IOWA CITY – Problems that led to botched scores on thousands of college entrance exam have been corrected, test officials said.

Two weeks ago the College Board, a New York organization that administers the SAT test, found that about 4,000 students who took the October 2005 SAT Reasoning Test scored higher than originally stated. Officials later found that about 1,600 more sheets had not been rescanned and 18 students had received false low scores.

College Board officials last week asked Pearson Education Management, in Iowa City, to make sure all October tests were rescanned.

College Board officials said they notified high school guidance counselors and college admission officials Thursday and informed students Friday.

Officials with College Board and Pearson declined to explain how the errors occurred.

“I don’t know why they weren’t discovered earlier,” said Brian O’Reilly, executive director of SAT information services for the College Board.

Pearson blamed the problem partly on moisture on answer sheets.

“The SAT has been administered for 80 years,” O’Reilly said. “Nowadays we are giving the test nearly 3 million times a year. This is the first time in 80 years that there has been a problem of this magnitude. I would hope that people will keep this in perspective.”

Officials at some Iowa colleges said the mistake couldn’t have happened at a worse time – the annual admission rush by high school students.

Jim Sumner, dean of admission and financial aid at Grinnell College, said he hopes the problems have been resolved.

“It has not shaken my confidence in them, but it’s obviously worrisome,” Sumner said.

A majority of applicants at Grinnell take the SAT.

“This is something we worry about more than any other college in Iowa,” Sumner said.

Only three students at the University of Iowa were affected by the errors, but their admission was not affected, said Emil Rinderspacher, associate director of admissions.

Iowa State admission officials said they had no reports of scoring errors, and officials at Northern Iowa could not provide figures.

Most Iowa students take the ACT, but preferences between the tests are split nationwide.

Sumner said all applicants to Grinnell whose tests were affected by the error will be reconsidered.