CALABASAS : Students in SAT Case to Retake Exam

A majority of a group of Calabasas and western San Fernando Valley high school students, whose scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test were invalidated after an investigation determined that some may have obtained answers in advance, will retake the test this weekend, exam officials said Wednesday.

The officials said most of the approximately 20 students affected chose to retake the exam, a broad test of verbal and math skills that plays a key role in determining college admission.

The students were ordered in December to retake the SAT or have their scores canceled by the Educational Testing Service, the Princeton, N.J.-based company that administers the exam nationwide.

After conducting an on-site investigation at Calabasas High School, the agency concluded that about 20 students “may, inadvertently, have had prior access to test questions in study material they received” from a private tutor prior to the SAT administered at the school Oct. 10.

The “vast majority” of those students have agreed to take a specially scheduled test Saturday at Occidental College, ETS spokesman Ray Nicosia said. Two students have requested cancellation of the questioned scores and will receive a refund.

Nicosia said scores from Saturday’s test will be expedited and sent to the students and the colleges of their choice after 72 hours, rather than in six to eight weeks, as is usual. If the new results are “reasonably close” to the October test scores, then the October scores will stand. If the new results come in well below the October scores, the lower set will count.