@Periwinkle@Plotinus , I included a link to essentially the same information in my original post, all the way back on page 1, precisely to prove that adults are allowed to take the SAT. The restrictions, I would emphasize, are minimal: test-takers 21 and over must present government-issued IDs rather than student IDs and are not eligible for wait list status.
Let me just add that regardless of whatever College Board representatives are telling the press, it simply is not true that only frequent test-takers had their registrations cancelled. It really seems to be pretty much everyone over 21, including people who haven’t taken the test in many years and (per a small thread on Reddit) people who have never taken it before at all.
Do you know whether the exclusion of people over 21 applies also to subsequent testing dates?
There is this clause in The SAT Registration Rights & Responsibilities of the Student:
“In the event of a test security-related concern, public health threat, natural disaster, or terrorist act,
the College Board may cancel testing for all or a particular group of test-takers.”
I still think it is likely that CB was planning to cancel the registrations from the start, but waited until the last minute to punish members of the test prep community and to minimize their ability to make alternate plans.
As I have already written on the previous page, @gettingschooled, I do not deny the possibility that adult test-takers may have been involved in cheating. Instead, I merely note their absence as factors in any of the major domestic or international cheating incidents of the last few years and therefore conclude that the current focus on them is a red herring. If you have any evidence to the contrary, I would be happy to hear of it, but until then, I am not “naive” for declining to believe what you cannot prove.
@Plotinus – Adults who had registered for the March test had their registrations summarily transferred to the May date. (Those who had already registered for May had their registrations transferred to the nearest test date for which they had not already registered.) It appears that test-takers who do not want to accept these unilateral transfers can also simply request a cancellation and a return of their test fee.
I am so tired of the Collegeboard’s screw ups. In recent months, there was the fiasco with the JUNE SAT when two sections were not scored because of printing errors. Next, the inflated percentiles on the most recent PSAT. Then the recent revelation that there WILL be some experimental questions on this new SAT, but Collegeboard refuses to elaborate. And now this. Oh, and in my opinion the worst thing, the refusal of Collegeboard to stop re-using recycled tests for International students, for Sunday test takers, for in school testing, and for Make Up test dates. Thank goodness I am no longer tutoring the SAT and have advised all students to take the ACT only. Everyone in my area ( including school college cousenlors) is telling students the same thing.
My theory is that they are trying to silence the critics by not allowing pros (who can see through the tests better than students) into the first sitting to avoid the bad press. They cannot afford more bad press, so they are trying to minimize that by keeping the adults out.
Why did CB cancel adult registrations at the very last minute?
(A) It wants to stop international pros from seeing the test that will be recycled abroad in the near future.
(B) It wants to stop domestic pros from gathering information that might help them tutor more effectively, and so to re-widen the gap.
(C) It It wants to stop pros from speaking out about the quality of the test, potentially leading to more bad press.
(D) It wants to ________ test prep people in whatever way possible.
(E) All of the above.
Answer: E.
Difficulty Level: 1.
Many test prep people are highly qualified, skilled educators, unlike the president of College Board, who could not even get a job as a high school teacher. Sour grapes, David?
“In the event of a ** test security-related concern ** , public health threat, natural disaster, or terrorist act, the College Board may cancel testing for all or a particular group of test-takers. When this occurs, the SAT Program will attempt to provide adequate prior notice, although circumstances may limit our ability to do so. Once determined, we will communicate test cancellations and where feasible, alternative test dates for affected test-takers.”
You agreed to the College Boards conditions, abide by them.
Just a note, from somebody who is a lawyer: I think it is highly unlikely that any claim for age discrimination could be made under these circumstances, especially since provision was made for people with “legitimate” reasons for taking the test to contact CB for a waiver. The only plausible legal avenue would be a claim for breach of contract, and the broad ToS language makes that pretty unlikely, too.
In any case, it is highly unlikely that any test prep organization will sue CB over this, because of the risk of having to answer questions themselves about their business practices.
Also, for the OP’s benefit: at this point it would strengthen, not weaken, your argument to go ahead and admit that you are a tutor. It would make you appear less evasive.
Thank you for your professional opinion as a lawyer @Hunt. I was wondering about the comment quoted above. Do you mean to imply by the above comment that it is illegal or unethical for an adult tutor to sit for the SAT?
If you do, could you explain this?
Do you mean that just by the act of taking the test, an adult tutor is engaging in cheating? Or that if the adult tutor takes the test, he or she is going to engage in cheating after the test? So adult tutors who take the test do so with the aim of cheating?
I know of at least one test prep company that requires a recent SAT score of its adult tutors as a minimum job qualification. Do you think this is illegal or unethical?
Or were you referring to some other aspect of SAT tutoring that is illegal or unethical?
If there were a lawsuit, I think there might be a lot of embarrassing College Board business practices that could come under the spotlight, such as where, when, and how often College Board has recycled and plans to recycle tests, and for what reasons.
