Remember the printing glitch on several SAT tests taken by students on June 6, which gave them an extra five minutes? The College Board has now come forward with a solution for the predicament — no scoring of the affected section.
On Monday, June 8, the College Board apologized and has divulged that the printing error will not affect the scores of the students who took the SATs across U.S. As determined by experts, the students will still get "reliable" scores despite the affected section not being marked.
"After a comprehensive review and statistical analysis, the College Board and ETS have determined that the affected sections will not be scored and we will still be able to provide reliable scores for all students who took the SAT on June 6. We expect to deliver scores within the usual timeframe," said the College Board in a statement.
For the unfamiliar, students who undertook the SAT on Saturday, June 6 were given 25 minutes to complete one of the test sections — either the reading section or math (depending on the test taken) — per their test books. However, the invigilators' scripts said that the students only had 20 minutes to finish either section 8 or section 9.
The printing error resulted in the discrepancy and made the students think they had 25 minutes instead of 20 minutes. The incongruity created a pandemonium, with administrators calling the College Board.
The board issued an apology and said that the affected section would not be scored.
For those wondering how the scores can still be reliable despite a complete section not being factored in, the College Board reveals that the test is designed in such a manner that it is able to gather sufficient data, which can form the basis for judging scores that are reliable and valid despite a section being unscored.
"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," per the College Board.
The news that the board will not be scoring the section will be welcomed by students who may be anxiety-ridden and thinking that they might have to re-take the test owing to the mistake. However, the question of the purpose of the section's existence is raised if it is not necessary, and one can judge performance on the basis of other sections that are designed similarly to assess the performance. Moreover, what is the likelihood of a student scoring the same in one section as well as another?
Photo: Alberto G | Flickr
