<p>The gist of the article is that SAT proctors at a site that is a major SAT testing center started the test an hour late; let students work on sections long after time expired and on others ahead of time; let students make cellphone calls and eat in the room; did not have a clock & let students time themselves with a microwave oven timer, while the proctors dozed off.</p>
<p>Good SAT word used to describe this particular incident: debacle. </p>
<p>According to the article, this testing center has a history of transgressions when it comes to administering the SAT. Obviously, there is a lot of damage control to do: "the associate supervisor and proctor have been told they will never be rehired by ETS. Extra training and more staff have been promised for the Dec. 2 administration of the SAT scheduled at Wilson."</p>
<p>I have always wondered who monitors the monitors.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT for the College Board, agreed. It canceled the exam scores for all eight students after looking into reports of testing problems. Ray Nicosia, test security director for ETS, said the students can have letters sent to the college admissions officials to absolve them for missing any deadlines. The students also may take a special makeup test as early as tomorrow.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Imagine having to re-take after spending 8 hours on the first one! My son says the SAT I and SAT II both started 45 miinutes late. The kids get up so early to be there on time; you'd think the adults would be more responsible.</p>
<p>I know a school where on the writing part the proctor let the kids use pens since she thought it was ok (they'd used pens for the AP test) and then at the end told them all, whoops the scores wouldn't count since they were supposed to use pencils...and then there was an uproar and everyone sat and re-wrote it them in pencil...</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that is the high school I graduated from, so I am not surprised.</p>
<p>Although the students interviewed for this article all attend private schools in D.C., I assume that many of the test takers are local public school students. It is sad to see that these kids still face disadvantages in the college admissions process.</p>
<p>My D took two SAT II tests a couple weeks ago. She had to be at the testing center at 7:30 a.m. I figured the prelims would take up to maybe 8:30, and 2 hour-long tests with a break would go no longer than, say, 11:00. At 11:30 I started to worry. </p>
<p>They started late. First they sent the students to one end of the building. Wrong room. Back to other end. No, the first one was right, for those taking a language test. Back again. Then one girl realized she forgot her CD player. Had to call mom, and the rest of the students had to cool their heels till mom got there.</p>
<p>My D said the written instructions said "You will hear each sentence only once" which she took to mean the tape was to continue playing, which is how she did it. Apparently, many of the students stopped and re-played multiple times. The proctor's instructions said that some language tests were longer than others, so to wait till everyone was done. Well, since some were replaying portions, they took very long. My D finished her exam quickly, and then sat.</p>
<p>When everyone was done, those taking only one exam left, and the others continued with their second. She finished at 12:30. 5 hours for 2 one-hour exams. I feel sorry for the kids who stayed for the third exam.</p>
<p>It is so frustrating that colleges weight these scores so much.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, another poster's S had his test completely disqualified because the proctor thought he did not put his pencil down immediately upon the announcement. Maybe that was appropriate, but when you compare it with this situation....</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
It is so frustrating that colleges weight these scores so much.
[/QUOTE]
No matter how many times I assure students that their transcripts hold the most weight, they are convinced we're making decisions based largely on the standardized tests. With four years of info coming from the school, it's not hard to glance at the four hour test data and move on. I'm not saying every single admission person is like me (after all, I'm one of maybe three of us on this board, so I'm clearly different)...just trying to say that we're not all leaning heavily on those scores.</p>
<p>I think some of the test prep companies might have a hand in the message getting changed a bit.</p>
<p>By the way, this is the big topic of the week in professional circles. We're hearing lots of horror stories about score reports from the October test administration. Students are getting odd notes on their accounts when they log in to check scores, some are seeing reports they ordered upon registering (the free reports) not being sent, some are having problems with old requests being confused for the current ones (school codes from last April, for example, showing up on their October scores).</p>
<p>It seems as though ETS is less and less reliable with each administration that goes by.</p>
<p>Seniors from Ds HS drove 1.75hrs to the test site and had to wait until someone from the school showed up to unlock the main doors. Kids who attended that school knew another way to enter and were able to sit in comfort while the others waited outside in the rain.</p>
<p>I've always wondered about that--as sons take the test approximately 19 hours ahead of the US. Mind you, fewer than 30 kids attend any one test session.</p>
<p>I'm interested in knowing about the experiences of those on this forum who have proctored the SAT. Is there any training? I am aware that there is a manual that offers direction to the proctor, but I'm not aware of any training offered/required. On one hand it seems that common sense would prevail; then again, common sense isn't so common!</p>
<p>Proctor's pay from ETS is about $100, which isn't bad for a morning's work. It's my understanding that the coordinator of each site is paid significantly more than the proctor's stipend. </p>
<p>Have you found the standards to vary from proctor to proctor as seems to be the case with many who have posted comments about their own experience?</p>