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80 applying to Florida colleges had flawed SATs

But none of the victims were denied admission to a state school based on the misscored tests, college officials say.

By SHADI RAHIMI
Published March 24, 2006

More than 80 high school students applying to Florida colleges were among the thousands nationwide whose October SAT exam was misscored, a mistake the College Board is apologizing for as students await admissions decisions.

But so far, no one was denied admission to a Florida school based on incorrect scores, officials said.

The board, which administers the exam, disclosed late Wednesday that 27,000 of 495,000 college entrance exams taken in October were not rechecked for errors by Pearson Educational Measurement, the board's scoring vendor.

After they were, 375 more students were found to have received incorrectly low scores. The disclosure marks the third time in two weeks the board has acknowledged its initial assessment of the problem was wrong.

"We couldn't be more sorry for the total stress this has caused," said Chiara Coletti, a spokeswoman for the board.

A total of 4,411 students nationwide have been given incorrectly low scores. More than 600 students got incorrectly high scores, but those will not change.

Admissions officials at several Florida universities said on Thursday that they were waiting to hear whether any additional prospective students were affected.

Of the students who requested their SAT scores be sent to the University of South Florida, the University of Florida and Florida State University, more than 80 were found to have received incorrectly low scores during the College Board's initial discovery, which it disclosed to colleges beginning March 7.

But the colleges found that none of those students were denied admission based on the incorrectly low scores.

At the University of South Florida, about 27 students received incorrect marks that lowered their SAT score by no more than 10 points, said Bob Spatig, director of admissions.

At the University of Florida, about a dozen prospective students received understated scores, but none were denied admission based on the marks, said Steve Orlando, a public information officer.

And at Florida State University, where 46 prospective students received incorrectly low marks, "the scores were either too low to begin with, or high enough already that they were admitted," said John Barnhill, director of admissions and records. Students there need a minimum SAT score of 1100.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed that no other tests were affected by the bad scoring," Barnhill said.

This story contains material from the Associated Press and the New York Times.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 02:15:43]