As we ease out of this old year, the new year probably can’t come quickly enough for our friends at ACT, Inc. and the College Board. After all, 2015 has visited seemingly endless plagues upon both of their houses in the form of embarrassing test score delays. What has gone wrong for the test makers?
- A new electronic score reporting system
- A new Writing Test
- A new PSAT (scores expected a month later than usual)
- Lost or damaged answer sheets
- Humidity?!?
Yes, apparently even the weather conspires against students receiving their test scores in a timely fashion:
On Friday evening, colleges received an email from ACT indicating that reports scheduled for release on Saturday would be delayed.
“The relatively wet and humid weather has caused issues with our scanning, which is slightly delayed for the December ACT National test event,” writes ACT Customer Care (no name provided). “Your institution could receive fewer scores than expected in the December National AIRO [ACT Internet Reporting Option] cycle….If this should occur, expect to receive larger than normal quantities of scores in subsequent cycles.”
Based on how this year has gone for both test takers and test makers, we’re all going to have to plan ahead and pay more to what to do when test scores are late. If there is any silver lining to this dark cloud of incompetence and ill luck, it’s that you’ll have more time to worry while you wait for your scores!
Mike Bergin