diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/ColumnMetadata.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/ColumnMetadata.java
index a669ca90abeb..2a59ee3ebf58 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/ColumnMetadata.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/ColumnMetadata.java
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ public boolean isPrimaryKeyKind()
         }
     }
 
-    public static final ColumnIdentifier SYNTHETIC_SCORE_ID = ColumnIdentifier.getInterned("+ds+score", true);
+    public static final ColumnIdentifier SYNTHETIC_SCORE_ID = ColumnIdentifier.getInterned("+:!score", true);
 
     /**
      * Whether this is a dropped column.