May 2nd was an ordinary testing day for 263 Loudoun County students who took their SAT at Broad Run High School.

The students expected to receive their results within the traditional three weeks, but they ended up waiting five after the school declared the results missing.

The frantic search was protracted by the placement of the blame, shifting between the school, the college board, and UPS, when the real issue was a careless oversight.

The scores were found at the bottom of a cart inside Broad Run, probably placed there and forgotten about for nearly a month.

The callous mistake caused over 260 kids to worry that they would have to retake the SAT and never know how they did. When the mistake came to light, the students were immensely relieved.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that an incident like this has occurred. And, it doesn’t always turn out so well for the students.

In 2011, 100 Oakland teens never received their ACT scores. The students were seniors, and were encouraged to contact the colleges they applied to and send them the letter that they received from ACT explaining the mishap, but some schools such as UC Santa Barbara would not have it.

They simply weren’t accepting scores from after February 12. Other schools just gave a cryptic ‘’we’ll think about it.’’

The universal blaming oaf the post office wasn’t that far off.

On a smaller scale, postal blunders account for many sporadic losses of test scores, which raises the question, why aren’t preventative measures being taken? Why doesn’t the college board back up the scores?

If a student is a senior like the Oakland teens and many of the Broad Run teens, they may not have a second chance to take the SAT.

When asked how he would react to not receiving his SAT score, Junior Chris Lee said, “If I was a senior, I would be completely devastated because it would be one of the last times to do it. If I was a junior I would be upset, but I would think it would be not as bad because I could retake it in the fall”

Not only does not receiving the score threaten a student’s college admission, it discards something many students prepare painstakingly for. The score can vary depending on how you’re feeling that day, how much sleep you had the night before, how much and how recently you’ve studied and your mood the day of the test.

If a student takes the best test of their life, and then it gets lost because of a careless blunder, their future is in jeopardy and they might never be able to take the test that well again.

“I would be really mad,” said senior Lynn Kha.

Since 1995, the College board has had a website that offers students the ability to view their SAT scores.

Unfortunately, many students are unaware or unwilling to utilize this resource.

The default method for giving students their scores is by mail, which is a much more fallible option. With an online posting there is almost no room for human error, but students who don’t have an active College Board account are subject to the danger of their scores being lost forever.

The Broad run students lucked out. But what if they hadn’t? What if their scores really had been somehow lost?

At most US colleges, SAT scores are not required. However, at most of the nation’s top tier schools – such as the ivy league, without an SAT score, your application won’t even be considered.

Even if the college accepts an application sans SAT score, the SAT is one of the most pivotal factors in a college’s consideration of a prospective student. Their chances of getting in would be dashed.

It hasn’t always been that way. The College Board was established in 1900.  An organization set up by 12 presidents of leading  colleges, the board’s aim was to standardize admission processes across the nation, and thus began standardized testing. A man named Carl Brigham developed an IQ test typically administered to  the army into a test that could be used by schools to gauge how intelligent a student is.

The test became an easy way for colleges to choose among many students of varying credentials. If two students have the same GPA but one has a higher SAT score, the college will go with that student. If two students have the same GPA but one doesn’t have an SAT score at all, the college will undoubtedly choose the former.