<p>What if it happens?
Will CB cancel the scores?
Like someone scores in low 1800 in the october SAT, and after two months, in december SAT the same student scores around 2300.
This is generally not possible. A rise of 500 within 2 months is sth worth suspecting of. But say, the student on the October SAT was not feeling well or sth.
Will CB do a inspection and his/her scores will be cancelled ?
Anyone Knows anything about this?
Please remove my confusion!
Thanks in advance
:)</p>
<p>without any prep i took the first time got a 1580 (lol) and then got an 1810 no cancellation of scores, I’m hoping to get a 2100-2200 on the December test as I am a senior and that will be my last chance, as I still have to take the SAT subject tests in January.</p>
<p>Your score is very likely to be cancelled. That is true, a dramtic increase in a short time is sth CB never believes.</p>
<p>No CB cancellations from two of my kids at CB – Child No. 1 took the test in March of 2011 and score 1880. He re-took in June 2011 (after tutoring) and scored 2130. Child #2 took the test with tutoring in January 2012 and scored 205o. He retook in March 2012 w/o tutoring and scored 2120. He then tried again in June 2012 w/o tutoring and the third time was the charm as he scored 2290 (1540 CR + M). </p>
<p>Although I am happy my kids improved dramatically, as people know if they have read my other posts, these great leaps are one reason why I question the emphasis placed on standardized testing in the admissions process.</p>
<p>@DarkFlameMaster: Please don’t give false information; what you said is simply not true. </p>
<p>CB will not cancel your score based on a score increase alone. Your score will most likely be delayed as they do routine checks, such as comparing your correct/incorrect answers with students who sat near you on the test. However, if you didn’t cheat, there is no reason for why they would cancel it. As indicated by many members on this forums and by the Princeton Review, CollegeBoard will look for a second piece of suspicion. If they found one, then they might cancel your score.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of the CB questioning a 200 point increase - this is not that significant. A 400 point increase is another story however. I have had to testify at arbitration hearings where students of mine were accused of cheating based only on their score increase. These hearings can take a year or more to resolve. Other evidence that was used (after the fact) was the number of erasures indicating problems were changed, and not very much work written in the test booklet. My testimony explained that these two pieces of “evidence” were consistent with my teaching methods, and therefore did not give any proof of cheating.</p>
<p>None of my students have ever been “found guilty,” but a colleague of mine had one student who was (many years ago).</p>
<p>My suggestion - if you are worried about your score showing a significant increase, try to show some work in your test booklet, and try not to erase too much.</p>
<p>seems legit, show some work in your test booklet.
Also, they must compare the curves. If the curve was very very harsh previously and the curve is very generous now, then they might consider a rise of 400-500.
What other things you suggest to make it look a natural increase, Dr. steve?</p>
<p>By the way, I believe that the worst thing that they can do is make you retake the test in a private setting. Remember that in this situation nobody has actually been caught cheating - the evidence is VERY circumstantial. But of course nobody should be forced to retake such a long test when they didn’t do anything wrong. Frankly, I was shocked when I heard that organizations giving standardized tests accused people of cheating without any actual evidence. And then to use items that are not used for grading as evidence after the fact seems very wrong to me. In any case most students do not need to worry about this at all.</p>
<p>As far as the curves go, I don’t think this would factor in at all - the scores are normalized, and without the right preparation most students’ scores will not fluctuate very much. This is why such a tremendous score increase will set off a flag. Wheteher they actually believe it or not, the College Board claims that the SAT is not coachable, and a huge score increase contradicts this. But the fact is that a student that prepares properly can have a very large score increase.</p>
<p>@ Dr. Steve: Thanks!
I think I should not worry about all this .</p>
<p>My daughter took her 1st sat on oct, 2012 and was scored 2210, she also took her PAST on Oct. 2012, score 225, but CB used her PSAT score from 2 years ago, to flag her sat score now. they also stated that some of her answer was similar to the one seat near her, some of the scratch work did not match her final answer. she provided her GPA and her sat prep test from her SAT review teacher and explained the reason that she had a low psat score 2 years ago, she was hit by a car while riding her bike and was in pediatric ICU that summer. do you think that she has a chance to get her score cleared?</p>
<p>what if my scores are 2000 at october 2012, 1850 at november 2012, 1950 in december 2012, 1760 in october 2013 and i scored more than 2200 at the december 201. will the december score be canceled or delayed?</p>
<p>It is true that College Board will not cancel your score based on a substantial score increase alone; however, even without any concrete evidence or proof that the student in question has cheated, if there any reason whatsoever to suspect that the student’s score does not reflect his own efforts, College Board can and will act arbitrarily based on its own discretion to either cancel the score or make the student retake the test. </p>
<p>For instance, let’s say a student in Korea took the test 4 times and averaged about 1800 each time. Suddenly, the student gets a 2250. The score is automatically flagged and sent up to the admin for review. After a thorough investigation (looking at seating arrangements, comparing essay to past essays, seeing if any of the answers are similar to those in the same room, determining whether anyone else in the same testing center was also suspected of cheating, doing a background check on the proctor, finding out whether student attended any academies on the blacklist, interviewing the proctor to see whether student exhibited any suspicious behaviors, determining whether the kid had access to the test in advance, etc), no proof is found whatsoever to support suspicions that the student cheated.</p>
