Does this mean all the scores will be invalidated? This is infuriating. My daughter studied her buns off for this test. Grrrr
In this age of instant communication, why couldn’t the test be administered electronically and globally simultaneously? There might be minor inconveniences, but they’re well worth it. Test cheating is a problem as old as any test, and abandoning a test because of cheating is never the right solution.
LA, London, Tokyo are all 8 hours apart. Which one takes it in the middle of the night and considers it a minor inconvenience?
Developing unique tests is likely a better answer, though more work.
Whether scores will be invalidated is unknown right now. I suspect it will take a while to investigate the degree to which results may have been compromised. The organization doing the reporting isn’t exactly an unbiased source of data… What happened with the “four other times” that this is reported to have happened?
Time zone differences have never stopped people from watching Olympic games, etc. in real time. Having to take a test at night isn’t such an additional hardship after all the preparation, is it?
To be honest, yes, I would think it is.
Watching the Olympics is a passive activity. If you doze off there’s no real issue; you can see the same event replayed in the morning or the next evening.
Kids are nervous enough about these exams. And some kids simply do not function well at night. My older daughter would have no problem with it at all. My younger would crash and burn. She simply needs to be in bed when she needs to be in bed.
And if her scores are being compared with someone taking the test in the morning or afternoon, then I think I would pull strongly for her to be in the more accommodating time zone-- as would other parents in other parts of the world.
I think we need a solution, but I don’t think this is it.
What’s the alternative? Create different sets of tests for different time zones? Normalizing all of them would be challenging, to say the least.
Different forms are always given for SAT1 for international vs US for this very reason; it shouldn’t be that hard to do for subject tests. Scales are usually predetermined (with the exception of SAT1 US June rare forms) and it’s unclear how often new subject test forms are developed.
Perhaps if College Board spend more effort on the quality of its current products rather than half-baked new ones…
It would be very costly to develop new tests for every time zone.
Not that we’ll ever find out, but I’d be curious about how much it actually does cost to develop a new test every time for biology. Then for giggles, I’d like to compare it to how much they spent to develop a curriculum for Pre-AP Biology (or as we called it when I was in HS ummmm 4 years ago, Biology I 
)
And does anyone truly think that the universe needs an AP World History: Ancient course/exam that the CB is exploring after the latest APWH revamp?!?!
I get that money is a finite resource, but I’m in the camp of spending it to fix what’s broken instead of rolling out stuff that nobody needs.
The most straightforward solution is to do away with subject tests entirely. Very few schools require or recommend them, and even then, they are a relatively minor part of an applicant’s admission evaluation. This solution would also save customers money, and would be another step toward greater access for lower SES students and/or those living in rural areas.
“Having to take a test at night isn’t such an additional hardship after all the preparation, is it?”
Given the many, many studies showing increased injury and decreased productivity of night work, as well as the week before and after daylight saving time, I think the data on this point is pretty clear.
Your really think going to school 8-3 every day, then staying up until midnight Friday to take a test would provide an accurate assessment?
I don’t know how much effort is put into the many language tests that almost no one but native speakers take, and colleges just ignore, but I suspect CB could better manage their test creation investments.
I think we also need to understand what actually happened. Fair Test isn’t exactly an unbiased source, and reading through the linked reddit thread, I’m not convinced of the magnitude.
Does this usually happen with tests that have time difference?