<p>Four tests a year are effectively released here in the U.S. (three Saturday tests and one Sunday test). These would be relatively easy for test prep centers in South Korea to obtain. But these tests are never re-used in whole (though perhaps in part, outside the U.S.) The non-released tests (all the U.S. SAT administrations minus the four above), such as the June 2007 SAT, would be very hard to obtain. But the test has to be delivered, distributed, and stored in South Korea at some time before the administration. It makes sense that this is where the leak occurred.</p>
<p>I was also wondering, if in this case where Koreans were caught cheating on the SAT, what would prevent them from cheating on other aspects of their application - e.g., the parents bribe a school official to change their kids GPA? How about extracurriculars?
I think if I were an admissions officer, I would look extra carefully and do due diligence on ALL applicants from Korea.
Unfortunately,with this move by TCB, the truly honest and hard working students who didn’t cheat will suffer. The articles didn’t mention how many scores are actually considered to be obtained by cheating, but for TCB to nullify ALL scores, it must be at least 10 or 20%, probably higher.
This seems to be an ongoing problem in Korea. Ive read articles dating back to at least 2004 that mention this exact same problem. The scale of the problem just keeps getting worse. Its hypothetical, but if TCB would have done this earlier, could they have nipped this in the bud before it grew out of control like it is now?
Given the scale of this problem, what would prevent TCB from cancelling the June SAT in Korea as well?</p>
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<p>Yes, but how hard can these be to secure? They’re SAT tests, you don’t have criminal masterminds going after them. All sorts of things are stored securely without any being stolen, including things that have much more value. Why can’t TCB figure out how to store these securely?</p>
<p>Dudeys,</p>
<p>It is common for Asian students to outsource their applications to a service that completes them and writes they essay. It’s because cheating is a part of the culture that is the problem.</p>
<p>The year in a prestigious boarding school an Asian student was caught hacking into his professors computer for physics tests as well as hiring a free lance writer in NYC to write his English essays. The school now thinks he was doing this all four years.</p>
<p>He was still accepted into his first choice Ivy because he parents withdrew him from school before his discipline hearing took place.</p>
<p>Another Asian student at the same school was expelled in his Senior year. He was caught plagiarizing for the SECOND time. When the headmaster asked why he did it again he said" My parents just put so much pressure on me. They don’t care how I get an A they just want the A". His parents weren’t smart enough to get the lawyer over their fast enough and so it is on his record.</p>
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<p>Because it’s a situation where there are thousands of copies of something floating around, and many people “touching” each copy. All it takes is for one dishonest person to be alone with the test long enough to pull out a camera and photograph the pages. And then you’re golden because you can sell that knowledge to 1,000 people, for $5K. That’s $5 Million Dollars for 3 minutes of work. I’m not sure why that wouldn’t attract criminal masterminds. </p>
<p>I work with a secure test, in our case our state standardized assessment. It’s easy to see how test security violations occur. A few years ago we had the stomach flu hit a 3rd grade class. 4 different kids ended up throwing up repeatedly during the test (No, we didn’t make them stay and finish, but kids threw up on their desk, and then ran to the trash can and threw up there . . . ). It’s easy to see how this might distract a proctor and keep them from noticing something happening quietly in row 7. Of course, these were 3rd graders so they aren’t committing internet crimes, but if an adult was there and wanted to photocopy the test, all he/she needs to do is to get an accomplice to swallow some syrup of ipecac.</p>
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<p>I am afraid that this quite wrong, unless you stress the word mastermind. The people who are behind the leaks are common criminals, and not unsophisticated ones. The same criminals who are behind the massive hagwons.</p>
<p>Much of the problem results from Korea having few universities of any stature and Korean employers prefering to recruit Koreans who have degrees from prestigious American universities.</p>
<p>This is in sharp contrast to Japan where the best students would not even consider attending Harvard, Yale or Princeton for their UG degrees since their employment prospects would be bleak. For the smartest of the smart, their goal is to get accepted at one of Japanese government universities such as Tokyo University, Kyoto University and Kyushu Universities or a couple of the elite private universities such as Waseda and Keio. These are the schools that are recruited by Japan’s leading employers. Entrance to these schools is soley determined by one’s score on an annual entrance exam given by each school and security for these exams is extraodinarily tight.</p>
<p>A Japanese graduate from Harvard would only be hired for their English language skills and knowledge of American culture and without a degree from one of the elite Japanese universities would not be on the promotion track.</p>
<p>There are well known cheating scandals involving Korean high school students in the US and their friends/family/friends of family in Korea. Usually small scale, not always caught, but because of the time difference questions are often transferred.</p>
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<p>Really? Since the tests administered in the US and internationally on any given date are NOT the same, I find it hard to imagine that such communications would be helpful.</p>
<p>I think that we are approaching a time where by necessity,the SAT will be administered by computer. In that case, there is no paper copy available beforehand and when the student logs in and is verified as the testee, the exam is presented to him/her. That doesn’t solve the problem of reusing exams internationally but if they administer the tests as the same day as given in the US, with possibly somewhat staggered times, you reduce the chances and opportunities.
