by JAMES S. KIM | @james_s_kim
editor@charactermedia.com
A number of students in China and South Korea likely cheated in the October and November SATs. The Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the test for the College Board worldwide, did not reveal how many scores were invalidated, but the majority are valid, according to the Huffington Post.
Initially, thousands of students had their scores withheld in October as the ETS investigated possible cheating based off “specific, reliable information” regarding organizations that were illegally obtaining test materials.
The announcement sparked concern among many of the test-takers, since it came right before the early application deadline for many American colleges and universities. The College Board released the scores on Nov. 21, and the ETS said last month that they would “make universities aware of the circumstances and supply students with a letter to share with the schools to which they are applying.”
Admissions counselors commented that the delay would not hurt chances of getting in, as long as they weren’t implicated in the investigation. But even for those who are caught cheating, the Washington Post reported that there is “essentially no real consequence to cheating other than having a score invalidated.” The College Board merely does not report the score to universities, and the students could still retake the SAT in the future.
Bob Schaeffer, the pubic education director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) outlined how students and test-prep centers cheat, based off sources in China and Asia. You can check out the six-step operation here, as well as his suggestions on how to stop the cheating. Schaeffer said his organization had already received multiple reports about people planning to cheat on the Dec. 6 SAT in Asia.
