<p>I don't know whether this is typical or if something really out of the ordinary. D took the SAT for the first time yesterday. As is typical, it was in a large urban testing center. She gets accommodations so her specific group room was very small (only 12 kids). During the Critical Reading section, the proctor announced that there was 15 minutes left. D panicked because she was less that 1/3 finished. She rushed ahead, answering as many of the questions as she knew immediately. She checked her own watch and it didn't seem right but she assumed she'd miscalculated. A few minutes later, the proctor announced 10 minutes left. She actually considered bailing on the test and asking for a waiver to leave and cancel. A few minutes later came the announcement: 5 minutes left. She was really freaking out. Just before the time ended, the proctor announced: "Oh I made a mistake--there are really 15 minutes left. She allowed them 3 minutes extra and reinstated the time. So everyone had to go back and fix all the rushed work.</p>
<p>Is this worthy of a complaint to the College Board? Since this is our first official exam, we won't have anything for comparison if her CR score is a bomb. We've done several proctored practice tests with a test prep service and her scores on this section have been over 700. She really needs to rock this test because her GPA is spotty.</p>
<p>Is she a junior? If so she’ll have plenty of time to take it again.</p>
<p>She is a junior, but has really spent so many hours prepping for this thing, that we were really hoping to have it over in one go. She’s done a course, done 10 practice tests and met weekly with a tutor and the thought of continuing it kind of knocks the wind out of everyone.</p>
<p>Absolutely file a complaint!</p>
<p>Whether or not it will make a difference for your daughter, I don’t know - but it needs to be brought to their attention that the proctoring at this test center is sub-par.</p>
<p>I don’t know how they’d remedy this for the student (they can’t change her score) - but at the very least, they should waive your testing fee the next time around (or refund the cost for this one). I would inquire as to whether or not she can retake the test in June for no additional charge. Not to long to wait . . . and after this botched up test, the retest should feel like a breeze for her!</p>
<p>This is definitely messed up and affected the test takers and I’m sorry your D and you are having to go through this. I think you should file a complaint and agree with the above - they should at least waive the fee for the next one although I don’t know if they will.</p>
<p>How hard could it be to proctor an exam? About the only thing they have to do is watch the time and make sure no one’s cheating. When she retakes the exam try to avoid this proctor.</p>
<p>I think less than ideal testing happens all the time for all kinds of reasons and that’s just part of the process. My S’s group went 6 sections before a break yesterday (oops, they say the forgot the first one)–not ideal but it is what it is.</p>
<p>Do what you think is right. Not all proctors announce time remaining, that is why they tell you to bring your own watch.
I think there is always some degree of difference with the tests that is uncontrolled.
The rules state that the starting time is fixed, but DD had to wait 30 to 45 minutes for SAT to start due to late arriving students. Almost any teenager would benefit from 30 minutes of additional sleep, rather than arriving on time per the rules.
DD also had a grammatical mistake on one section of the ACT. After the board threw out that question, a single wrong answer lowered your score to 34 out of 36. A brutal curve due to their error.</p>
<p>If your daughter believes this negatively impacted her performance on the test (and it sounds very reasonable that it did) then by all means notify the College Board. No one can fix problems of which they are unaware. And it may get you a waived fee for the next time she takes it.</p>
<p>At our hs the central office people messed up and allowed a Pop Warner cheerleading competition to be held at the hs the same day as the PSAT. Technically the competition was only in the field house at one end of the building but in reality there were groups of young girls running all over the grounds and practicing cheers outside, including just outside of classrooms at the far end of the building where students were taking the PSAT. After furious parents complained to the principal, she went to Central Office and got the procedures for approval of outside rentals changed - now outside groups can rent out the high school only with the express written consent of the principal.</p>
<p>Terrible things happen all the time unfortunately. One of my former tutoring students had an incident with a kid vomiting in the test room. They didn’t move them to another room nor did they clean it up while the kids where there. Great, huh?</p>
<p>It probably is worth it for your daughter to file a complaint, if for no other reason than to ensure this proctor gets reprimanded. They likely won’t do anything with her scores, but you should have the information officially recorded.</p>
<p>If y’all haven’t already found it, my pal Debbie Stier’s blog talks about her bad testing experience and the rights of test takers. Tons of good info here (and throughout her site):</p>
<p>[Test</a> Day | Perfect Score Project](<a href=“http://perfectscoreproject.com/category/blog/test-day/]Test”>http://perfectscoreproject.com/category/blog/test-day/)</p>
<p>I decided to file an email complaint to the college board. I think it should be on record and even if it makes proctors more careful, then it’s a good thing. I really don’t expect them to change a grade. Grinzing, I can’t imagine having to go 6 sections without a break. It’s bad enough that they’re not allowed to have a water-bottle during the test. The whole process just doesn’t mirror the reality of what they’ll experience in college. Would it kill them to double the time allowed for breaks so that everyone can go to the bathroom, stretch or eat a quick snack. I’ll check out the blog too.</p>
<p>Wow, this is weird. I realize that this is an old thread from 2012, but the exact same thing happened in this June 2014 test in a very large suburban school (maybe 1200 kids sitting). The proctor misstated the time left for each section, causing the kids to be really annoyed and irritable – a distracted frame of mind that they can ill-afford.</p>
<p>Please use old threads for information only. Closing.</p>