The Aptitude Zoo
O., D.
The Aptitude Zoo "You will not be admitted to the test center without positive ID," say the instructions ETS and the College Board give students when they sign up to take the SAT. Test scores...
...Erasing these marks was difficult...
...When time finally was called, the proctor allowed the remaining students to continue working on the test...
...Several still were working when I left...
...It is also extremely distracting to the students still working...
...Test scores would be meaningless if college admissions officers couldn't be certain they had been obtained under secure conditions...
...Our proctor, who was wearing a jaunty scarf made of blue plastic netting, talked to herself as she waited for students to arrive...
...We would have 30 minutes to complete the first section, she said, starting now...
...Our proctor gave us just one break, very late in the test, only because a student complained...
...My desk was so covered with graffiti that the ink from the tabletop sometimes rubbed off on my answer sheet...
...Her timing was very approximate, according to my watch...
...D.O...
...Other students worked on sections other than the one they were supposed to be working on...
...Yet when I took the SAT at Julia Richman High School in New York in December 1983, no one asked for my identification...
...Shortly after she gave us our booklets, she told us to begin...
...Students have to provide quite a lot of information and doing so takes a long time...
...Then, after we had started, she told us to be certain to fill in the identifying information on both sides of the answer sheet and on the back of the test booklet...
...those in my room were cheated out of at least a third of the time allowed for the first section of the test...
...Every time the proctor or one of the students started talking, I lost track of what I was doing and had to begin again...
...All the desks had been carved and gouged...
...There was no clock in our room, so the proctor periodically marked the time on the blackboard...
...Indeed, when I took out my wallet to get my driver's license, the proctor told me to put it away...
...Of course, several students opened their booklets immediately...
...Several students continued working during the break...
...This is absolutely forbidden...
...It is cheating...
...She told all the students to put their identification away...
...Proctors are explicitly required to give students a five-to-ten minute break at the end of each hour...
...The proctor talked, too...
...The students who left early rustled their coats and papers and talked in normal voices...
...It was possible to tear an answer sheet simply by marking an answer...
...This, of course, is against the rules...
...Students are supposed to do it before the test begins, with the proctor leading them through every step...
...She said she was going to give us our test booklets ahead of time but asked that we not open them "in case Dennis walks in...
...I was working on the last few problems in my second math section at the time...
...I just need to see your ticket," she said...
...Students who finished the last section early were allowed to leave...
...Even students who ignored the proctor and began working on the test were penalized, because she talked continually...
...The proctor said nothing, although she was clearly able to see what was going on...
...She shaved off a few minutes on some sections, added a few minutes on others...
...She stood in the doorway and talked to a woman in the hall...
...This, too, is cheating...
Vol. 17 • April 1985 • No. 3
