A recent examination of the industry by The New York Times showed that testing errors have affected public school students in more than 20 states in the last three years. That was about 3 percent of the roughly 32,300 people who took the test during that period. The mistake was discovered by a testing service team doing unrelated research, Mr. Cureton said. On average, the mistake reduced the affected scores by 44 points, said Thomas M. Broitman, executive director for the graduate test at the testing service. One business school applicant, a legal secretary in Washington, D.C., said she was very upset when she learned so long after the test that her score should have been 30 points higher.
Life is competitive enough as it is.
Dan Simon of Chicago, another would-be graduate student, said he had moved since taking the test last year and did not learn until early March, after he took the test again, that his previous score should have been 640, not 580. Mr. Simon's was the only complaint of nondelivery that the testing service received, said Pamela Rice, the testing service's operations director who signed the notification letter. The Educational Testing Service, which also administers the familiar SAT and various graduate school admissions exams, is becoming a force in the statewide testing business a market that would grow by more than 50 percent with the passage of President Bush's education package. The testing service also administers the Advanced Placement tests, and is investigating reports that a question from an Advanced Placement history exam leaked onto the Internet on May 10, the night before the test was given to 300,000 high school students across the country. Kevin Gonzalez, a spokesman for the testing service, confirmed the investigation, which was reported yesterday in The Washington Post.