More than 500 Scripps Ranch High School students had their summer vacations disrupted Friday with news that they would have to return to school to retake Advanced Placement tests that have been declared invalid.

The College Board, the organization that oversees college admission tests, did not claim any students cheated on the exams, but is invalidating 847 AP tests because new seating arrangements established two years ago were not followed. The move means 540 students will have to take the tests again.

Students often study for months for AP tests, which can earn them college credits by meeting the requirements for certain subjects. Each tests costs $93 and can last two or three hours, and some students take up to nine exams.

San Diego Unified School District officials said Friday that the tests will be given again for free, and eight teachers have agreed to return to school to teach refresher courses for students who want to bone up on the subjects before taking the exams.


“It’s a huge bummer,” said Jonathan Lu, 17, who took four AP tests in May and recently graduated with plans to study business at the University of South California.

“When I found out, I was pretty angry,” he said. “It took awhile to let it sink in that I was going to have to retake all my AP tests.”

Jonathan said he’s grateful that teachers have offered to teach refresher classes, but was disappointed that the proctor who administered the tests at his school did not follow proper procedures.

He and his friends had planned to take a trip to Peru this summer, but with everybody having to retake their tests, that vacation will have to be put off, he said.


Superintendent Cindy Marten and Trustee Kevin Besier said they were frustrated that the College Board and Educational Testing Services, which administer the tests, took such a hard line after detecting a seating mistake.

“While I’m disappointed that the proper protocols were not followed at the site, I’m extremely disappointed the ETS is invalidating the scores, which I think is an over-reaction,” said Besier, who represents a district in San Diego Unified that includes Scripps Ranch. “In my opinion, I think they should have considered a lesser penalty, such as a sanction.”

Marten said the test proctor, a teacher at the school, was experienced at overseeing AP tests but did not follow the new procedures. ETS noticed the error while examining the seating charts for the tests, she said.

Among new requirements, students taking the tests must be at 8-foot-long tables so they have space between one another, and partitions are not allowed on the tables.


At Scripps Ranch this year, many students were at 6-foot tables with partitions, which previously had been allowed.

Marten said the school will have a new proctor giving AP tests in the future, and all proctors in the district will be required to be trained in the latest testing protocols.

She also said the district’s attorney contacted ETS about the issue, but has recommended not pursuing a legal challenge because the company is within its right to require the retest and past challenges have not been successful.

The district hasn’t heard of similar problems at its other high schools, but the issue isn’t unique to San Diego. In Marin County last month, 177 students at a private school were notified they would have to retake their AP tests because of seating irregularities.


A community meeting on the issue has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Marshall Middle School. The first round of new tests will be July 17- 20, and the full schedule can be found along with other information at the Scripps Ranch High School website, sandiegounified.org/schools/scrippsranch.

Students who opt to not take the tests again will be given refunds, and not all students who took the tests at the school are affected.

Matt Lawson, vice principal at Scripps Ranch High, said that while 540 will have to retake the tests, about 700 or 800 in all took them, and many were in seating arrangements that did not violate the protocol. Lawson said the average AP student takes five tests.

Among the students who will have to retake a test is Kayla Daniel-Gonzales, 17, who graduated a couple of weeks ago.


“The test was maybe two or three hours, but we prepped for it all year,” she said about the AP test in psychology she took.

Kayla took the test May 1 and isn’t confident she’ll do as well when she takes it again after being away from the subject for two months. She plans to take the refresher class at school.

“Otherwise, I’ll completely bomb it,” she said. “There’s no feasible way to restudy an entire year’s worth of work on my own.”

Kayla said her family had planned to take a vacation in July.


“This is now going to halt all that because I’m not going to be able to enjoy my summer,” she said. “I’ll have to study. I’ll have to utilize my free time to study for a test I already took. It is frustrating, especially considering I don’t even go to the school anymore.”

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT


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