Hey guys, please HELP!!
So i just received a letter from ACT saying that there were some irregularities or that i cheated or someone cheated off of me(they didn’t specifically use the word “cheat”). That I and students around me had the exact same test me that its hard for scores to improve that much. But i DID NOT CHEAT! And the thing is that It is impossible to cheat! And how am i supposed to know that students around me have the same test as me and we had an unusually high identical response, well of cousre we will have and unusual high identical response if the answer is correct!! I guess they sent me this letter because of my score improvement…i have only taken the ACT twice, first in February(junior year) and scored a 14 composite and second time October(senior year) and scored a 23 composite. A 23 isn’t even that high of a score!! That is an 8 MONTH DIFFERENCE! I used my october scores to apply to colleges and got in and most importantly to my 1st college choice! I’ve already paid for orientation and housing! and they are just now sending me this letter and I’m about to graduate in a couple months smh. I went to a tutor from aug till my october test date, stayed after school for extra tutoring, purchased a ACT book, and did their practice tests online! i have 3 options: 1. cancel my scores
2. take a private test by myself with prompters in the room and ACT will pay. And since i got a 23 on this test the lowest i can get is a 20 composite on this retake.
3. Provide additional information to ACT to help establish the validity of my October 2014 score( send them my transcript, grades at that time, a personal letter from myself, parents, tutors, teachers and counselors).
I am leaning on the side of option 3 because I’ve done everything needed for the college i got accepted in and I’m about to graduate soon! i haven’t opened an ACT BOOK since October. that is my only high ACT score and my SAT scores aren’t that good, SAT was really difficult for me and the ACT was WAYYY much easier for me. i really worked hard for my score to improve. If i choose #1 i have no other good scores to apply with and its too late to apply to most colleges. if i choose #2 i admit to cheating and that there will be so much pressure and i won’t concentrate if i take the private test. So parents/students help me please, what would you do. And parents what will you advise your kids to do, remember you’ve paid for their orientation and housing already and you know your child worked hard for their scores to improve. Please HELP!!! why would they send me this now its been 6/7 months since i took the test!
Thank you,
Cheechee.
I would suggest talking to the ACT or to your college
Argentina2017 im in the process of doing option #3 b/c at this point in time I’ve done most of the things required for the college i got into and want to go to…i just hope they take all the letters I’m going to send them…if they don’t accept what I’m sending them they will cancel my scores and send a letter to my college and saying my scores have been canceled but won’t list why. everyone I’ve talked to personally said if i send them all the info they want they won’t cancel my scores…if they do ill just go to the college and have a discussion with them privately…thanks for you suggestion!! do you think is hold do #3 swell ?
You will wait until they give you a response. at the end, if you don’t want to lose time, you will need to take the ACT again
Send them the letters documenting how much you studied and whatever else they ask assuming it helps your case. Did you know the people who sat near you? If you did not I think that helps you. Also, how is their having a high number of the same tests sitting near each other your problem? Did you move seats? Did you or one of your friends give out the test booklet? The fact that the test center was not as random as it should have been is not your fault if you did not manipulate it.
While I do not know the why of timing, I agree that it may be difficult to duplicate your score months later. The second time I took the test I was mainly trying to improve math but I worked on English just to keep in practice, my score stayed similar but only because I worked on it. If you write a letter please have an adult who is a good writer review it before you send it to ACT
@Jr12317 I have till April 3 to send the option I chose. I’m working on option 3 right now because it’s the only one that makes sense right now, I don’t have a lot of time on my hands. My teachers/parents/tutoring center/counselor are writing very good letters for me to send to them.I send the info by apr 3rd it will take another 3/4 weeks for me to get a response. Do you think option #3 is the best one right now?
Were your online practice tests from the ACT website? If so, they should have logs. Send them your IP/log in info, etc.
Also, others you know must be in the same boat–those sitting around you, you’re all from the same school, no?
@SaphireNY im writing my own letter, teachers/my parents/tutoring center/ my counselor are writing their own letters as well… no I don’t know them, but the girl who sat infront of me does go to my school I don’t know her personally I just see her in the hallway. (She probably got the same letter)…I thought they gave out different tests, I think that’s the promoter fault not us the testers. It’s vary difficult to cheat especially with the promoter walking around all watching us the whole time. No you can’t move seats. And teachers give out the tests… I’m wtitting my letter to explain to them my first time it was just a trial that’s why I took out 8 months to study and get the score I got. And I’ll definitely get one of my lit teachers to read over it. Do you agree that I should go with option #3?..I heard things like this happen all the time if your scores improve more than 4pts.
@redpoodles how can I get those logs? Will they still be there since I took the test all the way back in October?..ppl around me probably got the same letter, And I think they will probably be doing option #3 since its so late. They probably got into the college they want to go to like me. No we’re not all from the same school, but I do remember seeing the girl who sat infront of me at my school in the hallway, but I dont know her personally… Do you agree I should go with #3 option? I heard this usually happens to students when their score improves by 4 or more points.
This is unfortunate - though you didn’t cheat, so things have to work out for you.
Option #3 does seem like the smartest TTD. #2 could open you up to a potential problem (who among us wouldn’t be rattled by the circumstances while testing!?). Don’t open yourself up to that, imo. Option #1 is not even an option - I hope you didn’t even consider it. You did not cheat and earned these scores.
#3, most importantly: your letter, along with your tutor’s, GC’s, parent’s, should suffice.
If you haven’t mentioned this to your school(s), don’t. That would be like telling your new employer that someone stole your identity and now your trying to fix your credit score - why flag yourself for any degree of suspicion. Again, you haven’t done anything wrong. …and btw: ACT isn’t either. They’re just doing their due diligence. Cheating is on the rise - they have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of their testing, as best as they can, for all students, like you, who take it in earnest. From their perspective, your increase is an anomaly, and a pretty remarkable one at that.
Congratulation are in order and that doesn’t change - they just need to make sure they’re not not catching cheaters. Trust the process - unless you have reason to no longer trust the process (like if they reply to your paperwork and continue to say they question the validity). Then, and ONLY then, my best advice would be to get a lawyer. -Given what you said here, this is extremely unlikely and they’ll close the investigation after getting your #3 paperwork.
Wishing you all the best - keep us posted.
oh - and one other point to make, if you didn’t already infer this from my comment upthread–
imo - and I’m not privy to why they flagged you, exactly, but imhpo (p/professional) - your scores were flagged because of your increase.
I’m not a betting woman, but I’d bet you a cup of coffee. ACT’s flag has nothing to do with who sat near you.
See the conversion charts to understand it as an SAT score – your jump is comparable to going from 1540 total SAT, which is approx. the national average, to 2400, a perfect score - something like 300 testers actually get a perfect score on the SAT, so you can figure the percentage of how many people actually get that score starts with a zero and a decimal.
It’s your score that flagged them.
And no, your jump is not unheard of. Just rare is all.
GL.
Hi-can you update what happened with your flagged score? My daughter is in the same position! we sent a letter with all the explanations and letters from test prep center, counselor, teachers, etc. Curious what happened with you??
The OP hasn’t posted since March. You won’t get any answers there.