To those who think, " it doesn’t affect me", if there are test takers who are cheating, be it in the US or internationally, their percentiles are included in the overall ones so it negatively impacts those honest test takers.</p>
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Computer-based exams (like the GRE or the TOEFL) are offered continuously and re-used many many times because we don’t have the infrastructure to have everyone take the exam at the same time. (In fact, one piece of the “advice” I got from my foreign friends when I was preparing for the GRE was to sign up for a test date towards the end of the month; I would be able to find the current questions and answers posted on foreign forums.)</p>
<p>Actually the infrastructure is easier than you think. Similar to the way the Bar exam for lawyers is administered in many states, you download software to your computer which locks out all other programs and access the exam and when done, submit it. It can accommodate up to 1000 people in a room.
<a href=“http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/4/documents/gbx/BXLaptopBul_R.pdf[/url]”>http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/4/documents/gbx/BXLaptopBul_R.pdf</a></p>
<p>If given on the same day throughout the world, you minimize the chances of collusion. It can be done, IF the College Board shows the will to do so…
You could say that you are discriminating against those that don’t have access to a computer but you have to balance the integrity of the exam against all the other factors…</p>
<p>It is really not that hard. The centers of organized cheating are known. Let the Asian take the tests but have them retested through a CAT system before confirming their admission. All it takes is for ETS to sell that extra service to the schools. </p>
<p>And the results will NOT be that close to the reported scores. A test focusing on CR with a lot of reasoning math should catch most of the cheaters, especially those close to perfect scorers who cannot write a cogent sentence and spell at at a 9 grade level.</p>
<p>“For all their revenues (like 2 million tests @ ~50 a piece) they should be able to write 8 new tests a year.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, writing these exams is not easy, and it is not cheap. That is why every testing organization in the country (and probably the world) does its level best to use the same items as many times as possible. At the same time, the choice by TCB to re-use old exams in international settings while knowing full well that the security of the items on those exams probably has been violated is a cynical practice that just plain makes them look bad. TCB is fully aware (and has been since day one) that this stuff goes on.</p>
<p>When I was in grad school in the mid-80’s I participated in a study for one model of computer-based adaptive testing. The methodology and technology has existed since at least 1983. However, pencils, paper, a big room with a bunch of desks or tables, and several beady-eyed proctors, are still less expensive than rooms full of computers and the necessary security systems would be. Scaling up for a fully computer-based ACT or SAT would be a massive endeavor. Which is why the industry has expended its development effort on exams where the number of examinees is lower - GRE, TOEFL, Pearson test of English, etc.</p>
<p>Personally, I rather like the IELTS model. Yes, there are multiple-guess questions, but the examinees also have live interviews with examiners. Kind of hard to fake that part.</p>
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<p>Given the opportunities, many (here and abroad) would try to take advantage of them. It just like the incidences at Barnard and Harvard. I doubt that College Board is completely innocent. It is an organization without accountability. It time to tighten the screw on them.</p>
<p>A South Korean actually made a thread about this on CC:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1499574-i-am-willing-sue-collegeboard-ets-hear-me-out.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1499574-i-am-willing-sue-collegeboard-ets-hear-me-out.html</a></p>
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<p>That’s my point, why are there many people touching each copy? Once it’s out of the country why does more than 1 person touch it before hours before the exam? Or a few people each simultaneously “touching” it. All sorts of firms have much more complicated security needs than this and they manage to get them to work. If these tests are being passed around from person to person it sounds like TCB is just incompetent.</p>
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<p>Yeah, externalities can happen in the test room that cause a room to require scores be invalidated. Having a it canceled for a whole country is a rather different thing.</p>
<p>I think you missed my point.</p>
<p>This is a recycled test. So, if there was a test security violation in the room, for example if someone had snuck a camera into the room with the vomiting, or worked with a partner to create the vomiting, then they could take pictures and distribute them. In that case it compromises the whole test, not just the one room.</p>
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<p>But there are no parallels here. The College Board biggest contribution is to keep feeding the monster red meat by recycling older tests and relying on local to administer the tests. A cynic could state that they really do not care too darn much, as the evidence of organized cheating goes as long as I can remember, and that is more than a decade. </p>
<p>All in all, the situation is beyond any reasonable repair, and the only solution is to change direction by declaring all tests and application records from that part of the world highly suspect. Schools, in turn, can decide to use those suspect results or make the effort to ferret out the cheaters through a confirmation test. Heck, they do not even need TCB for that … all they have to do is to interview the successful applicants. </p>
<p>As far as accountability, it is good to remember who “owns” The College Board and whom are their sole customers. And they are the member schools. Ultimately, the entire responsibility falls on the schools that accept the tests despite knowing the integrity was broken a long time ago.</p>