Another embarrassing question could be at what time College Board decided that there was a test security issue for the March and May tests that would require cancellation of all adult registrations. Was it really just two days ago? Or was College Board planning to cancel these for a long time? The registrations have been completed for quite a while. Adults have been allowed to sit the SAT for years. The clause you cite looks like an “emergency” provision. It says that CB is supposed to give the affected parties as much notice as possible. Is that really what happened, or was there a plan from the outset to cancel the registrations at the last minute, claiming that there was a test security “emergency”, with the aim of causing as much damage to the adult tutor registrants as possible?
I would love to see the SAT tutoring industry go away altogether, if you are asking. It gives an edge to students who can afford it. I realize that isn’t going to happen, but it is one (just one) of the ways that the current college application process is tilted toward wealthier families.
If the test were much harder, it would not be so easy to coach. The right way to level the playing field is to write a serious test that separates people by merit. Banning tutors from the testing room is not going to do anything if the test is so dumbed-down.
It is clear from some posters’ comments that they are tutors - even though for some reason they won’t admit it -especially since some only comment on testing in these threads.
I understand the frustration of a tutor not being able to take the new SAT. And if you are solely taking it for proof of recent SAT score, I feel for you even more. However, I doubt that is why the majority of tutors take the SAT - over and over and over again.
It is common knowledge that many tutors freely discuss the questions with their clients. Not just generalizations, but actual questions - including essay topics. Many tutors even have their clients prepare essay answers well before the administration of a test, that the client can then memorize and fit the essay to the topic on their test. It is also well known that test prep companies have employed (adult) test takers to do just that, often times traveling from other countries to do so. This is cheating. This is a also violation of the terms of the SAT. The CB emphatically requires that test takers not share any info about the test after taking it. No discussion of questions, answers, etc., at all. Yet, it happens all of the time. Just b/c it is rampant does not mean that it is not cheating. Though every tutor or adult test taker is not a cheater, many are.
The significance of the March test, as the OP has stated, is that it will not be released. It probably will be recycled - maybe even in May out of the country or on a Sunday administration. That seems to be the biggest factor in the CB decision, since the adults have been moved to May - a test that will be released and therefore probably not recycled.
The CB might feel that the adults will not gain much benefit from taking the May test because there will be no opportunity to gain any secrets from it (questions to pass along to clients, etc.).
The CB is also probably interested in protecting itself, as has been suggested, in various ways.
Whatever the case, the CB has the right to do it according to its terms.
It is not age discrimination.
If you don’t like it, you can take your business elsewhere.
However, as a tutor, you probably have no choice in the matter if you want to stay competitive and current.
Since the ACT is claiming that they have banned adult non-students (though practice seems inconsistent) and the SAT has taken this recent stand, I do think it is likely that the CB might do the same and ban all adult non-students in the future. It will probably depend on how much $ they will lose as a result.
It’s a business.
Since you’ve brought it up again, let me please ask you to clarify your point, because what you seem to be suggesting is this:
As long as College Board’s terms assert that College Board has the right to do something, people may not object or complain when it does that thing.
But that principle doesn’t really make any sense. Take a look around this thread for mentions of numerous recent College-Board-related problems: recycling of tests abroad, frequent cheating scandals, printing errors, test cancellations, test delays, score cancellations, score reporting delays, broken promises about providing practice tests, inaccurate information about experimental sections, and other things. My guess is that College Board’s terms probably cover all of those problems. By your logic, that means that no one can complain about any of them. Is that really what you believe? If so, why should College Board work at improving any of these problems? Why not just amend its terms to say, “College Board reserves the right to do whatever it wants”?
Perhaps more importantly, your post assumes precisely what this thread is debating–that is, whether there is indeed any real “security-related concern” here. I don’t believe that there is, but even if we give College Board the benefit of the doubt, shouldn’t the company be pressured into addressing security concerns in ways that do not involve short-notice cancellations–such as by checking IDs carefully, by effectively preventing the use of electronic devices during the test, and by discontinuing the practice of “recycling” tests? How exactly are interested parties–whether students, parents, or teachers–supposed to pressure College Board to take those steps if they follow your principle and simply accept circumstances without complaint?
You can object and complain all you want. But if it is in the terms that you agreed to by registering, you might not get the sympathy that you are seeking.
For anyone without a stake in this, the security risk of thousands of (out of country?) adult non-student test registrants is pretty obvious. You seem to be choosing not to see it.
And yes, the CB could do other things to reduce the risk. But they don’t have to. Just like you don’t have to take the test.
For a lawyer, @Hunt, you seem to have a tenuous grasp of rather elementary logic. Here are some terms you may wish to Google:
ad hominem
appeal to motive
appeal to bias
Let me quote a bit from just one poster, @thshadow:
And:
Certain posters on this thread seem determined to “out” people as tutors and then use them as sounding boards for their rather tired complaints about tutoring. Does that offend me? No–but it doesn’t much interest me either.
These posts border on thread hijacking. I can’t stop them (and I doubt I’d bother even if I could), but I’m not being “evasive” by declining to indulge them. Those who want to complain about how terribly shocking and unfair it is that practice and instruction can improve skill levels are, of course, free to find someone else to complain to.
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