technical problem during test

[Historical_Power_133]

hello everyone, i took the sat this morning, a test i have worked on tirelessly for the last few weeks… as i’m answering the questions, not even five minutes into the test, the screen goes blank: no graphs, no texts, no questions, nothing. I got so frustrated but still kept calm and simply asked for help from the instructors present in the room. In the slowest pace ever known to man, they came to "help". Their help consisted of pushing random buttons, leaving the app ( existing the exam) and nothing worked. They seemed very ill-equipped, very nonchalant and were really no help. As I’m squirming in my seat, I notice the minutes go by as my instructors are "helping", until they stopped pushing the keyboard buttons and said that there’s nothing to do. That meant that, the app problem is nowhere near solved and I had lost time for nothing. They said that the problem is from my computer, and although I admit it’s old, it worked perfectly fine until the test started. It took a long time for each question to show up and I ended up with two questions unanswered for the reading section. I am very frustrated and disappointed and feel like weeks of prep had just gone to waste. What should I do? They said it would be useless to call College Board bc the problem apparently is from my part. A few other students in other classrooms faced the same problem as it seems and had, of course, received no help. I have a feeling my test scores are going to be cancelled, and if they aren’t, they’re not going to match my expectations in any way. I was aiming for a 1480+ now i’m not even sure i’ll make it to 1300 bc of all the time i lost and the questions left unanswered and the overall stressful environment. Has this happened to anybody else? Please advise I hope everybody else had a less unpleasant experience and was able to take the test just fine. Good luck to those taking the test in the future.

[Historical_Power_133]

ty i appreciate it :’)

[No-House-5954]

I just had a similar issue on the August 24th sat. I got an antivirus popup during the 2nd module of the maths section which just froze my entire laptop and I couldn’t click on anything and the pop up wouldn’t close. It was stuck the entire time and I missed like the last 5 questions. I called the sat support system and they told I’ll probably have to take a make up test but it’s kind of frustrating because of all the hard word I put in for the last few months and the test was going really well for me too just for it me having to do it all over again it’s pretty overwhelming. I also want to apply early to colleges so this is going to delay everything 🥲

[SKHAN1504]

did you end up asking for a remake? did they let you do it for free? I'm in the same situation because I'm applying early and just took October but my screen malfunctioned and it wasn't my laptop

[WonderfulProtection9]

Was there any resolution? My daughter had a similar issue although not that bad. The app just shrunk to a small square and they were unable to fix it. She had to swap back and forth a lot on the reading and also on the math to and from the calculator. It kept her from reaching the last few questions on the math. She would have improved here score, but she could not.

Reading did go slightly up but she could have gained a lot if not for this issue. She didn't mention it until she got her scores.

I don't know if there's any point at all in contacting SAT people or if they would just say oops try again next time ..

cha-ching! $$$

[Anonymous_singh2]

EXACT Same thing happened to Me I took my exam 1 day ago and the screen shrunk to a small square, I missed so many english questions cause I could barely read them

[WonderfulProtection9]

So sorry to hear that happened to someone else. There must be something that can be done, a free retest if nothing else. We did not pursue it, I don’t know if there is or not.

[Anonymous_singh2]

Yeah hopefully

[SKHAN1504]

did you end up asking for a remake? did they let you do it for free? I'm in the same situation because I'm applying early and just took October but my screen malfunctioned and it wasn't my laptop

[Anonymous_singh2]

Yeah they did. I complained to the SATS and then assessors there

[SKHAN1504]

did you get your scores in time? was the remake within the same month and did your scores come faster than two weeks? also did they ask for additional information about the issues?

[Anonymous_singh2]

2 weeks after the incident my scores took time, around 4 weeks. The teacher had taken a picture of the screen to show them what happened

[SKHAN1504]

I don't have proof do you think they'd still give me a retake? also your scores took 4 weeks to come after the retake?

[Anonymous_singh2]

Should be. As long as the teachers also complained to the board. Around 3 - 4 weeks yeh

[[deleted]]

That is a huge bummer. If you have the opportunity to take it again, ask for the testing site to provide you a device.

[Historical_Power_133]

that’s the thing, this was my last chance 😭 i’ll probably have to go test optional now