College Board Snafu (And What To Do)

This past Saturday, the College Board administered a nationwide SAT. Unfortunately, for some students, this digital test administration did not go well.

Here's what happened: Students still taking the test as the clock approached 11am got a warning message on thier computers to either complete the test immediately or get logged out. And when 11am hit, if students hadn't finished their test, they were automatically logged out.

This was a huge bug for some test takers. While most test takers who started on time would have finished by 11am, a large number of test takers with timing accommodations or later morning starts were bumped off the test in the middle of their work. The majority of these students were not able to finish the Math section of the SAT.

Ouch. Egg on the face for the College Board. Add this to the list of horror stories from test day.

The College Board has since sent emails to those impacted with a choice: Either cancel the test score in order to retake take the test, or keep the scores with potentially a lower math score. The good news is that students should be able to see their test scores before they have to decide between keeping the score or retaking.

So what should students do?

If you took the test on Saturday and were impacted by this issue, be sure you wait to cancel until after you see the score. You see, since many colleges superscore, you might want to keep what could be a high verbal score. Even if your math score is relatively low, colleges will know the March test was impacted. This is something either a student or a college counselor could easily remind the college in the college applications.

On the other hand, if you cancel the score and agree to retake, then you have to ramp up your prep again for both verbal and math. Worse, you absolve the College Board of any wrongdoing.

So, take advantage of this opportunity to play the hand you are dealt. It's not often that the College Board offers the chance to cancel a test after scores are released. Usually, you have to cancel before you see any scores.

Here's hoping that this stressful situation for impacted test takers actually turns into an opportunity.

For further advice on what to do in your particular situation, contact CROSSWALK.