ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Guess who flunked the SAT?
The College Board itself.
Admitting it made a mistake in a math problem, the organization that oversees the Scholastic Assessment Test, the most widely used college admissions exam, is adjusting the scores of 45,000 students - upward, by as much as 30 points.
The mistake was detected by a student who alerted the College Board and the Educational Testing Service, which devises the questions, that an algebra item had more than one correct answer, depending on how part of it was interpreted.
``We knew we had a problem after three college math experts confirmed the student's perception,'' Brian O'Reilly, director of the SAT program, said Wednesday. ``Not only did this exceptional student find a flaw that had been overlooked by internal and external math specialists during extensive reviews, but he did so while taking the SAT.''
As a result, most scores will be increased by 10 points, but a ``very few'' will be raised 20 or 30 points, the College Board said, without saying how one question could make such a difference. No scores will be lowered, and the flawed item will be omitted from future tests, the board said.
The error affects about 13 percent of the 350,000 students who took the three-hour test in October.
The College Board said it will finish recalculating scores this week and will rush the revised results to the students and to all the schools, colleges and scholarship organizations that received the earlier scores. The board said it has not found a flawed item on the SAT since 1982.
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