Free online SAT prep class offered after scoring controversy

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Free online test preparation classes are being offered for the SAT and ACT through October after many students said they received unfair test scores.

They kicked up a firestorm on social media after the June SAT when they received lower scores than expected for the number of answers they got correct.

RELATED: More colleges dropping SAT requirements but Bay Area students still taking prep classes

Kalei Barksdale is one of those students. She studied for the SAT for six months.

She took the test in June and left feeling pretty confident.

"I was like this was easy. I'm not really good at math, but even the math section. This was like this is not as bad as I thought it was," Kalei said.

Perhaps the test was too easy. In an attempt to balance the scoring, the College Board scored this test more harshly than previous tests.

Kalei was stunned when she received her score of 1020 when online calculators suggested her score should have been as much as 300 points higher. The calculator took the aggregate of past scores and predicted her results based on the number of questions she answered incorrectly.

"I actually cried myself to sleep that night and the day afterwards. I was like, whoa, I studied all this time just to get such a bad score," she said.

The lower score could jeopardize badly needed scholarship awards.

And that's led to lots of frustration.

Chris Lele is with the test prep company Magoosh.

"So students could have gotten 10 questions more correct on this test, yet gotten the same scores they did last time," he said.

Campbell Taylor of Niceville, Florida counts himself as one of the frustrated students.

His score was 70 points lower in June when compared to his March score, even though he got three more questions right.

"The way that this test worked, it was so much easier that it wasn't even close to the previous test administrations. So the way they changed the score was insane," said Campbell.

He's among the first to use the hashtag Rescore the June SAT.

The College Board has made it clear it has no plans to do so, responding that, "The June scores we reported are accurate -- the result would be the same even if we re-scored it."

Magoosh is offering free online test preparation for anyone who took the test in June through the October SAT.

You must sign up by August 31.

"We're really just here to help students because we know they're frustrated," said Lele of Magoosh.

Click here for a look at more stories by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.