I know two other students from my school who have cheated on this October SAT and they have been constantly bragging about it to me. They told me that they copied off of each other but got some questions ( about 1 ~ 3 ) on each section wrong to make it seem like they didn’t cheat. I want to report them but also don’t want to be “that guy”. I really hope they get caught but what are the chances that collegeboard will catch them for having similar answers even though they got a few wrong on purpose?
The chances are lower than I would hope, but also higher than they hope.
Turn them in. Especially if you have text messages or some other such evidence.
If you don’t, you’re part of the problem, and also culpable.
If you report them, theres a chance that everyone who took the test at that center’s scores will be delayed or canceled. You can report them if you value integrity passionately, but I’m not so certain whether their scores will drastically affect you score. It’s up to you.
Collegeboard probably won’t catch them unless the proctor saw anything and reported them…
Look on the bright side, they probably did horrible. If they copied from an answer key that’d be a different story but if they only copied off each other and then purposefully got some wrong, I doubt they’ll even benefit from cheating.
Are you sure collegeboard won’t catch them? I have text messages and in specific detail, the one who is really good at math helped the other guy, and the other guy, who is really good at writing and reading, helped the one who is good at math. They told me that they deliberately got some wrong for other sections except math, but they actually got a question wrong on math accidentally. Because of this they have been worried that it will be suspicious since they got the same question wrong. According to what they say in the group chat they also got the same questions wrong for writing, so I am wondering if the fact that they got same questions wrong make the chances of them getting caught higher. If the chances are very low, I might end up reporting them, but can someone give me an estimate of how likely they are of getting caught?
EDIT: They just said that for the reading sections, they got the same questions wrong ( about 4 ~ 5 ), but one of them got 3 extra questions wrong to make it less suspicious
I would say let it go man.
No point in investing that much time to get them in trouble.
Thanks for the reply IneffableMind, but I forgot to mention that they are very smart students. They are top of their classes and the math guy I mentioned on my last post gets 800 on all his practice tests for math, but does not do as well on reading and writing. The other guy, who the math guy helped, is really good at writing (>750 all his tests) and is fairly decent at reading (>700). So they definitely didn’t do too bad. Since their goals are ivy leagues, I don’t think they would have gotten too many wrong so they could boost their scores
I don’t want to feel like I did something wrong when I should have done what was right, but I will feel better if they do get caught, so I am just wondering what are their chances of getting caught
Ahh okay that changes things. If that’s the case maybe you should, it sounds like their scores may have increased by 150+, which means they could potentially take away spots at college that students actually worked for them. When two average students cheat it seems pointless to me but with students specialized in different subjects cheating becomes more of a problem.
Alright thanks for your input IneffableMind. So how are their chances of getting caught if i report them vs if i don’t report them?
You should absolutely (I feel compelled to use “must” here) report the incident. From my experience, domestic cheating is one of the few things College Board (CB) takes seriously. They will probably be caught; however, it is exceedingly unlikely that everyone in the test center will have their scores invalidated.
Email: testsecurity@info.collegeboard.org
Phone: 609-406-5430
Include the following:
- First and last names of those involved
- Test center name, room number, and seating arrangement (if known)
- Precise description of their cheating method
- The text messages (screenshot if by email, recite if by phone)
CB will then compare their answer sheets to confirm that they are consistently “off by 1 - 3” incorrect answers. Reporting cheating is completely anonymous.
If you have any question feel free to PM me – I have used both the ACT and SAT services.
None. I know for a fact that people in my center talked about the right answers during the break and then changed their answers accordingly during the beginning of the next session.
Have you thought about showing the group chat texts to a school administrator and getting his/her opinion on what to do? It seems as if these students’ school has an interest in knowing about the honesty of some of their top students.
I’ll say it again… they didn’t just share a couple of answers in the bathroom… they shared during the test and got very similar answers.
bumpppp i still need help with this. I just want to really know the chances of them getting caught so I can warn them and try to convince them to turn themselves in to do the right thing
I don’t see ANY upside to involving anybody else in this or breaking your anonymity at your school . Just turn them in yourself as 1golfer1 told you to do, relax and know that you did the honorable thing and all that you can do, then don’t be surprised if you never find out what happened to them.
What kind of help do you want? It sounds like you’ve already gotten a lot of solid advice, in both directions.
As for how likely they are to get caught, we’re not privy to the College Board’s algorithms (they’re a closely held secret, in part to keep people like your friends less able to game them), so we can’t answer that.
I still say that you have a job to do. If you’re aware of the cheating and don’t turn them in, you have yourself cheated. (FWIW, at my university it falls under the student code of conduct, under the heading “aiding and abetting”.)
Ok thanks for the replies and recommendations everyone. I will be turning them in tomorrow.
Kudos to you for making the right decision.
@CCBG97, how did it go? Hopefully you will stay anonymous.