College-bound students across the country who took theCollegeBoard SAT exams in October 2005 may havereceived an e-mail this month notifying them of alarge SAT error from exposure of tests to moisture,resulting in 4,000 incorrect scores, said BrianO’Reilly, executive director of SAT InformationServices.

“The malfunction occurred because the answer sheetsbecame moist, which caused them to swell,” O’Reillysaid. He said if a student didn’t bubble in an answercompletely or marked slightly out of line, the scannerprobably marked it as wrong.

Even though the mistakes were caught before January,the reason the sheets became moist is still unclear.

O’Reilly and CollegeBoard don’t feel that studentswere gravely affected since 95 percent of theincorrect scores were off by about 90 points for theentire exam ?” an average of 30 points per section.

“To be 30 points off is usually considered to be thesame score on the new scoring system,” O’Reilly said.

The new system uses what’s called a standard error ofmeasure, O’Reilly said.

To jump from one range to ahigher range of scores, normally a difference of 60-80points is needed between any combination of twosections, according to the CollegeBoard SAT scoringWeb site.

Colleges recognize that SAT scores reflectan error of 30-40 points above or below the testtaker’s true abilities, according to the SAT Web site.

“The likelihood that the incorrect scores had animpact on admissions into colleges is low,” O’Reillysaid.

Colleges look at a variety of things: personalstatement, high school GPA and extracurricularactivities.

In California, 71 test takers were affected, O’Reillysaid. This does not include people applying toCalifornia colleges from out of state.

“Not very many people were affected,” Barbara Sloan,Sacramento State admissions associate director, said.

Raj Singh, a sophomore at Sierra College, views theSAT with more caution now.

“I’ll be applying foruniversities soon. How do I know I’m getting the scoreI earned?” Singh said.

The CollegeBoard has reimbursed all test takers whoreceived the incorrect scores. They have also paid forthe additional reports that the test takers ordered tobe sent to various colleges.

“Colleges have been good about reviewing newinformation and new scores before notifying students,”O’Reilly said.

Test takers whose scores decreased with the correctionwere not adversely affected because the CollegeBoarddid not change their scores.

“The CollegeBoard onlyreported score increases,” O’Reilly said.

Students who filled out applications early forcolleges may have been affected more than others.

“Early decision applicants who are not accepted areput in with the regular applicants,” O’Reilly said.

“We don’t exactly know what happened to thoseapplicants, but we hope they weren’t adverselyaffected.”

Binde Rai can be reached at [email protected]