<p>Hello, I am an upcoming senior in high school and my May 2012 SAT scores were very bad. I received a 1340. This was because I had not prepared at all and procrastinated studying for it, which lead me to studying hard the day before the test. </p>
<p>I know it's a very bad strategy lol and I didn't think anything through but recently, ever since summer started I have been studying countless hours for the SATs. I have taken about six practice tests all being scores above 1700 (and one was a 1920). So I have improved a lot and will probably take classes.</p>
<p>What I am extremely worried of is if when I take the test in October again, I receive a remarkably higher score, (my goal is above 2000) and collegeboard will halt/cancel my scores because they accuse me of cheating. </p>
<p>I found out from somewhere that Collegeboard will question proctors or something.. The proctors of my school are usually not aware of what goes on during the testing.. Sounds odd I know but it's the truth, so I feel that they are not necessarily trustworthy and might just accuse me of cheating just because my score would improve by 700 points.. </p>
<p>PLEASE I really do not want this to happen :( I am an honest student and have worked so hard for the SATs so far over the summer and will work even harder..</p>
<p>Yeah, like CollegeBoard is going to plot everyone’s SAT scores over time and randomly accuse people of cheating if their score improves >100 pts/month.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it. If anything, the colleges you apply to might get suspicious but they shouldn’t reject you just because your SAT score went up by 700 pts.</p>
<p>OP … I look at this situation very differently than you …</p>
<p>Path 1 - scores don’t improve much so there is NO chance the SAT folks will review the results.</p>
<p>Path 2 - the studying and practicing pays off and my scores go WAY up and yes there is some chance the SAT folks will look into the situation.</p>
<p>Seems to me that path 2 is a heck of a lot better. My suggestion would be to not worry about something that is not all the likely to happen … and just focus on doing well on the test itself … and then you can focus on the post test stuff.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the OP is right to be concerned. I have had to testify on students’ behalves that were accused of cheating based only on their dramatic score increase. If you really think your score will improve that drastically, there are a couple ways you can protect yourself:</p>
<p>1) Try to show your work in your test booklet. </p>
<p>2) Try not to use your eraser too much. </p>
<p>This will reduce the amount of evidence that the college board can use against you.</p>
<p>In my experience, I have not seen anyone who did not do something wrong get their score flagged. A very very small percentage of the users who get their scores flagged by CB actually even know of the flagging. A few users get their score delayed but for the most part nothing really happens. They use handwriting analysis and other things to verify your score. I would not worry and just focus on doing the best you can. Best of luck in your studies!</p>
<p>You better worry and be prepared to retest right away! My son is going hru arbitration and it is a long process ! He retested on his own and scored close to his high scores but they are still givin g him a hard time! ETS is bullies and a kangaroo court that is set on destroying people’s lives! You have no rights at all if you go up 400 points your dead!</p>
<p>As unbelievable as it may sound, College Board is more apt to believe 700 point increases than they are 300-400 point increases. Case in point: I took the SAT once and slept during both the CR and Math, but aced the Writing. Got like 1300, took it next time and got over 2000 and did get delayed for 1 week but never once got accused of cheating. In other words, they know dramatic increases like 800 points are more likely due to students’ sleeping or not concentrating at all.</p>
<p>I think a good indicator of whether College Board is likely to suspect you of cheating in cases of dramatic score increases is always the essay. Even if you wrote only a paragraph, but your writing sucks, they are going to think you are a cheater. I mean, as subjectively biased as it sounds, they are more likely to believe a kid who went from 1900 to 2300 and showed good writing skills (doesn’t matter if he or she was on topic or not) on both tests compared to a kid who can’t even piece together two grammatically coherent sentences.</p>
<p>If your score improves by 350 points from one test to another and/or 200 points in one section, you are flagged and your scores are delayed before they investigate more closely. Usually when this happens, though, scores aren’t cancelled unless you legit cheated.</p>