<p>I applied to Harvard SCEA, and took two SAT IIs in November. When I registered, the College Board had my address in the U.S. on file, but since I’m currently overseas, I had to take the international versions of the tests. Both my admission ticket and answer sheet had my U.S. address marked on them. Then when my scores came back, they were shockingly low - 670 and 530, respectively. I’d studied for months for the test I got a 670 on and agreed with most of the answers in the consolidated answers thread after taking it, and got a 4 on the corresponding AP test in the subject I got a 530 in. I highly doubt a scanning error occurred, but I wondered if the College Board may have accidentally used the answer key for the U.S. tests to score my answer sheet due to my confusing situation. I just submitted the score verification form and fee in the mail today. </p>
<p>The problem is that I designated Harvard as one of the recipients for these scores when I signed up, because I obviously thought I was going to do well given my track record (I have a high SAT I score and did very well on five other SAT IIs). These additional two scores will look like outliers, especially since I reported my AP scores, including the 4 I earned in the same subject for which I got the 530. Is there any way I can notify Harvard of what I suspect may have happened? I’m not sure if they’d buy it, but it seems highly likely given the fact that my situation isn’t the typical “I think they made a scanning error” complaint.</p>
<p>I might be wrong, but I think the Subject Tests are the same on an international scale. Only the reasoning tests have more than one version going around. (U.S. and international)</p>
<p>Again, this is something I’m not sure about, so take my words with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I don’t know… I saw that people were making separate threads in the SAT II forum for “U.S.” and “International” tests. Given that the test forms are different for both the SAT I and AP tests, I don’t see why they wouldn’t also do the same for the SAT IIs. Granted, I would expect there to be some overlaps, but the tests would not be identical.</p>
<p>Do you think the scanning grid is dependent on the address? I would rather think that it is linked to something more reliable such as a “hard coded” piece of information on the SAT response sheet, which would definitely be the most reliable and easy way for a computerized system to do it.</p>
<p>If you already had 5 good grades on SAT IIs, why did you take another two?</p>
<p>For admissions, Harvard considers the top two SATII scores, don’t worry about it too much.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you’ve taken 7 total SATII tests now. Harvard is only going to consider the top 2. They’ll notice you took the other 5, but I doubt they’ll give them much thought. This is because most students who apply to Harvard understand that Harvard only requires 2 and will do just that to save money, even when they could have gone out of their way to take 7, like you have. I would relax and have some fun if I were you.</p>
<p>It cannot be a mix up. If they used a different set of answer keys, and you still got 670 and 530, WOW!!! It’s like you guessed all the answers on 2 tests out of 100 and got a B and C.</p>
<p>Hahaha, I just realized that this post made me sound like a score-obsessed freak. I should have explained a little more. 3 of the 5 scores I sent were actually language SAT IIs, because languages are a huge part of my application and I wanted to prove that I was actually fluent by taking them. So of the additional 2 scores, one of them was a science SAT II (I don’t have any other science ones so far). </p>
<p>@ power4good: I think there’s some overlap between the international/domestic tests, but the College Board still makes sure they’re not identical to prevent people from getting unfair 800s.</p>
<p>Wow sorry to hear cal girl.</p>
<p>Do you have an interview lined up?</p>
<p>Please call college boar and do NOT give up until you get through to them. IMHO they’re crooks and snakes all together.</p>
<p>AOs at Harvard are understanding and won’t look at those scores as reasons to degrade your app; they’re looking for reasons to accept you in fact.</p>
<p>@ AleaJactaEst: Sorry, I only just noticed your post now. I think the determination of whether a given answer sheet is domestic/international is based on whether you fill in the zip code box or not. I remember three years ago when I was living abroad during my sophomore year of high school, the test proctor told us not to fill in the zip code box because the country I was in had 6-digit zip codes (whereas U.S. zip codes are 5 digits long). </p>
<p>@ GordonTheGekko: Thanks for your reply! I actually was offered an interview, but could not participate due to being out of the country. I was then told to contact the international interview office, who told me that they did not require one for me at this time, because apparently international interviews are only held when admissions needs more information about an applicant. </p>
<p>I don’t know how much calling CB will help, given that I’ve already sent off the score verification form/fee. What I’m most interested in right now is contacting Harvard to tell them about what probably happened. Is there a specific email address I should submit to?</p>
<p>Do you have apps at other US schools? If not, please do, they’re free on common app via the waiver. It would stink to not go to Princeton just because you didn’t submit an app!</p>
<p>Adding more detail. </p>
<p>When I took these additional SAT IIs, the proctor was really vague with the directions and I didn’t know what to do with the zip code box. I then thought that since my U.S. address and postal code were indicated on my admission ticket, I should fill in my U.S. zip code - so that’s what I did, and that’s why I suspect a mix-up might have occurred. </p>
<p>@ GordonTheGekko: I think you accidentally posted in the wrong thread ;)</p>
<p>@calgirl: many countries (including france where I live) have 5 digit zip code. I cannot imagine this piece of non-unique information being used to determine how your essay is graded. If I remember well, there is a place where you fill in the BOOK ID and the BOOK SERIAL that you copy from the back of test book. I would think this info is used by the computer to select the proper answer grid.</p>
<p>@ AleaJactaEst: Actually, I don’t remember if I filled in that information on every page of the answer sheet. I did it for the first page, but I may not have for the actual test pages. Would that explain why this happened? </p>
<p>Of course, I’m not denying the possibility that I just suck at German and physics (the two tests in question here). 
But it’s just odd, considering how much I studied for physics and the fact that I got a 4 on AP German…</p>
<p>I would double check with CB if such a confusion is even possible before calling Harvard because if you are wrong, this could be counter productive as they could think you are trying to deceive them.</p>
<p>i just realized that one of the tests in question is german. so if a whole bunch of germans decided to take the test, it could push the curve WAYYYY down, especially if german is not your first language. I took Chinese with all the people who spoke Chinese, and chinese is not my primary language, and only learned how to read and write in school, so i was at a disadvantage and got an unusually low score.</p>
<p>I didnt take chinese because im only away from China for 4/5 years. It would be such a waste of time and money. The Admission ppl understand, right?</p>
<p>yea. in fact they dont want you taking it. i’m half white, and only speak barely any fluent chinese, do not know how to read or write outside of what i learned in school :</p>
<p>If it makes your day: the only person who was accepted into H in the history of our school was Ch/white.</p>