Press Releases

College Board Announces Changes to a Fraction of October SAT Test Scores

03/08/06

NEW YORK, NY -- The College Board recently discovered that a technical processing matter affected a very small percentage of October 2005 test takers. As a result, approximately 4,000 students (0.8% of the SAT Reasoning test-takers who tested during that administration) did not receive credit for some correct answers; therefore, their scores are higher than originally reported. The score difference for the vast majority of students was less than 100 points across all three sections of the test. Our research has determined that this scoring anomaly was a one-time problem, and only involved the October 2005 SAT Reasoning Test.

Students whose scores are higher have been notified via email and will receive a revised official score report in the mail. Students who have been notified can also access their revised scores at www.collegeboard.com/satscores.

In addition, we are refunding those students' test registration fees as well as any other fees associated with sending scores from the October test administration.

If school counselors have any questions, they can call the counselor helpline at (888) SAT-HELP.

If College admissions officers have questions they can contact their College Board regional office.

Students can call a special toll free number at (866) 387-2594 if they have any questions.

Important Information about Additional October Answer Sheets

(March 14, 2006)

Apart from the 495,000 answer sheets from the October 2005 SAT Administration that have already been rescanned, approximately 1,600 answer sheets from that same administration were under review for reasons unrelated to the scoring errors and thus were not rescanned at the same time as the others. The answer sheets for all 1,600 of these students will be rescanned as a matter of urgency as well.

If any previously reported scores for students in this group need to be updated, revised scores will be reported to students, colleges, and schools as soon as possible. We will publish revised scores for any affected students next week.

In the meanwhile, we have notified both admissions officers and guidance counselors about this situation, and we will send colleges, as soon as possible, a roster of all students from this group of 1,600 whose October 2005 scores have already been reported to them. Although we anticipate that relatively few of these scores will change, we hope that this roster will be helpful to colleges. When revised scores are available, we will communicate personally to colleges that are affected.

We very much regret any further worry or inconvenience that this problem may have caused students and families.