Northeast Rain Blamed for SAT Score Problem

Test Preparation
1

<p><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3713987.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3713987.html&lt;/a>

[quote]
Abnormally high moisture content in some answer sheets caused them to expand so they could not be read properly at a scanning center in Austin, Texas, said Pearson Educational Measurement.</p>

<p>The affected test day, Oct. 8, coincided with the beginning of a week of heavy rain in the Northeast, where most of the tests came from. Rain that weekend forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. As much as 10 inches fell on New Jersey.</p>

<p>"When there's moisture in the paper, it actually grows," said Pearson spokesman David Hakensen. That causes the ovals students fill in "to move just slightly, enough so that it will be out of registration for the scanning head to read the answers."

[/quote]

Wow... that's an amazing excuse. With the revenues available to the College Board, one might expect somewhat higher-tech scanning operation.</p>

<p>For CC members who were affected by this, are you located in the Northeast area?</p>

2

<p>Oddly I remember it pouring as I ran inside my test center when I took the Math IIC in October. Go figure. (I live in a suburb of NYC)</p>

3

<p>That excuse may cause many problems down the road. Now everyone who has EVER taken the SAT on a rainy day may question the accuracy. What about sweaty palms -- that could effect the scoring too.</p>

<p>Now everyone who took the SAT on a day where the moisture level was high, demand your SAT test be hand scored and you be refunded your registration fee.</p>

4

<p>How do people find if they were affected? I took the test on that day, and I do live in the Northeast.</p>

5

<p>What about the SAT II's? I took the Spanish SAT II in October and got a 480. I have had 9 years of Spanish and am fluent. I did not take it in NJ, but did take it in the upper mid Altantic.</p>

<p>Moisture only affects the SAT Reasoning Test, not the SAT II's ?</p>

6

<p>Shouldn't those darn Brits know how to handle a bit of moisture? Doesn't it rain everyday in the distant Isles?</p>

<p>Maybe we were worrying too much about Dubai managing our ports and not enough about the technical know-how of companies such as Pearson PLC. :)</p>

7

<p>Wow, hey - I was drenched on my SATs in October too, but I took the SAT IIs. It is a bit of an incredulous excuse. I always thought the Scantron was friendly (i.e, you didn't need perfect bubbles)</p>

8

<p>Bull*****...</p>

9

<p>What the heck...I definately remember that it was pouring outside that day in october. I had to rush to a football game right after the SATs. The game was a slopfest. How do we request that our scores be looked at again???</p>

10

<p>I believe they notifyed you if your scores were inaccurate. I took them for the 2nd time in October myself (and it was raining for me in CT too!) and I checked collegeboard.com just in case, but they said if they messed up, they notified you and your colleges, so you would probably know if it happened to you.</p>

11

<p>This is an awful excuse. The scantron is friendly in grading, by that I mean you don't need a perfect circle. Secondly, the paper grows by mm, this has no real bearing. Plus, what about the scores they messed up on the West Coast. I guess it rained all over the country.</p>

12

<p>I know engineering firms that throw out any opened packs of copy paper at the end of the day (at least in Louisiana) because they say the humidity gets in the paper and will make it jam their special equipment. So I guess the rain excuse could be real. But if the scoring machines are that sensitive, it seems odd that tests from areas with high humidity aren't affected all the time.</p>

13

<p>If high humidity is the cause, it is a source of great comfort to know that the answer sheets are sent to Texas for scanning!</p>

14

<p>Actually, Austin doesn't have high levels of humidity.</p>

<p>But surely they have received damp scoresheets before?</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
But surely they have received damp scoresheets before?

[/quote]
I might have cried on mine. (Was a long time ago, though, they probably scored them using hash marks on a clay tablet).</p>

16

<p>Yea, I remember it pooring on the October Test day. I live on Long Island. I took SAT II's and my US History score was much higher than expected, maybe the machine gave me extra points:) This is a BS excuse, as I am sure that tests have gotten wet before and scored with no problem. Or this could be real and there may have been mistakes in the past. hummmm???</p>

17

<p>Wow, I could do a better job at damage control. Sometimes the best thing to do is to admit that you made mistakes, apologize, make amends, and move on.</p>

<p>"I'm sorry. We made a mistake. We've fixed everyone's scores, refunded testing fess, and made certain the chances for collge admissions of those affected will not be impacted by the old(inaccurate) score. We will not disappoint you again. (Delineates ways to make it better.)"</p>

<p>Come on, is it THAT hard?</p>

18

<p>This is an awful excuse. What are kids supposed to do, turn around and go home if it is raining on their test date at their test location? Check the weather report for Texas before deciding whether to turn in a test answer sheet?</p>

<p>This does NOT bolster my confidence in the SAT. I hope it makes others nervous as well.</p>

19

<p>You know what? I don't believe them, after reading the article. It sounds like damage control, pure and simple. Something I've heard a lot of lately in other areas.</p>

20

<p>"Actually, Austin doesn't have high levels of humidity."</p>

<p>You are severely misinformed. go check the humidity levels now or how they were in october.</p>