may be called in on the matter, but I expect it’s likely reason will prevail.</p>
<p>At the same time, I would contact the College Board. I agree with you that they should correct the record. Further, they should try to determine the reason for the error and correct their procedures so that it doesn’t happen again to someone else. I know they will likely be defensive, but you are not challenging answers to questions, which can lead to major headaches for them: you are pointing out some kind of bookkeeping error that is likely to have far less widespread consequences.</p>
<p>A check mark means that an answer was incorrect, not correct. It shows your answer on one side of the check mark and the correct answer on the other side. If your son had gotten those 17 questions wrong, he would not have anything near his current score (unless he got the rest of the test completely correct). There is no grading error. Are you sure he only missed three questions? You’ll probably notice that he missed more if you count all the check marks as INcorrect.</p>
<p>Not so, apn00b. Picture this: 1st column-question number. 2nd column-correct answer.
3rd column-your answer. if you got the question correct, a checkmark is placed in 3rd column. If you got the question wrong, the third column contains the correct answer. I’ve double-checked this. On my son’s report the correct answer is listed in column 2, and his answer is listed in column 3. Forinstance corct answer ‘a’. Your answer ‘a’ (thecorrect answer, but it says ‘a’ instead of getting the checkmark for the correct answer. This happened 17 times total in CR math, and writing. Weird thing is the 3 he got wrong show up the way they’re supposed to; correct answer 'a". Your answer ‘d’. Sorry for the typos. i can’t sem to correct them without deleting other characters.</p>
<p>^That’s right. If you answered a question incorrectly, you’d see the correct letter and your incorrect answer listed next to each other on the score report. If you answered correctly, you’d see a check mark next to the letter of the right answer.</p>
<p>i typed in a huge long repsonse but I timed out and lost it…I pulled my sons reports and mine is the same as the OP. I have the paper score report, too, and it does not match up to the online report. It, too, says "your answer D’ correct answer D. It also says he got ones wrong that he didn’t and vice versa. </p>
<p>I check both years and both were completely wrong. BUT if you look on the far right side of the online report where it says “Your Performance Details” , that information DOES match the paper copy in terms of how many he missed and omitted. It does not match iwth the infom in the middle columns though. SO, what ever is on the far right side is probably correct. Whoever or however they inputted the information for the online score reports is obviously very error ridden.</p>
<p>And here is what you are talking about…You can see here that the OP was indeed telling the truth about the score report…llok at numbers 4,7, etc. It shows that he put the right answer, but it is counted wrong…it just isn’t accurate, but his score is. I assume he really did make a 196, the online report is just wrong,. You need to find the paper copy. </p>
<p>1 view B Easy
2 view D Easy
3 view C Medium
4 view D D Medium
5 view C Medium
6 view B Hard
7 view E E Hard
8 view D Hard
Passage-Based Reading
9 view B Easy
10 view E E Medium
11 view D Medium
12 view B Medium
13 view B Medium
14 view E Medium
15 view A Medium
16 view C Medium
17 view C Easy
18 view A Easy
19 view D Easy
20 view E E Medium
21 view A Medium
22 view B Medium
23 view E Medium
24 view B B Medium</p>
<p>That makes sense. My son’s paper report is in the possession of his SAT class instructor, so I’ll check it when I see him next. I feel much better that he was probably originally scored correctly. I hope Collegeboard figures out why the online versions are messed up. I emailed them about it last night. And I can tell you when PSAT results are released this year in Jan. we’ll be all over the score report.</p>
<p>I would like to thank all the board responders for your time.</p>
<p>and about the PSAT scores: colleges never see your PSAT scores, unless you are chosen as National Merit Semifinalist. Even then I dont know if they actually see your score, or if they are just satisfied knowing you made the Semis.</p>
<p>I highly doubt CollegeBoard would want to be bothered with this “error.” If his PSAT score would factor in his A.P class (which I doubt since not all sophmores take the PSAT), then show the error to his teachers so they know that his score is actually higher (if there was an error) and your problem will be resolved faster then bothering Collegeboard with it. Also, his PSAT score will not generate interest from college and universities because the score is not reported and your son also is not a junior, where he could be placed in the NMSP. </p>
<p>Oh, and thanks for letting us know he only got 2 math and 1 writing question wrong out of the entire exam.</p>
<p>9help9: My apologies for some of the rude comments offered here. I post as a parent and high school math teacher. There is nothing wrong with a parent of a child who works hard to achieve goals to be credited fairly for his test results. I stumbled on your post and am grateful for it, because I noticed inconsistencies on the report of my daughter’s PSAT last year as well. She took it as a freshman for the first time and has done a lot of preparation to do well. I also noted many times where the report states she answered the problem incorrectly, but the answer it states she wrote was in fact the correct answer. Regardless of whether or not this exam “counts for anything” or is “unimportant”, it is important to the child who prepared and continues to prepare for these high-stakes exams. Thanks for being a parent who cares enough to find out these answers, congratulations on your son’s successes, and good luck in the future. I will email Collegeboard this weekend. Please let me know if you get any kind of response from them.</p>
<p>^ Probably meant: nothing wrong with wanting your child to get credit…</p>
<p>And though soph psat does not count, this IS still a big deal. The organization that controls the data which has a ridiculously large impact on students’ futures should not be seen as cavalier or irresponsible with that data. The college board SHOULD want to know about this. If people can’t trust them to report accurately, even more will switch to the ACT. If you don’t think that even a “non-profit” like the college board cares about losing customers, then you haven’t been paying attention. Why do you think they added the writing section in the first place? And why do you think they instituted score choice?</p>
<p>I agree with momof2ky. This post made me pull out my S’s paper score and compare to his online report. The online answer part is screwed up. (The score at the top is OK, but when they list specific questions, it is not the same as the paper report.) Your son’s paper report and score are most likely fine.</p>