Test company: Error message didn't affect scores
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   TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- Knowing he needed a high score on the
   Graduate Management Admission Test to get into a top business school,
   Peter Kwon studied for more than 250 hours and took several practice
   tests.
   
   On the big day, as he finished the 31/2-hour exam at the testing
   center, a computer error message flashed on his screen, followed by a
   score in the high 500s -- more than 100 points lower than he had
   recorded on the practice tests. Eight hundred is a perfect score.
   
   "I was shocked. The more I thought about it, the only anomaly was the
   error message," said Kwon, a 27-year-old certified public accountant
   from Santa Monica, California.
   
   About 3,200 of 55,000 test-takers between August and mid-October
   reported seeing the error message from the Windows operating system,
   according to the Educational Testing Service, the Princeton-based
   company that administers the exam. And hundreds complained to GMAT
   administrators, watchdog groups and test preparation companies about
   lower-than-expected scores.
   
   ETS said it plans no retests or refunds for those who received the
   message.
   
   "It didn't affect the score," said spokesman Kevin Gonzalez.
   
   The error message appeared only when a testing center served a large
   number of people at one time, Gonzalez said. ETS developed a computer
   program to fix the problem and distributed it to testing centers
   nationwide. About 90 percent had installed it by mid-October, he said.
   
   The McLean, Virginia-based Graduate Management Admission Council,
   which owns the GMAT, is confident test administrators have addressed
   the problem, said Karla Lacey, vice president of marketing.
   
   Gonzalez said it is not unusual for test-takers to score lower on the
   actual exam than on practice tests because of the pressure.
   
   Still, not everyone was satisfied.
   
   "In a testing environment, whether it's the beginning, middle or end,
   no error message should come up," said Kwon, who took the test
   September 8.
   
   A similar error message flashed in front of 400 people in 1998, a year
   after the test switched to an all-computer format. Some test-takers
   demanded refunds, but ETS assured them scores were not affected.
   
   A year ago, an unrelated error in a scoring program caused nearly
   1,000 people to score lower than they deserved. Test-takers and
   business schools were notified in December, and Brigham Young
   University invited seven previously rejected students to resubmit
   applications.
   
   "One of the problems with computer-delivered and -scored tests, as
   compared to pencil-and-paper tests, is there is no way the test-taker
   can check the accuracy of the scoring," said Robert A. Schaeffer of
   the National Center for Fair & Open Testing.
   
   The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based organization has taken complaints
   from as far away as Greece about the most recent error message. There
   is no independent oversight of testing companies, and test-takers have
   little choice but to pay for another test, Schaeffer said.
   
   "I've talked to people who are crying on the phone. And these are not
   children -- they've completed undergraduate business degrees," he
   said.
   
   The Princeton Review, a leading test-preparation company, also
   received calls about the error message. The company sent its customers
   a letter telling them where to direct complaints.
   
   "We don't know if there's a problem or not," said assistant vice
   president Jeff Rubenstein. "The only people who know are at ETS -- and
   that's a problem."
   
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