Improving SAT Scores Drastically can be bad?

Applying to College
1

<p>I heard from a friend that his brother had taken his SAT's over and got around 390 points better (from a 1020 to a 1410) and later heard that his SAT scores had been frozen on accusation of cheating. Anyway they checked whether the kids who sat next to him had similar marks on their SAT but they didn't. Even after this they refused to let him use those scores and told him he would either have to retake it again or just delete those scores. </p>

<p>Anyway, I was planning on retaking my SAT's again but am a little afraid that if I improve to much they will just freeze them. I was hoping to raise my SAT score from a (1730, screwed up on the essay and writing) to around a (1900-2100).</p>

<p>I was just wondering if any of you have heard of similar sitiuations?</p>

2

<p>ETS is evil. if your score increased like your bro's, they will accuse you of cheating.better increase it gradually over two or three tests. stupid people. :mad:</p>

3

<p>whoa. i've never heard of that happening before. are you sure it's not just a rumor? i mean, something you heard from a friend about his brother may not be the most reliable source.</p>

<p>really though, you shouldn't worry about getting your score frozen. even if it happens every now and then, the probability of it happening is not worth worrying about. just score as well as you possibly can.</p>

4

<p>really, ETS will definitely conduct an investigation if your score improved that much. from my expereince, a 200-point increase is safe. i'm not sure if they freeze scores, but if they really do, it only means that they have enough evidence that some sort of irregularities had occurred.</p>

5

<p>lol, just take the test. do your BEST. don't worry about scoring too high.</p>

6

<p>absolutely .......and the score being frozen ... i think probably the guy may have been really doing something ill or may be atleast thought off..the proctor may have given a written complaint to CB ....
I fail to believe it coz i know of ppl who have very well got a 300 + pt increase</p>

7

<p>Um no, apparently the ETS does cancel scores. This is a quote from Andrew Allen`s "College Admissions Trade Secrets": </p>

<p>"ETS automatically assumes a student cheats if he raises his score by 300 or more points" </p>

<p>It also mentioned that the scores are usally nullified.
Nevertheles, just do the best you can, you never really know your score until you get it .</p>

8

<p>If they didn't investigate unusual score increases, they wouldn't be doing their job protecting the integrity of the test, and cheating would be more widespread.</p>

<p>This is just a normal kind of housekeeping for a testing organization. Many students increase 50-100 points per section of the SAT on retakes, and no red flags would be raised by your anticipated scores.</p>

9

<p>How is it possible to cheat on an SAT? O_O I didn't even know you could do that...</p>

<p>Will ETS make the same assumption with the PSATs? Sophomore year I had a 470 (big ouchies!) on my math section. But my junior year PSAT math score is a 640. Is that considered a huge difference? XD I've had intense amounts of math tutoring during the summer and every Saturday for three hours during the school year...</p>

10

<p>yes, it definitely does happen. A friend of ours, average student, took the SAT 'for practice' fall Jr year and scored, predictably, average. But, his dream school was Notre Dame, so parents paid for PR one-on-one tutoring. Score shot up significantly.</p>

<p>CB withheld scores. PR had 4 months of practice test data to show improvement. CB: too bad, don't care; you can take it again at no charge.</p>

<p>Parents threatened to sue. CB finally released scores, but only with an asterisk and note that the file had been investigated for cheating. Yeah, thanks CB, it's the perfect thing to send to Notre Dame.</p>

<p>Just do your best!</p>

11

<p>CB cannot do that without proof can they? And wont they face the risk of being sued because they with-held without evidence?</p>

12

<p>they can withold your score if they have enough evidence. and when they do, it emans they collected enough evidence.</p>

13

<p>how is it possible for them to gather "enough evidence." How can they possibly prove with confidence that the person cheated? I think its a bit unfair.</p>

14

<p>well, it's as unfair as security checks that require eeryone to undergo bodily checks at airport. unfair, but necessary.</p>

15

<p>lol, CB can be sued bigtime if the person really didnt cheat.</p>

16

<p>A lot of these stories about nullification go around. Anyone have any actual evidence that it's happened?</p>

17

<p><a href="http://princetonreview.com/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=319&TYPE=LOBBY%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://princetonreview.com/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=319&TYPE=LOBBY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Read this for more information. Interesting!</p>

18

<p>Thanks for the link dude</p>

19

<p>alien:</p>

<p>next time you register for a CB test, read the fine print -- you are agreeing to give them god-like powers if you click Accept....</p>

20

<p>I wouldn<code>t be surprsied if anyone actually did sue ETS, but then again, what</code>s the point?
By the time the case has been settled, 1. colleges would have already been notified that your scores have been <code>reviewed</code> by the ETS, or 2. you would already be in college.</p>