<p>My D took the SATs (second time) on Saturday, May 3, at a local high school. It was chaotic - my daughter has a laundry list of things that just weren’t right:</p>
<li><p>The proctor arrived late, leaving limited time to complete the personal information sections. Students were still trying to get this portion completed when they were told the time for the essay was starting, so students lost some time on the essay. </p></li>
<li><p>After breaks, test was restarted while students were still returning to room from restroom breaks.</p></li>
<li><p>The proctor worked on his/her laptop during the test without muting the sound, so email message arrival dings and IM comings and goings were heard by the students.</p></li>
<li><p>Due to all the mistiming problems, there was very little time to complete the certification statement that must be copied at the end of the test.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>We will be submitting a letter of complaint to the College Board. The test proctors were all employees of the private Catholic high school where this test was administered. There were no similar concerns or problems when she took it the last time at a local public high school, or when she took it four years ago as part of the Johns Hopkins CTY program, or the times my son took it 3-4 years ago. I believe he may have taken it once at this private Catholic high school.</p>
<p>That's confusing. I've worked as a proctor (the hall monitor), and the administrators (the ones giving the test) have flexibility on start time. They have a sheet which indicates the amount of time for each section, and they are supposed to write down each section's start and end times.</p>
<p>That would have been better; however, they did all the instructions and prep over the PA system, with one person reading the info and all students in attendance in all rooms getting the same instructions at the same time. If the proctor was not on the ball and keeping up with the announcements, then these problems would have occurred and did occur.</p>
<p>My daughter was not particularly rattled by it -- she's pretty self-confident in these sort of things. Still, though, she recognized that it was not the ideal testing setting that it should have been, that we paid for, and that many students need. She said there were a number of students flustered and upset. </p>
<p>You should be vocal in lodging complaints with College Board, and invite other parents and students who were affected to do the same. It might also help to call the school directly and voice your concerns. The test supervisor (and proctors) sounds incompetent. Using a PA system for all the rooms is obviously not the ideal arrangement, and I doubt that official College Board instructions for the supervisor and proctors recommend or even allow for this.</p>