Students Discover HUGE Error in SAT Test

How did this happen?
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Uh oh. Everyone's favorite college placement test contained a major error that led to lots of confusion during last Saturday's SAT exam and resulted in some students across the nation getting extra time on the exam.

Students taking the June 6th test noticed a discrepancy between the time that they were given to take either section 8 or section 9 (depending on the edition) of the SAT by their testing proctor and what their testing booklet instructions said, as reported by the The Washington Post.

The student test books said they would be given "25 minutes," 5 minutes more than the correct time allotment, while the manual and script that the proctor reads contained the correct time limit of "20 minutes." As a result, there was a lot of confusion over the correct time period, and some students were accidentally given an extra 5 minutes to complete that section while others only had the proper 20 minutes to complete the same sections.

Proctors across the nation tried to remedy the situation by calling the College Board during the test, but the discrepancy was not resolved in time. And as a result, some students were given an unfair advantage because they got an extra five minutes to finish. Other students were initially told they had 25 minutes at the start of the test and then were told midway through the test (and in some cases, with minutes to spare) that they only had 20 minutes, interfering with their concentration and leaving many scrambling to finish and rush through their answers.

In response to the mistake the College Board posted the following statement:

The College Board understands the critical nature of this issue, and we are actively working with our partner ETS to determine next steps to ensure the fairness of the test and the validity of the scores we deliver. We regret the confusion and concern this issue is causing for students and their families, and we will provide them and others with updated information as soon as possible. Please check back here for updates.

In the meantime, students who took the test will have to wait to find out if their entire tests will be deemed invalid and if they'll have to take the whole thing all over again. Yikes!

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