Over 50 Students Must Retake Exam After SAT Answer Sheets Scattered on Street Due to Mistake by US Shipping Company

El Paso High School Students Lose SAT Answer Sheets During Transport in the US
UPS Says "Occurred Due to Not Following Work Protocol" ... 55 Sheets Missing

[Asia Economy Reporter Bang Je-il] A transport vehicle carrying answer sheets for the U.S. college entrance exam (SAT) accidentally dropped them, putting more than 50 students in a position where they have to retake the exam.

According to U.S. CNN and other media on the 6th (local time), a video was posted on social networking services (SNS) on the 3rd showing SAT answer sheets scattered by the wind in the middle of a road in El Paso, Texas. In the video, the answer sheets being crushed and torn by passing vehicles belonged to El Paso high school students who took the exam on the 27th of last month.

The answer sheets were being transported on a truck operated by the U.S. logistics company UPS and were spilled due to the truck driver's mistake. It is not known when exactly this incident occurred. The El Paso education authorities acknowledged that such an answer sheet loss incident did occur, stating that most of the dropped answer sheets were recovered, but 55 sheets remain missing.

The authorities are currently discussing with the College Board, which manages the SAT, about the disposition of the affected students, and have arranged for them to take another college entrance exam, the ACT, scheduled for December 10, without additional cost.

UPS apologized to the schools and students, stating, "Our employees are working to recover as many answer sheets as possible." They added that the driver's actions at the time of the accident "did not follow UPS's operational protocols."

One of the students affected by the absurd loss of answer sheets said, "I was planning to enroll early at Texas A&M University but missed the deadline," adding, "I hope to receive my SAT score report by the official deadline in January."

Meanwhile, the SAT will switch from the traditional method of marking answers with a pencil on paper to using laptops or tablets. With the change in the exam format, the time required to calculate scores is also expected to decrease. The College Board, which administers the SAT, announced in January this year that foreign students will experience this change starting in 2023, and U.S. students from 2024.

The main point of the SAT exam reform is the ‘digitalization’ of the test. Test takers will take the exam using their own laptops or tablets. Of course, the exam will be conducted at schools with proctors or designated locations. The exam time will be shortened from the previous 3 hours to 2 hours, and calculators will be allowed throughout the entire math section.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.