Got sick during ACT on Saturday...need advice

[2VU0609]

pumpkin,
As I mentioned earlier, yesterday was the first time I have ever had a candidate become ill during the exam. I am in no way an expert on this situation, but there is a statement that all testing candidates have to sign at the end of the exam and your daughter obviously didn't sign it. Even if there was no irregularity report created, I would think that would serve as evidence of an irregularity and ACT should work with you to cancel mailing the scores. If it were me though, if the test could be scored with results sent only to the home, I'd want to see how she did. Hope you are able to solve this tomorrow.

[kelsmom]

I have some personal experience with this. A couple years ago, it happened to my D. She had a cold & was pretty miserable the morning of the ACT. She took some cold pills & went on her merry way. She started to feel strange partway through the test. By the final section, science, she was terrified that she was having a stroke & couldn't concentrate on the test. She cannot tolerate pseudoephedrine or anything like it, we NOW know. She was too upset to even think about talking to the proctor & cancelling her score. She waited nervously for the scores, knowing she'd done poorly on science. She scored a 21, I think, on science ... very low, considering the composite was a 31. She had listed schools to send the scores to, so the scores were automatically sent. She talked to the admissions rep at one school during a visit, and the rep told her that they would ignore that score if a subsequent testing was higher. D retook the ACT the next time it was offered (she had to wait until fall!) - she ended up with 2 subscores of 36 and a 34 overall. Her bad test was irrelevant in admissions, because she got in to some great schools.

My advice is to NOT automatically send scores. It might save stress! For those like my D and OP's D, though, if you do send them & they aren't so hot ... it's NOT the end of the world.

[pumpkin65]

Hello again everyone,

The high school GC has assured me that they never put any scores on the transcript. And, I have to say, it was awfully nice of her to respond to me twice via email over a weekend. She also assured me that they would do anything to suppress any reported score.

I called ACT again today. It seems that unless you request that the scores are cancelled at the test site, the test will be scored. I am at peace with this, because I am confident the scores are not being reported to any entity but us. They assured me that that the high school is removed as a recipient. I am also now interested in seeing how she did - she did get all the way to the science portion of the test (5 questions into it) when she got disoriented, feverish, woozy, nauseous and then had to bolt. Heck, we've paid for it, we may as well see how the other sections were. So, I am not going to push for cancellation.

Thanks again to everyone who responded. I am very grateful for those that have gone through this before!

[Deja]

An even more powerful quote to stop this reporting of all scores on transcripts (thanks, Ilsa!):

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_dow...m_handbook.pdf

SAT Scores on Transcripts
The SAT Program recommends that schools not place
SAT scores on school transcripts that are sent to colleges,
and that students be encouraged to send official score
reports. If a school still decides to send scores on a transcript,
the SAT Program recommends that a school receive
official consent from the student.
This recommendation is consistent with the recommendations
of other College Board programs, such as
PSAT/NMSQT and AP. More importantly, it ensures that
schools are complying with the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act (FERPA) and will help avoid any possible
conflicts in the case that a school sends SAT scores which a
student did not intend to send to a specific institution.
The information colleges receive with official score reports
is much more than just SAT scores. Colleges receive access
to a student’s essay only if a student sends official scores to
that college; colleges also receive important student information
from the SAT Questionnaire, which is useful in
recruiting, advising, and placement decisions.

[ejr1]

Contact the test administrator. Since she was sick, she could have a irregularity reported, and there is a time limit for requesting her test be voided. But you have to ask within the time frame. If they haven't sent in the materials yet, they can add the request in with the paperwork.