To assess the stability of the Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal score scale SAT--V, 1963 and 1973 forms of the SAT--V were administered in counterbalanced order to spaced samples of the same group. The 1973 scores were placed on the reporting scale used for the 1963 form. The experimentally derived scores on the 1963 scale were compared with their corresponding scores on the 1973 scale for candidates of the same ability levels, in order to estimate the degree of scale shift. These findings confirmed an upward scale drift which gave the 1973 candidate group an average of 8 to 10 points higher than they would have earned had these experimental equating results rather than the operational equating results been used in reporting the 1973 scores. The scale drift was not uniform over the extent of the scale; it was found to increase as scores decreased from 600 to 200. Little scale drift was noticed over the 10-year span for scores of 650 and above. It would appear that the reported declines in mean SAT--V scores from 1963 to 1973 are about 8 to 10 points smaller than they would have been had the scale been completely stable. (Author/EVH)