Aug SAT was a completely recycled test

[alewife]

24 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I think the point here is College Board’s incompetence. People will always try to game the system when their children are concerned. It’s those who make a fat living out of developing those tests that need to do better. They know that test security is the issue especially abroad, so what were they thinking?

And as somebody mentioned above, their extremely easy test that got administered on the previous date was a disaster of equal proportions for different reasons.

This!  The College Board is solely to blame.  There is no excuse for recycling a test. (Maybe recycling tests wasn't an issue when dinosaurs roamed the earth before the internet age, but recycling is certainly an issue now.)

 If the College Board can't figure out how to administer a new statistically valid test every single time, they need to pay the money to hire experts who can.  I wonder how much money the College Board saved by firing ETS?  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I keep wishing that state attorneys general would take a closer look at the organization. 

I can't put my finger on specific criminality but they money they collect in return for services they don't quite deliver (like fair, uncompromised, and statistically accurate test results) don't line up for me.

[Janeway]

10 hours ago, alewife said:

According to many reports, this exact exam was administered internationally last October, and students who paid an additional fee to the College Board were also provided with the answer key (although I only saw a couple of mentions of the Q&A being available, so this part may not be true)  

Yes, someone also made an illegal copy of the test during the last administration, but based on the issues the College Board has had for years with testing security internationally, this should surprise no one.  The bigger surprise is that the test wasn't leaked before the first administration.  I can't wrap my head around why the College Board, knowing that many internationals would be flying to the US to sit for this exam since it wasn't offered internationally, would administer the exact same exam that many of these international kids had already taken!  Even the honest kids had an unfair advantage.  

 The College Board should never recycle a test since every single test is discussed on Reddit as soon as some of the kids get out of the testing sites. While these kids don't have a copy of the test, they are able to remember the questions in enough detail to give someone an unfair advantage if  when the test is administered again at a later date.  Some of these kids even store their answer choices for the last section in their calculators and then post their answer choices on Reddit so they can compare their answers with each other.  

Last year, after my daughter got out from taking a subject test, she was not happy when she logged onto Reddit and saw that kids were already discussing the questions and answers to the test she had just taken.  This was eastern time, so the kids on the West Coast on Reddit at the time had an unfair advantage since they had yet to go into the testing site to take this exact same test.  

In the age of the internet, both the SAT and ACT need to modify their testing procedures.  Tests should not be recycled, and Subject Test exams should be administered across the country at the same time.  However, I don't see this happening until the colleges push back.  All it would take is for colleges to refuse to accept a test score from the August administration of the SAT.  Yes, it would be very unfair to the kids who took the August test, but nothing is going to change until the College Board takes a financial hit. 

I agree! It would not hurt to start the tests on the east coast at say, 10am and the west at 7am, or even 11am and 8am. And make different tests. Sheesh! Even ITBS has multiple versions of tests. How can something with high stakes testing like SAT that makes as much money as SAT makes reuse the tests like that? That is just insane. Even STAAR and TAKs and so on makes new each and every time. 

[Arcadia]

A funny proofread error from abc7news Facebook page

”UNFAIR ADVANTAGE? High school students who took the SAT on Saturday say some test takers had an unfair advantage. They claim the College Board refused a test administered in Asia last fall and the answers were leaked online.”

on their news link https://abc7news.com/education/students-claim-sat-exam-answers-leaked-online/4080355/?sf196441498=1

“Updated 1 hr 37 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- 

High school students who took the SAT on Saturday say some test takers had an unfair advantage.

They claim the College Board refused a test administered in Asia last fall and answers to the reading portion of the college entrance exam had been leaked online.”

[...................]

This is so unacceptable.  

[frogger]

1 hour ago, Janeway said:

I agree! It would not hurt to start the tests on the east coast at say, 10am and the west at 7am, or even 11am and 8am. And make different tests. Sheesh! Even ITBS has multiple versions of tests. How can something with high stakes testing like SAT that makes as much money as SAT makes reuse the tests like that? That is just insane. Even STAAR and TAKs and so on makes new each and every time. 

 

 Hawaii is 6 hours behind the East Coast. 

[alewife]

Some of the comments about this issue on Reddit are pretty funny.  Someone asked what they should be expecting the October SAT to look like since the screw-up in June and again in August.  A kid responded, "October 6th 2018: News just in: In a historic move, collegeboard has just administered a previously administered ACT."

