<p>We received a certified letter today from the ACT organization, saying that they reviewed our daughter's ACT test and found "an unusual similarity between her responses and another examinee with the same test form seated near her." They are offering 3 options:
1. Retest at a private testing (daughter must score w/in 3 points in order to keep the original scores.)
2. Cancel the scores
3. Provide a statement that can help establish the validity of the test scores, and any documentation that substantiates her statement (must include a high school transcript.)</p>
<p>My daughter maintains her innocence. She wants to go with option #3. However, her transcript does not support her high ACT score. She transferred to a private prep school her sophomore year and really struggled her first year, resulting in an extremely low gpa. She improved a lot her junior year, but her gpa is really low.</p>
<p>She studied a lot before the ACT--had a private ACT tutor for 3 weeks before the ACT (6 meetings), participated in a small group tutoring class 2x per week for 4 weeks, and used a couple of ACT prep books. She took the test at a different school and didn't know anyone else in the classroom. It would be pretty risky for her to cheat off of a complete stranger.</p>
<p>She has already been accepted to some colleges, but all were predicated on this ACT score (she only took the ACT and only one time). She is afraid that if she takes it again, she won't do as well (within the 3 point margin) and her original score will be rescinded. Not having studied for the ACT in months, being immersed in academics, athletics, and activities, and adding the additional pressure of having to take the test in a private setting under an unspoken accusation of cheating, may cause her to perform poorly. </p>
<p>No matter what happens, I think she will have to take the test again--if the score is nullified, she doesn't have another test to fall back on. </p>
<p>Has anyone experienced this before? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Huh, a 3 point margin is equivalent to 200 points on the SAT, so that would be like an 1800 from a 2000. If your daughter can’t get within 3 ACT points (12 subscor decreases), it is unlikely that she deserves her current score unless she has a bad day on the retake.</p>
<p>How about try option 3, and if they feel that it isn’t a valid enough of a reason, opt for the re-take? I mean, you could explain to them about her transfer and everything else you mentioned to us. Then at the end, say something like “If you feel that this is not enough of an adequate documentation, we will gladly re-take the test.”</p>
<p>I think ACT is trying to crack down on cheating. My daughter’s school was called because there was such a discrepancy between her critical reading scores (high) and English scores (fair). We were lucky because when the guidance counselor was asked if there was any possibility she cheated, he laughed and said he was in the room the whole time and she was the only student in the room (the rest of the class took the SAT on other days). Good luck to your daughter, I’d opt for retaking too.</p>
<p>The way the OP phrased option 1 makes it seem that the new score will not be substituted even if it is higher than th original score. However, I’m curious as to whether or not that would be the case if OP’s daughter did score higher on the re-test.</p>
<p>The three-point margin is more than enough to account for re-taking the ACT in some strange place with minimal recent preparation in the middle of a busy last semester. If she’s innocent, she’ll gladly re-take the exam.</p>
<p>Sorry to go on a tangent but ACT cheating is rampant. A girl at my school copied off the stranger next to her - every answer - and scored a 27. No calls from ACT. It’s unbelievable.</p>
<p>We have decided to first go with Option #3. It doesn’t seem fair to place this much additional stress on my daughter, when she did not do anything wrong. If the ACT board does not agree with our statement and rules against her, she will still have the option of retaking the test. </p>
<p>I thought there were different exams given to kids in a classroom to prevent cheating. How does a student know that the person sitting next to her has the same test? It seems kind of foolish to me that a child would risk getting ALL the answers wrong by copying someone else’s paper. In my daughter’s case, she took the test at a different school, so she was sitting by complete strangers. She would have no idea if the kid next to her was an excellent student or a mediocre one.</p>
<p>Though I’m not 100% sure, I would think that there aren’t multiple forms of a test. After all, it takes a lot of time/money/effort to write an entire test that is unbiased and fair. As for mixing up test questions/answers, the chances of a student misbubbling the form codes (assuming there are multiple forms) grows, which would give the ACT people way too much trouble.</p>
<p>Might want to include this info in the letter of appeal. I’d include documentation of tutoring, any feedback/practice scores from the test prep, etc. Grades vs. score might be an issue, but it depends on how wide the discrepancy is. I have two kids whose GPAs on first blush didn’t match up with their SATs – until you saw what kinds of courses they took.</p>
<p>I’d tell my kid to retake it. She has learned the strategies to take the test. She learns more and more in class every day that can help her with the test. Reiterate your belief in her ability to do well. One of mine took the SAT in March, retook in June and never looked at a SAT book in between (too many AP/IB exams and SAT-II and was frankly too stressed out to even bother reviewing). Went up 90 points, including 60 in math, his perpetual nemesis.</p>