What's wrong with this picture?

<p>My s just received his Oct. SAT scores. </p>

<p>CR 720
M 630
W 670 (71/ 7)</p>

<p>He is usually a very consistent test taker-- </p>

<p>PSAT CR- 71, M - 73, W-65........ March SAT CR 720, M-740, W- 660.</p>

<p>His ACT is 34. In order to get a 630 on the Math, he would have had to miss 9 or 10 or more. He has never missed that many on Math in any SAT practice test or test, ever. He usually misses 3 or less. Also, if he really missed that many, he would have felt like he did poorly, which he did not. He felt like he knew how to do all of the problems on the test (which he should, since he has had calc AB already). The percentile for the 630 is 82-- I'm pretty sure that he has never tested below 95th percentile for math on a standardized test, ever. </p>

<p>What could have happened here? Is there any way I can know? </p>

<p>I appreciate any help that you all can offer.</p>

<p>Hard to say–maybe a bubbling error or something like that? I hope he’s not taking it too hard. His scores are pretty strong and most schools superscore so that might be some consolation. </p>

<p>He can order the Q and A service if he wants to see what questions he missed.<br>
<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/scores/qas.html[/url]”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;

<p>He can also pay for hand scoring
<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;

<p>I suggest to order the QAS, to see if it was a bubbling error as someone consistant in math, 99% of the time stay consistant in math.</p>

<p>I did even worse than your son dropping from 800 to 670 in math(130 points)</p>

<p>That’s like 5 more wrong than perfect but i’m wary of getting it hand scored. Plus it takes 3-5 weeks, and by then, it’s long past the deadline for EA/ED.</p>

<p>Did you use a “code” to determine the score?</p>

<p>If I get the QAS, and the answers for the last 7 or so problems of one section are all off by one, then I know it’s a “bubbling error”? And if it is, will hand scoring take that into account, or do you just have to live with it?</p>

<p>thegodofrice-- seems like there were quite a few that are normally very good at math that dropped by a lot this time. How do we know there isn’t a problem at college board again like October 05?</p>

<p>blubberxyz, what do you mean “code”?</p>

<p>(Thanks for the input everyone.)</p>

<p>I dont get it, especially since the math was extremely easy this time. I highly doubt they will care if there is a bubbling error, although that would be extremely nice. I think you just have to live with it. Also, what is the point of hand scoring? Can any1 give me a example scenario in which it can alter your grade? Is the essay regraded?</p>

<p>Ohiomomma, i completely agree. I did every practice section in the blue book and was doing extremely well in the barron practice questions for writing. SOmehow i got a 640 though? That is only 30 points better than last time, whereas last time i had no idea what i was doing, and didn’t study. I just feel this can’t be right…I don’t mean to complain, but i came out of there thinking my writing section would be the best…</p>

<p>What happened in Ocotber '05?</p>

<p>I doubt bubbling errors (accidentally skipping a question and filling all subsequent answers in the wrong spots) are taken into account for hand scoring. My guess is that it’s just viewed as an unfortunate error on the tester’s part. From the description on the website it sounds like multiple choice hand scoring will review to make sure the machine didn’t misread the answer sheet. I don’t have any first hand experience with this though. You probably want to ask customer service at CB, especially since if the hand scoring results in a lower score the results are final. </p>

<p>Here’s a thread that talks about some people’s results. There are some that showed math improvement.<br>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=408311[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=408311&lt;/a&gt;
FWIW my d’s math score improved by 50 points and CR by 30 (I think the difference is mainly that she a cold last time). So her results were in line with what she expected. The experimental section was very easy from what I hear. Maybe that skewed some people’s perceptions?</p>

<p>I screwed up Oct Math as well. I can never imagine scoring lower than 750 in the Math sections. I’m not saying that I’m super-clever or anything, but Math is where I take pride in. I thought I would get a perfect score in Oct since the Math was ridiculously easy. Yet somehow I managed to score 680. Anw, I think that’s the curse of the SAT: U can never predict your scores. Still, it was my 1st attempt, I’m retaking next year. <sigh></sigh></p>

<p>For those who are unaware, in October of 2005 there were many tests that were scored incorrectly in the Northeast since the papers were exposed to water damage prior to scoring (there were major rains and floods when the tests were being transported), and as a result a few thousand students received incorrect scores.</p>

<p>The SAT corrected the problem eventually, but all the colleges where the incorrect scores were sent had to be notified and new scores sent. There were also (natually) a few lawsuits over the problem–both students and their parents suing collegeboard and collegeboard suing the company responsible for the error.</p>

<p>The thread(s) on this ran in CC–so just google search it here if you are interested in reading all the posts yourself.</p>

<p>Same exact thing for me. In March I had a 760 in math, then October a 670. I don’t know what happened..</p>