The test will still be scored and there will no asterisk to the result. As always, nobody should find him or herself dependent on one score or one administration. The reality that has existed for a long time and will continue to exist is that the early bird get the worm. There are few reasons why people should not build their schedules around a Fall schedule that starts in October of the Junior year (yes that is around the official PSAT) and might culminate in the following year. No matter how much people challenge this notion, it remains that the SAT should target the same date as the PSAT and one should use the next administrations for mulligans. The SAT has no overlaps with the AP and the Subject Tests are easy to program throughout the year. There are no reasons to delay the testing.
For the people who THINK this had an impact on the scores --not sure why that could be, IMHO-- there is nothing to gain from petition, but everything to gain from preparing the next tests. Scores in October and November, and some in December, are still on time for most applications.
Fwiw, this “incident” has no impact on the extended time administrations.
We paid the same for this test as everyone else paid for their error free test. I definitely feel they owe the students a free retest. My S spent a good deal of time preparing for this test, and we are planning on using these scores to pick some schools for early action fall applications. He was hoping to bring up his verbal. This episode only further lowers my already low opinion of the College Board.
^ What if he did really well on the sections that will yield the score but bombed the one that is now deleted? Why does anyone assume that the deleted section would have been different from the similar sections?
In the end, the test will be scored and a student has now the option to take a mulligan and add a comment on his or her application. Most schools are not required full disclosure and accept score choice.
I think most students are okay with College Board’s decision. Or course it was a stupid mistake they made, but this is best possible decision. My daughter did extremely well on this 2nd attempt of the SAT. I see no reason the score will be that different with the 2 dropped sections. People are assuming that the curve will be brutal. I am not sure that is a valid assumption.
I know my daughter doesn’t want to retake it again, as well as most students. That’s why there are only a few hundred signatures on this petition for the 450,000 who took the test. I have seen the petition linked and mentioned on several news sites and forums, so it is not for lack of publicity.
We have decided not to sign the petition. My D and I discussed her test and she thought she did better on the beginning of the test than on the last two sections so we are hopeful that this will work in her favor. This was her second time taking it. The first time she did well enough to get into most of the schools she is interested in. This time was to improve her chances on her reaches and for scholarship money. She does not want to take it again. Especially after this debacle we have no interest in spending any more time on SATs. Whatever she gets, she gets, and then we are done with it.
You are absolutely correct. Most of the complaining voices are emotional responses to an issue that is poorly understood.
There is a chance that some might have done very well on the section that have been deleted, and especially if they did enjoy the extra five minutes. The extra time is a huge statistical interference and TCB reached the correct decision in eliminating the botched sessions.
However, there is probably a higher chance that the students did BETTER on the first sessions as fatigue and lack of concentration start in the last hour of the test. Although WE can only speculate about it, it is given that the experts at ETS know how to balance the shorter sessions to the original “curve.” The possibility that this will help students is just as high as the alternative.
@xiggi - It’s easy for people who didn’t take it to say it doesn’t matter but to some of the students it does. My son took the June SAT , will be taking the ACT tomorrow and will be taking either the SAT or ACT or both again anyway since he will be a Junior next year. However I believe that the college board has shown that they don’t know what they are doing. The tweets they sent out did not match what with their own website said. Come on… If this was any other type of business they would be dumped! Unfortunately students only have the 2 testing choices. I hope most kids take the ACT next year and not the SAT.
MichiganGeorgia, I understand the emotional side of this. What I am trying to share if, once you look at it with a pragmatic lens, you might place it all in the correct perspective. A GREAT number of things between now and enrollment will be a source of frustration, annoyance, and perhaps despair. Things wax and wane and you will --if you have not thus far-- find that almost every form, every organization could have used a little dose of user-friendliness.
You do mention the ACT … have you dealt with the registration process moronic process? How easy is it? Tried to reschedule a test date? It might have changed from a few years ago --and hopefully that bunch of fools decided to hire competent IT people-- but the ACT site was a hopeless mess.
To repeat myself, nobody knows much about the impact of cancelling a couple of sections. Again, for some it will be a bonus. Inasmuch as it is annoying to deal with an imperfect system, it really helps to ascertain what battles are worth waging. From my vantage point, your son who tool this test as a sophomore will have nothing to lose. Good score? Keep it. Disappointing score … do not use, share, or add a footnote when he will apply.
There are many parts of TCB that I find lacking and disappointing, but it is easier to overlook them and lick the wounds.
^^ The latest has been known since June 9th. The scores will be valid and timely. Only the perennial critics continue to make hay of this issue as it supports their agenda. The critics do not have more technical knowledge than the … 17 years old who complain. They just pretend to do!
Anyone with a modicum of understanding of the construction of the test should have known that two section had to excluded if a clock issue arose. The statistical information shared by ETS is also correct. Some just prefer to dispute the science by relying on ignorance.
So who is planning to take the free October retake? How will it affect those who are applying to schools like Penn who dont like to see many retakes and/or those who dont allow score choice?
That was all we wanted, the option for a free retake if we feel his June scores don’t accurately reflect how he thought he did on the test. Thank you College Board for giving us the option. He is hoping it is not needed; he really wants to be done testing!
How about ZERO impact! For all the noise regarding retakes, it remains that schools are happy to reward the highest scores in whatever how many retakes. Had they a different opinion, they could have started “penalizing” the candidates with a number of devices such stopping the superscores, averaging scores, or anything in that genre. The reality is that they do not and there has yet to be any meaningful added to the seminal research of Fischgrund.
In THIS case, nothing comes close to a problem. Like the score and all is well. Do not like the score, hide it with score choice, or when the school requires all scores, simply add a footnote in the applications stating that your October retake was prompted by the well-publicized snafu. For all intents and purposes, the stories about any NEGATIVE outcomes caused the lack of scoring of the two sections are still the domain of fantasy land, idle speculation, and the likes. Only people with an agenda of lining their own pockets have jumped on that bandwagon. Lawyers and self-anointed experts without qualifications.