About That Redesigned SAT Experiment . . .

About a week ago, I was greeted in my inbox with a rather disappointing email. The College Board cancelled my SAT registration. Citing 'a new test security measure' -- which, by the way, is conveniently not listed in writing on their website and was not included in the email -- I was told that only students taking the test for its 'intended purpose' were allowed to sit for the March test.

I tried getting a hold of someone who could give me more information. I spoke to customer service representatives. I asked to speak to supervisors. I got lots of vague and unhelpful responses including but not limited to:

• The March test was not an "open" administration
• There was a security risk having people who were not looking to apply to an undergraduate institution take the test
• It wasn't about my age, they claimed not all older students had their registrations cancelled. (Considering I'm a college counselor and not a tutor or test prep employee, I find this hard to believe.)
• There will be no Q&A service for the March administration (Mind you, I hadn't paid for the Q&A service, unclear how or why this is relevant)

They told me that I could move my registration to May, but I'm not convinced they won't pull a similar last minute cancellation stunt then. I requested a refund and was then told that would involve going to my bank, which sounded confusing (has anyone reading this ever had to go in person to a bank to be issued a refund from a company?), so I'm still waiting on clarification on how that will work.  They actually never even responded to my appeal, I had to call them back Friday to even verify that my registration was definitely cancelled.

On a practical level, I'm disappointed with the SAT cancellation because I had genuinely been trying to prepare for the past two months for this test. I had been doing Khan Academy lessons diligently and while I certainly wouldn't say I'd been cramming, I had been regularly devoting at least two hours per week to prep and had sat through three practice tests online. I'm a adult who has been out of high school for over 15 years and I was re-teaching myself what a radian was. Trust me, there wasn't much residual fun for me during that process. It is annoying to have done that work for seemingly no benefit.

On a philosophical level, I'm disappointed with the SAT cancellation because I think a consumer who registers and pays money for something should be entitled to that service unless there is evidence to show they have nefarious intent. I also feel the burden of test security is on The College Board and the testing site, not on the test taker. If you felt adults taking the test were a security risk, put us in a separate room or seat us with extra empty desk around us. Or, better yet, considering this redesign was in the works for years, state a clear policy on testing rules well in advance of registration.

On an educational level, I'm disappointed with the SAT cancellation because I did honestly want to go through the motions of taking the test to better connect with  my students. I wanted to feel that same timing pressure. I wanted to toss and turn the night before the test and remind myself of those high school  memories that can be easy for adults to forget. I wanted to log in and see my scores with the same bubble of excitement/fear that I know my students feel. I genuinely wanted to see how much Khan Academy could move the needle on my score.

So, what was The College Board afraid of? Were they nervous that having journalists, educators, bloggers, and test prep tutors in the pool of test takers would make it easier for exam issues to be put out in the media? Did they suspect problems and want to keep only the most vulnerable people in the room to minimize collateral PR damage? I couldn't help but notice they had no problem sharing how much students 'liked' the new test after the school day administration last Wednesday. Were they fearful of outliers skewing the norming process? (If so, I'm not sure why they couldn't just pull our tests from the norming in advanced, considering they were able to identify us for cancellation). Was this always planned as a way to deliver another striking blow to the test prep industry? (David Coleman's original announcement made it clear that The College Board's partnership with Khan Academy was intended to cut off the test prep industry at the knees. Something, I should add, I might actually agree with The College Board about . . . )

One thing is clear: while the exam itself has been redesigned, other aspects of The College Board have not changed. This situation was poorly handled and can be added to the list of concerns I have about The College Board and their practices.