<p>One girl was removed from her SAT testing (after the 9th section!) because she failed to put her pencil down when the proctor instructed everyone to do so. She had done this numerous times and, finally, I guess the man got tired of it and kicked her out and threw out her book. (Literally or figuratively, I don't know.)</p>
<p>And then today we were talking in class and this kid's ACT performance came up. Apparently it's a well-known fact that he cheated on the ACT. He scored a 20 the first time. </p>
<p>The second time around, he happened to get the same booklet as someone sitting right next to him. He scored a 32.</p>
<p>How often does cheating even occur on these things? Like, in high school, a good percentage of students cheat. Certainly it's not so prevalent on these tests...or is it?</p>
<p>The first case with the girl shouldn't even be considered cheating in my opinion... I think the story is probably an exaggeration of the strictness of the proctor. That's crazy. </p>
<p>But in general, i think it's too hard/risky cheating on the SAT - if you cheat and you get caught, you are screwed for life.</p>
<p>With the girl, it seems like one of those things where she was still writing while he was giving instructions for the next section... they don't actually expect you to drop the pencil mid-bubble, I don't believe.</p>
<p>With the boy, it's hard to pin that one on exaggeration.</p>
<p>yeah i would be lying if i didnt squeeze in that extra little bubble a few times. but thats ridiculous. if your mid-bubble, then a proctor should know to give a quarter-second more before kicking her out.</p>
<p>it really depends on the proctor. sometimes its not that hard. I'm not saying I did it, but there are plenty of opportunities. Proctors will sometimes just sit at their desks and do nothing. You could take conceal a cheat sheet for vocab or something...you could use remember a question and the answers like in a math problem, then go to the bathroom during break and call someone for the answer. Just dont give them your phone when they say to at the beginning of testing. If someone wanted to cheat they could, but its highly risky, which is why I opted to study for it since its safer, legal, and would actually prove that you are ready for the college that accepts you.</p>
<p>there were also a few cases i heard where ppl paid geniuses to sit the test for them...just show a fake id and stuff cos in myanmar you can only take the SAT at one test center and chances of the ppl knowing you there are next to nil cos you don't go to school there. There are so many ways to cheat..question is are you that much tempted? also myanmar is a full day ahead of students in the US...so the chances of us calling the US up and saying the answers is also possible but are we willing to take the chance? i don't think trying to cheat is worth the ***** you'd get if you got caught</p>
<p>kids open the books early and start working, they look ahead, they ask questions on material ahead in the bathrooms; they blatantly look at other kid's answers; the sunday kids read all the internet postings; kids say they have special needs; it's a cheater's club-- why would it be any different than the rest of high school?</p>
<p>Kids today cheat like its nobody's business.
People program their calulators
people write on themselves, and their shoes to remember vocabulary.
people talk in the bathrooms
people write vocab on their pencils</p>
<p>The ways are countless, but like that person said up there,
if you get caught, you're screwed for life.</p>
<p>Someone at my school, for the PSAT math section, did not get the chance to finish the last problem because he ran out of time, so he memorized the answers to the problem and finished after the time was called. He then filled the last bubble in during the next section. </p>
<p>This is technically illegal, but given the stress and pressure and desperation, most people would have done the same, if not worse.</p>
<p>Another kid got her teacher as a protor. And since the teacher like her and was apathetic about the test, she started a section earlier while the teacher was reading the instruction. That's a good two to three minutes.</p>
<p>In our PSAT room, all the kids were in the fellowship hall with round tables, would've been so easy to keep a dictionary in my bag and look it up in the breaks.</p>
<p>If I don't make National Merit because I didn't cheat, I'll cry.</p>
<p>Liist, I hope you never cry because you don't cheat. National Merit is no comparison to being honest. A cheater will not earn other's respect. Remember life is not National Merit nor got into a highly selective university at all cost. Character still counts. Be proud of yourself if you try your best. With you strong motivation to do well, I am sure you can get into a very good university and be successful in life.</p>
<p>I hate those immoral scum who cheat (i dont mean filling in mid-bubble, because thats your rightfully earned point since you've figured out the answer and have begun transferring it to the recognition form). </p>
<p>Those scum who cheat anyway (such as starting 5 min early, trading answers in the bathroom) are usually too stupid to get a 'high' score anyway, except in rare cases. I personally hope they get caught and owned</p>
<p>My aunt's relative somehow finagled it so her daughter was diagnosed with ADD, even though she didn't have it, so she could get extra time on the test -- Then, this mother bragged about her scheme to another relative, whose son DOES have ADD.</p>
<p>The ADD-son and his parents had decided that he would not take the SAT straight -- not take advantage of the extra time, because when you're going about your life with ADD you don't get extra time. So hopefully the evil mother felt like an a**hole.</p>
<p>I just think its sad that these tests have become so "important" that people have to resort to cheating... just like people resort to cheating in school. These people are risking their integrity because these tests have been heightened to such big proportions. But the question is, is it really worth it? When it comes down to it, there's a college for everyone and if you are determined and work hard, you can be successful.</p>
<p>A score doesn't mean anything about who you are as a person or how smart you are. If it truly measured intelligence, your scores wouldn't change because your intelligence shouldn't really change. If you just practice the SAT, you should do better. I'm not saying that the people who score 2400's or whatever aren't smart, they are, but there are pleanty of smart people who work hard who do not get great scores. We are people and individuals, not numbers.</p>
<p>musicgirl24 - you post is a breath of fresh air. College prep is a huge industry.
Lots of colleges, those who get the most respect from me, have read the studies which disprove any correlation between SAT scores and "success" in college. They do not require the scores and are opting out of the profit driven
misery this puts everyone through. My favorite education site is: <a href="http://www.educationconservancy.com%5B/url%5D">www.educationconservancy.com</a></p>
<p>Maybe this is one good reason why ALL scores from a test are sent to colleges rather than allowing students to pick and choose what gets sent. Even though most colleges accept the best score from each section, I would hope that an ACT increase from 20 to 32 would raise a red flag and call for some explanation--at least the college should take a closer look at the students other application materials.</p>