SAT error in June testing causes frenzy
June 19, 2015
Recently, many SAT test-takers experienced a major hiccup regarding time limit, triggering a storm of panic from many students and parents.
On June 9, students taking the SAT across the nation noticed that the time limit printed on their test and being read off by their proctor clashed for one of the ten sections. While the duration of the section printed on the students’ forms was 25 minutes, the time on the instructors’ script was 20 minutes.
For some students, this was an advantage, as they were given an extra five minutes to complete their test. However, other students scrambled to finish the last few questions after being alerted that they actually had less time than they thought, with minutes to spare. Many students were concerned that the complaints would cause the College Board, the administrators of the SAT, to cancel all scores.
Both students and parents spread the word around social media, suggesting potential solutions and expressing concerns. Parents turned to forums such as College Confidential, while teens stuck to sites like Twitter, pleading to the College Board’s account for a resolution.
“Maybe the @CollegeBoard should have used 5 extra minutes to go over the test before sending it out to determine millions of kids futures,” user @its_annac on Twitter tweeted.
After a week of receiving panicked messages from students and parents, College Board has released an official statement regarding the issue. Despite all the theories of having retakes or voiding all tests, they have stated that all scores will still be valid and the two sections with the error will not be counted toward the students’ total score.
“We have deliberately constructed both the Reading and the Math Tests to include three equal sections with roughly the same level of difficulty. If one of the three sections is jeopardized, the correlation among sections is sufficient to be able to deliver reliable scores,” the College Board stated.
Scores for the June SAT test will be available online on June 25.
