I just got an email from ETS saying that my SAT scores are invalid. This is what it says: “Your performance on the variable section was inconsistent with your performance on other similar sections of the test.” This was my first time doing the SAT. My CR and Math scores were within the projected PSAT scores for the SAT. Only the Writing scores were about 60 points higher than the projected PSAT scores for the SAT. I dont know why they would make my test invalid. I didnt cheat or anything. I cannot retest either because I live outside US and Canada. I already registered for the May SAT, but I dont know what to do. Help please!
You mean the experimental section? Sounds like BS…
Where do you live? You need to talk to your counselor about this. ALso your parents who may need to bring in some outside counsel.
This is unfortunate for you if you did not cheat. If you didn’t cheat, I am sorry that this happened to you.
The fact that there is now some attention paid to the issue of corruption and cheating among International students is a good sign though. Hopefully the cheating, corruption and graft will stop or the US will stop admitting students from places that promote cheating. If that happens, students who did not cheat won’t be penalized in the future…
Surprise Surprise. It turns out that SAT and Toefl scores have been readily accepted by US schools when they come from countries with widespread cheating even when these schools know the high probability that the tests were not administered honestly. In some countries the cheating is overt, proctors observe and participate in it. If you are at a US college wondering how someone who can’t engage in a basic conversation in English got admitted, that is how. They cheated. Middling US schools, greedy for higher tuition, looked the other way. These are not the International students at the very top schools. Those schools can’t afford to engage in cheating. Accepting students from places where you know cheating is rampant is colluding with the cheaters. It is common among some US college admissions officers. If you know students who can barely speak English enrolled in competitive US colleges, that is how it happened.
Perhaps others can shed some light on this, does Collegeboard mean to say that if there is a math experimental section and say it is the one with the 20 questions, and if the student performs drastically different on one of those two sections then they suspect that the student has some prior information on which section was experimental. I can see why this would raise a red flag and why they could declare the score invalid.
Sure, but it’s a little more complicated right now, because many experimental sections are obvious since they’re in the revised format in preparation for the 2016 debut. Students have told me recently that some test administrations’ experimental sections have unusual question types, for example, which clearly reveals that they’re being road-tested for spring '16 use.
Why can’t you retest in May? Did they prohibit you from taking any more College Board tests?
Right now the experimental sections are extremely easily to spot and also I have no idea how they can correlate to the existing sat since students are not used to them, One of my friends that took the March test said that she had a section so weird (looked like a mixed reading/science sections from the ACT) that she did not even know what to do. However, I am not sure about the math and the grammar. Maybe some correlation there.
Anyway, so far any stories of cancelled scores that I heard ended up with the student just retaking the test.
OP lives outside the U.S., probably in Asia, where the experimental sections are the same as they’ve always been and are now scrutinized carefully in light of widespread cheating scandals to determine whether there are any big disparities or inconsistencies between these “variable” or “experimental” sections and those of others. Unlike the U.S. exam, where these new experimental sections that reflect contents in the newly redesigned SAT are being used, the international exam is still administered with the same experimental sections, which are recycled over and over, even those from 10 years ago.
The recycling of international dummy sections is a lesser-known, but equally pervasive, problem that could easily be resolved by using these “new” experimental sections internationally as well. The College Board figures that they can keep recycling old tests and just throw in another dummy from another recycled test, as a means to figure out who is cheating or not, but it seem to doesn’t understand that everyone in Asia has already figured out what they are doing.
I also think OP misunderstands the letter and interprets “variable” as the Writing section, but my guess is that he or she missed like 15 questions on one CR dummy section or something and missed only about 2-3 on each of the other reading sections. Obviously, I’m exaggerating, but you get my point. Why else would they send you such a letter?
Yeah, I think you’re probably right about that.
Man, can’t they just spend a bit more money, write a brand new test, and stop recycling old ones for international use? Increase the fee by $5 or $10 for international students and problem solved. Maybe I am understating the ease of the solution here, but given all the reported cheating that goes on, geez, wouldn’t this be a pretty straightforward solution?
This.
The reality is that there’s zero chance the CB is interested in investing any money in the current exam. Here’s hoping that the debut of the revised exam in 2016 will bring with it a cessation of the international test recycling policy.
I took the SAT last June and I was hoping for one of those experimental sections with graphs, charts, and reasoning questions, but I got the standard test. So it looks like not everyone is getting the experimental section. If the OP did get one of those recent questions as part of the experimental section then his concern is valid. However, if it was indeed a standard set of sections where there is no way to tell the difference between the sections and Collegeboard noticed a huge difference in score, then they are absolutely justified in canceling the scores.
I know Collegeboard is not going be investing in new tests prior to the launch of 2016 New SAT, and the cheating in Asia will continue which is really unfair for students in US, where by an large cheating is minimal.
I wonder what the situation would be for the New SAT that debuts in 2016. I urge Collegeboard to disclose every single SAT that they administer to the public, this will not only increase the access to high quality questions for students, and will also eliminate the practice of recycling tests. But then I don’t know what that would do to the 70 million dollar that the “non profit” Collegeboard makes.
IM FROM ASIAN. On december i got 1600. Now i am gettih 2200s on practice test, OF COURSE, WIHOUT CHEATING. I am taking the sat on may. If i get 2200s will CB invalid my score ???
Will CB invalidate my acore ???
@SATQuantum It’ll also be really unfair for the Asian students who, you know, didn’t cheat. Also, I’m sorry but I can’t see how their decision is justified in any way. It’s perfectly normal to get a cluster of questions wrong simply because you’re distracted at that moment. Hell, even on a good day, I usually make about 5 mistakes consecutively on the Math 2 practice tests, and about 7 out of 13 questions I got wrong on the Baron’s Chemistry diagnostic test belongs to the T,F section. Sometimes, the flow just disappears for a few minutes before going back online.
@NOTFLIPPANT You have nothing to worry.
@Synonyms Collegeboard/ETS will be very careful about which cases they make the scores invalid. If they know that the three sections are indistinguishable and the performance on one of them is off, for example getting 17 and 19 right out of 20 in two sections, and then getting 4 right out of 20, then only would this be an indication of cheating(my guess here). We are not talking about missing three four questions in a row, for most students performance across the sections is pretty uniform.
Back in my day (long, long ago … ok, the 80s), we knew they had one experimental section per test. When I was taking the test, it became obvious to me which one was experimental, because on a few occasions I found myself thinking that the question was not well-written or that there could be multiple correct answers, depending on your interpretation of the question. Back in my day, my practice book explained that the experimental section would not count. It went so far as to say that if you were sure you found the experimental section, you could elect to give yourself a rest from answering the questions, or at least answer them at a relaxed pace in order to bring down your stress level. Granted, that would be very risky if you were not absolutely certain it was the experimental section. But now students must do their best on the experimental section as well, or risk being charged with cheating?? That doesn’t seem fair to me unless they explain that policy clearly in advance.