[8filltheheart]

I am so glad that my current Jr is my type B introvert that refuses to consider any college other than the directional U she can commute to. No stress. Her test scores are irrelevant beyond a hoop. I feel bad for all those kids who are feeling additional stress due to this. Testing stress is bad enough.

[alewife]

A class action lawsuit has been filed against the College Board.  Hopefully, this lawsuit will have traction and will put a stop to the ridiculous practice by both the ACT and SAT of recycling tests.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/09/04/class-action-adds-problems-college-board

Edited September 4, 2018 by alewife

[Frances]

On 8/27/2018 at 2:51 PM, Roadrunner said:

 

Just went searching for articles on SAT cheating and this popped up from The Atlantic. Crazy.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/how-sophisticated-test-scams-from-china-are-making-their-way-into-the-us/474474/

 

 

 

Not at all surprised. The last time my husband taught summer school, his TA discovered almost universal cheating on exams among the Chinese students in the class. Even after it was discovered and they were warned and special exams were made to prevent and catch cheating, they all continued to cheat. And this was a very low level class for non majors to fulfill a distribution requirement, nothing high stakes at all.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Frances

[Frances]

On 8/27/2018 at 3:13 PM, Farrar said:

A friend in high school was required to take the TOEFL because she was applying as an international student. She was born abroad but had never lived anywhere but in the US since she was a toddler. She had taken honors classes all through school. She had killer SAT scores. IIRC, she did not do great on the TOEFL - she said because she'd never studied English as a foreign language. Oy. I guess the test hasn't improved since then...

When my son was studying German in Germany, he had to take a placement test when he moved from one teaching center to another. He scored exactly where he expected. Our of curiosity, he asked to take the English placement exam. He’s never gotten anything less than a top score on any verbal test in his life, including a perfect 800 the first time he took the SAT. He was very surprised at how poorly he scored and said it was a very confusing test. Maybe it was also because he has never studied English as a foreign language.

[chiguirre]

7 hours ago, Frances said:

When my son was studying German in Germany, he had to take a placement test when he moved from one teaching center to another. He scored exactly where he expected. Our of curiosity, he asked to take the English placement exam. He’s never gotten anything less than a top score on any verbal test in his life, including a perfect 800 the first time he took the SAT. He was very surprised at how poorly he scored and said it was a very confusing test. Maybe it was also because he has never studied English as a foreign language.

Yes! I had to take the English test during a job interview process with a big Spanish bank (as well as an aptitude test that was basically a Spanish language SAT). It was really hard to pick the right answer because I could imagine situations in which a couple might work. I know I scored well on the SAT portion because my future boss mentioned it to me but I suspect I got a score on the English that was "competent but not excellent".

[klmama]

10 hours ago, Frances said:

He was very surprised at how poorly he scored and said it was a very confusing test. Maybe it was also because he has never studied English as a foreign language.

Yes, that can make a huge difference.  Things that sound perfectly normal to native speakers are not always "correct" according to the prescriptive grammar learned in foreign language classes.  It reminds me of the scene in the movie War Horse.  English soldier speaking to German soldier:  "You speak good English."  German soldier to Englishman:  "I speak English well."  

[Another Lynn]

Scores come out today, right?  

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, Another Lynn said:

Scores come out today, right?  

 

Yes, dd is waiting for hers but says the curve will be the same as the October 2017 test (just like the test itself).  

[Another Lynn]

37 minutes ago, Kassia said:

 

Yes, dd is waiting for hers but says the curve will be the same as the October 2017 test (just like the test itself).  

Still waiting here too.  How long does it take?  <insert toe-tapping emo>  

[Arcadia]

11 hours ago, Kassia said:

Yes, dd is waiting for hers but says the curve will be the same as the October 2017 test (just like the test itself).  

 

10 hours ago, Another Lynn said:

Still waiting here too.  How long does it take?  <insert toe-tapping emo>  

 

My friend’s daughter had score pending in the early morning pacific time and her scores came out around 5pm. Her composite score went up by 110 ?

[Another Lynn]

9 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

 

My friend’s daughter had score pending in the early morning pacific time and her scores came out around 5pm. Her composite score went up by 110 ?

The score we were waiting on came out in the evening too.  But didn't go up by that much.  ?

[Kassia]

Ours were released around 5pm EST.  Dd was happy with her score.  ?