<p>After a brief meeting, the admin still believes that the student cheated and decides to call the student (yes, this is what is being done in Korea). The parents pick up and ETS officials tell the parents they want to speak to the kid directly. The parents are enraged and spew some legal mumbo-jumbo. ETS politely tells the parents the score will not be released until they can speak to the kid. The parents yield, and the kid (terrified) gets on the phone. ETS says they want the kid to come in for a private meeting (what they mean is investigation, of course) and that he or she will be interviewed without a parent in the room. </p>
<p>At the interview, ETS informs the kid that he or she can either cancel his score or retake the test in a private setting. 99% of the time, the kids break down and reveal the truth of how they cheated (yes, because in 99% of situations like these, the kid did cheat) and for the remaining 1% who refuse to yield because in truth, they really studied hard or came down with a terrible flue, you can fight a prolonged legal battle and still come out a loser in the end.</p>
<p>While the scenario described above is unique to Korea and an extreme example in most countries, ETS can still just cancel your score arbitrarily if they suspect you cheated by just sending you a short email along the lines of OH WELL YOU LOSE!</p>
<p>SO MY ADVICE IS: JUST DON’T DO IT!</p>
<p>Moreover, 270 score increases as described by one of the posters above are not substantial enough to eliciit an investigation.</p>
<p>I believe the threshhold (I could be wrong) for any automatic flagging is either a 350 overall increase or decrease (yes, you even get flagged for a score decrease, as there are cheaters who sabotage their scores to avoid detection when they help others cheat) or an increase of more than 200 for each individual section.</p>
<p>And THE SCORE INCREASE IS DETERMINED BASED ON YOUR LAST TEST SCORE, not a test from the past, although past scores can be taken into consideration. So, if you go from a 1760 to a 2200, that is exactly a 340 score increase. You might get lucky and fly under the radar and avoid automatic flagging, or even if you get delayed, they might release your score right away after an investigation.</p>
<p>The above situation only applies to THOSE WHOM COLLEGE BOARD OR ETS BELIEVES CHEATED beyond a shadow of a doubt.</p>
<p>@donnykim how many critical reading sections did you get? what were they? x</p>
<p>What if there is a reason for a dramatic score increase? </p>
<p>In all the practice tests I’ve taken I’ve scored an average of 750 for each section. </p>
<p>But I know without a shadow of doubt that I have scored around 500 on each section for the December 7th test because I had to write the whole thing with my right hand with a dislocated right shoulder as the CB couldn’t organise a scribe in time. I didn’t finish half the sections and was in so much pain throughout the the test that I couldn’t concentrate on anything - especially critical reading passages. My essay was also extremely short and I found it impossible to complete the harder Math problems because I couldn’t write down the working out. </p>
<p>All this because apparently all the test centres where I live are full for January. I’m going to try for standby testing but if I do and I get a 2350 as supposed to a 1500 will I be accused of cheating? Should I cancel my Dec scores? If I cancel my Dec scores and don’t get a place in Jan then I won’t have a score for colleges (Jan is the last test date they accept) :(</p>
<p>I have actually recently written a blog post on this subject. First, don’t cancel your December scores. What you need to do to be safe is to make sure that you have evidence that you did not cheat. There are two simple ways to do this:</p>
<p>(1) Show lots of work in your test booklet - this will prove that you actually know how to solve the problems.</p>
<p>(2) Try not to change too many answers - in other words, avoid lots of erasure marks on your answer sheet.</p>
<p>If you follow these two pieces of advice it will be impossible for the College Board to make a case against you.</p>
<p>Okay now. First of all, let me clarify that I am not trying to scare anyone. Let’s say that there was a substantial increase in the total score from 1800 to 2300. Let’s say an investigation is conducted and no evidence is found that any type of cheating took place (because due to extentuating circumstances, you really didn’t cheat but just had a bad day), but there is still doubt lingering in the minds of the ETS officials and they decide to play the Gestapo with you. </p>
<p>In that case, explain clearly in an email should your score be delayed and not released within 1-2 weeks the circumstances that you described above. Also, have verifiable school transcripts, graded essays, and even signed letters from teachers and parents to prove that you’re an otherwise smart kid. Rarely does a student who scores 2300 legitimately have terrible grades in school and write like a 5th grader, as is the case with many cheaters who suddenly jump to 2300 from 1800. </p>
<p>Like I said, they have to have real strong suspicions that you cheated when the evidence is not there in order for them to arbitrarily cancel your score or demand that you retake it, but do not believe that they won’t do it. </p>
<p>Otherwise, I’d say you’re a bit too concerned about too many “what-ifs” when your score has not even been flagged or delayed yet, and even with a substantial increase, they may release it right away.</p>
<p>GL</p>
<p>BTW: I wholeheartedly approve of and support what DrSteve says. His knowledge wasn’t obtained from any mediocre SAT test prep books. We’re talking arbitration hearings and court-ordered subpoenas here, goddamnit!!! lol. So start scribbling as hard as you can in those books next time!!! Just don’t say “f*k the sat!!”</p>
<p>“Also, have verifiable school transcripts, graded essays, and even signed letters from teachers and parents to prove that you’re an otherwise smart kid.” </p>
<p>donnykim, unfortunately I can’t do the above because I’m home-schooled. </p>
<p>I will definitely follow DrSteve’s advice though - thank you!</p>
Hey. I got 1980 on both my SATs. However, I have a comparatively better superscore (2140). I’m planning to take the SAT in October as my last try for 2300. I will have a 300+ points increase if I actually can do it. Is collegeboard gonna delay my score then? That would really affect my college application thou