If College Board has emailed to say it is withholding or cancelling your SAT score, you have 20 business days from the day you got that email to tell it in writing that you want to appeal. The address is SecurityandFairness@collegeboard.org. Weekends don't count, so 20 business days is about four weeks. Everything else on this page can wait a day. That deadline can't.
This page covers a score College Board took away. If you are thinking about cancelling your own score, that is a different process with a different deadline, covered in cancel, withhold or re-score an SAT.
First, work out which kind of cancellation it is
Two different parts of the SAT Testing Rules let College Board stop a score, and they leave you with different options. Read the email for which one it describes.
| Rule violation (misconduct) | Testing irregularity | |
|---|---|---|
| What it means | College Board believes there is evidence you broke, or tried to break, a testing rule | Something went wrong with the test itself: an administrative error, faulty equipment, a network outage, a system error, a fire alarm |
| Can it happen if you did nothing wrong? | It is based on evidence of a violation, which you can dispute | Yes. The rules say College Board can act "even if you did not cause or benefit from" the problem |
| Can you appeal? | Yes, in writing within 20 business days | The rules describe no appeal |
| What you can get back | Your score, if the appeal succeeds | A refund, at College Board's discretion. The rules call it "the only remedy" |
| Further penalties | Possible, with "substantial evidence": a ban from future SAT, AP and CLEP exams | None listed |
If you can't tell which one your email describes, send the notice to appeal anyway, inside the 20 days, and ask. A notice you didn't need costs nothing, and a late one closes the only route the rules give you.
How the appeal works
Section 5 of the testing rules sets out the steps:
- Send a Notice to Appeal. Within 20 business days of receiving the email, write to SecurityandFairness@collegeboard.org saying you intend to appeal. A few lines is enough at this stage.
- College Board tells you why. It sends you the basis for its decision and gives you a date by which to respond. Your response is the appeal itself.
- Someone new reviews it. A senior member of the College Board test security team who had no part in the original decision reads your appeal and decides. The rules call that decision "binding and final".
- Arbitration, if you still disagree. After the appeal is decided you can take it to arbitration or small claims court. You can't skip the appeal: a case started before the appeal is decided gets dismissed.
If you take an appeal decision to arbitration, the rules say the only question is whether College Board acted in good faith and followed its own procedures, and the arbitrator works from the documents you and College Board already submitted. So the appeal is where your account and your documents do their work. Don't hold anything back for later.
What to put in your response
Write down what happened on test day while you still remember it:
- where you tested, the room, and roughly when each module and break happened
- which device you used, whether it was your own, borrowed or school-managed, and who set it up
- where your phone was from arrival to dismissal
- anything the staff told you, and anything unusual about the room or the device
Keep the admission ticket, the email from College Board and any messages from the test center. Stick to what happened, with times where you have them. A calm, specific account is easier for a reviewer to check than an angry one.
One more thing to hold off on: posting about the case. The rules say that if you make a College Board review or decision public, College Board may make "any and all details" of it public too. Ask for advice privately while the appeal is open.
Will colleges or my school find out?
They can. The rules let College Board share the results of a test security investigation, including any penalty, with your school, colleges, scholarship programs, any place you sent scores to, and your parents. College Board can also answer questions from any institution you sent a score to. Its test security page says it is working with colleges and high schools on ways to tell them when a student gained or tried to gain an unfair advantage.
That is the opposite of a score you cancel yourself, which no college ever sees. The difference is set out in what colleges see when you send a score.
If it was a testing irregularity
You didn't do anything wrong, and the rules still allow College Board to cancel the score, decline to score part of the test, or cancel a whole administration. A refund is the only remedy they list, and it is at College Board's discretion. Ask about it through the SAT Student and Parent Inquiry form linked from the test security page.
In practice the fix is the next test date. For 7 November 2026 registration closes on 23 October, and for 5 December it closes on 20 November. The November deadline post has late fees and the waitlist, and which SAT date to take works back from application deadlines.
New York and California
If you have a US address and tested in New York or California, the rules give you extra options on top of the appeal, such as cancelling your scores yourself with a refund, or a retest. You get these when College Board finds "substantial evidence" of a violation. You don't get them if it finds "overwhelming evidence".
What gets scores cancelled
These are the rules that apply on an ordinary test day, taken from College Board's testing policies and the testing rules:
- Leaving the building before testing ends. The policy page says your scores will be cancelled.
- Using a phone or other device during the test or during breaks, or going to a locker.
- Running any app other than Bluebook on the testing device.
- An ID that doesn't match the admission ticket.
- Having a calculator on the desk outside the Math section.
- Sharing or discussing test questions, which the policy page prohibits "at any time", by text, email or online.
The last one is worth a second look, because it doesn't end when the test does. Posting the questions you remember on a forum or in a group chat after the test is covered by that rule. The Bluebook device rules and what happens on test day, hour by hour cover the rest of what to get right before the next sitting.
Scores come out in waves through release day, so a blank screen in the morning means nothing yet. See when SAT scores come out. And if your report says "Score Sends Held", College Board couldn't confirm it had a complete set of your answers when it scored the test. It won't send that score to colleges unless you ask. That is a different situation, explained in how to read your SAT score report.
What to do this week
- Find the email and note the date you received it. Count 20 business days forward and put the date in your calendar.
- If it is a rule violation, or you can't tell, send the Notice to Appeal now.
- Write your account of the day and collect your documents.
- Check whether your colleges need a score at all. At test-optional schools you can apply without one, and whether to submit has the method.
- If it was an irregularity, register for the next date you can make. If you have other sittings, superscoring means one lost date may matter less than it feels like today.
Frequently asked questions
Can College Board cancel my SAT score if I didn't cheat?
Yes. Under Section 5 of the SAT Testing Rules, College Board can cancel scores after a testing irregularity, such as an administrative error, faulty equipment, a network outage or a fire alarm, even if you did not cause or benefit from it. The rules say a refund, at College Board's discretion, is the only remedy in that case.
How long do I have to appeal a cancelled SAT score?
20 business days from the day you received College Board's email. You send a written Notice to Appeal to SecurityandFairness@collegeboard.org. College Board then explains the basis for its decision and gives you a date to submit your full appeal.
Who decides an SAT score appeal?
A senior member of the College Board test security team who was not involved in the original decision. The rules call that decision binding and final. After it, you can go to arbitration or small claims court, where the only question is whether College Board acted in good faith and followed its own procedures.
Will colleges find out College Board cancelled my score?
They can. The SAT Testing Rules allow College Board to share the results of a test security investigation, including any penalty, with your school, colleges, scholarship programs and anyone you sent scores to. A score you cancel yourself is different: no college sees it.
Can I be banned from taking the SAT?
It can happen if College Board finds substantial evidence that you broke the testing rules. A ban can cover future SAT, AP and CLEP exams, and College Board says its length depends on the circumstances and how serious the violation was.
Does Score Sends Held mean my SAT score was cancelled?
No. It means College Board could not confirm a complete set of your answers was available when the test was scored. Your score is not sent to colleges, universities or scholarship programs unless you ask for it to be. How to read your SAT score report covers the rest of the report.