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U.S. students that took the SAT test Saturday reported a printing error that confused them over the time limit given to solve a specific section of the test.
Some of them believed that they had more time on their hand when they were abruptly interrupted from solving the test by proctors that had different info on the duration that section may require to be solved.
The College Board, which publishes the SAT, announced that it was working towards finding the best solution to the problem in order to “ensure the fairness of the test and the validity of the scores.”
Proctors reported that they had no idea that students received different times for solving one of the test’s sections. They learned about the mistake when they notified students that their time was nearly up.
On Saturday, the College Board was flooded with phone calls and text messages from proctors desperately looking for some directions. Moreover, parents and students complained on the social media and web sites‘ comment section almost leading to a national hysteria.
On the collegeconfidential’s discussion forum one parent said that his daughter read the test instructions to learn that she had 25 minutes to solve one section. But after 19 minutes a proctor came in and told her that she had one more minute to go. The girl had to leave three questions unanswered since she thought she had six more minutes left.
The Sat’s maker released a public statement about the “printing error” in the test books they gave U.S. students taking the SAT test. The group also disclosed that the printing error affected only section 8 or 9 (depending on the edition) of the test books, but didn’t appear on the manual given to Test Center Supervisors.
Though students read that they had 25 minutes to solve the sections, the “correct time limit” was 20 minutes.
The College Board also pledged to “actively” work towards determining the next move to ensure the fairness of the test. They also apologized to students and parents for the “confusion” created. The group said that future updates on the issue would be posted online.
The College Board disclosed Monday that there was no typo on the test books provided to students taking the test outside the U.S., though a false alarm was triggered by a claim that the printing error occurred in Asia as well.
A spokesperson for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing said that unless the erroneous time limits were “experimental” the College Board currently faces a real test scoring issue since not all students were given misprints.
Image Source: HBCU Lifestyle
