ETS needs to step up its test security...

Test Preparation
1

<p>I have heard from various sources of students who blatantly cheat on the SAT (and we are not talking something more minor such as working on a different section from what the student is supposed to). For example, my students told me that students from one prominent private school in the city routinely cheat on exams, including the SAT. Then I heard that a high school in NYC actually permitted its students to take the SAT <em>UNPROCTORED</em> (ummm…what are they thinking?!), leading to rampant cheating and sharing of answers. You would think that ETS would be smart enough to hire independent proctors, or at least send outside monitors to make sure that test security is strictly enforced. Other forms of cheating include hiring a friend or sibling to take the exam for you, or simply looking at answers from a neighbor. The worst part is that the harshest punishment that ETS will deal to you for cheating is the cancellation of that one score. One would think that a permanent ban from testing (as the College Board does with AP exams), or at least a negative notation on the transcript or score reports, would be a more appropriate punishment. These problems – coupled with incidents such as the May 2004 exam, which turned out to be an EXACT repeat of the April 2003 exam, giving an unfair advantage to students who took both exams and the recent slate of belatedly scored exams – show that ETS (and, by association, the College Board) is a totally incompetent, lazy, and overpaid organization that needs to be abolished or at least significantly overhauled! My students, who often study for 100+ hours for the SAT or other standardized exams, do not deserve this treatment. Students who have not worked hard or prepared for these exams, yet cheat their way into a good score, do not deserve to be scoring 1400s and 1500s, while some of my students struggle to score a 1300 (because they start from a much lower score). YOU GUYS (and I am assuming that most of you are not among the cheaters!) deserve better as well!</p>

<p>This has GOT to stop! I need your help. I plan to write a letter and call and voice my concerns and complaints directly to ETS and the College Board, but I would like more evidence and support. Otherwise, they may simply dismiss my claims and complaints offhandedly.</p>

<p>Therefore, if you know of any test security violations or lapses (blatant cheating, students taking exams for other students, proctor leaving the room or not watching the room at all, proctors not checking IDs thoroughly, proctors giving extra time, etc.) in the past four years, please respond to this thread and note the following:</p>

<li> Date and location of the violation or lapse </li>
<li> Nature of the incident or incidents</li>
<li> Is this something that has happened before or occurs on a continual basis, or was this an isolated incident?</li>
</ol>

<p>I don’t need to know any individual’s name (but a school’s name would be helpful). My intent is to simply eradicate this growing problem so that the testing process is secure and fair for EVERYONE.</p>

<p>I hope that you guys can help me. Thanks very much!</p>

2

<p>Are you a teacher or something? I think the ETS clamping down on its security is a good idea and I think this endeavor is very worthwhile. But also keep in mind that probably about .0001% of SAT test takers cheat. If your students are doing 100+ hours of studying, then they are going to do very well. They don't need to be too concerned about getting a raw deal, because the odds are that they will not be affected by the relatively few number of cheaters out there.</p>

<p>If you know of blatant sharing of answers or unproctored tests, then you should definitely report it because that's just ridiculous and could have a HUGE impact on other people. Someone hard-working student may get rejected to a certain college while one of these cheaters get admitted.</p>

3

<p>I own a tutoring company, and I've tutored many students in the past for the SAT and other exams. If it were true that only 0.0001% of students cheated, as you so confidently state, I would not be bringing this up!</p>

<p>From all the reports I have heard from various students and parties, the number is closer to 2 to 5%. It IS a very serious problem, and even if my students can do very well, they are STILL going to be shortchanged by the process if there are enough cheaters to beat them out in the college competition unfairly.</p>

<p>I guess my post also serves as an informal survey of how widespread YOU guys think this problem is. Have you guys heard of your friends or classmates cheating? Even if the number is more like 1% or 0.1%, 1 cheater in 1000 is STILL too much.</p>

<p>For those of you who do not care about the substance of this post or do not care to respond even though you know of "testing irregularities," keep in mind that both you AND future test-takers WILL be adversely affected by these cheating incidents. Those two people taking up your spot at Harvard or Yale and beating you out in the college game could have gotten their 1550's by paying a good, smart friend of theirs to take their exams. Think about that. It happens more often than you think, and I know this because it's my business, and my students talk.</p>

<p>So I'm still going to ask for more responses. Thanks very much!</p>

4

<p>our school's proctors are pretty wary about cheaters but they can be incompetent is issuing the right times and stuff. On my AP euro test, they gave us 20 more minutes and everyone didn't notice but the proctor did at like around 20 before and immediately said to stop working! if you were pacing yourself some way you were screwed. many left a lot of spaces blank, including me. I was ****ed. </p>

<p>I think the main problem is just the proctors. poor proctors can lead to cheating and basically poor proctoring of test. Administration should insure proctors to be competent.</p>

5

<p>our school proctors prop up their legs and read the newspaper during the exam lol</p>

<p>i dont really get how u can cheat on the sat? lol....</p>

6

<p>When I took the PSAT, before the test began and between sections a lot of students would be flipping through their test book, asking each other what various vocab words meant. C.B. really should not just let careless H.S. teachers proctor tests that have important reprecussions...</p>

7

<p>if you're going for a halfway decent score (>1400, >32) there is a VERY small chance that someone in the room knows more than you</p>

8

<p>Radon,</p>

<p>That may be true, but you might cook up a scheme with a friend that you KNOW will score higher than you. Also, have you ever thought about the possibility that other, lower-scoring students will be cheating from YOU or other high-scoring students??</p>

9

<p>I have had the opportunity to take the test for other people (I didnt do it) for quite a bit of money. What the plan was is that we would both go in but I would write his name and info on my sheet and he would wright my info on his. Then after the test I would go cancel and he would get a good score. </p>

<p>Pretty good plan huh?
I ust did not want to take the risk of being disqualified from all previous scores and being branded as a cheater because then I would never get into college.</p>

10

<p>who gives a **** if others cheat from you? it doesnt exactly make your score lower - perhaps that kind of crap would help colleges to remove the emphasis on test scores</p>

11

<p>I've never seen blatanr cheating at the SATS besides little things like flipping back, flipping ahead, or starting a minute early. But I have seen things like formulas programmed into calculators on sat II math and physics test. that's not cool, I spent a lot of time memorizing them. They should have a more thorough calculator check I think.</p>

12

<p>It's not against the rules to have formulas or programs in your calculator.</p>

13

<p>It's totally fair game to have any formula you please on your calculator...</p>

14

<p>really?</p>

<p>phooey.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter much. I still got 740 Math II and 720 SAT Math 1. I'm fine.</p>

15

<p>even more so than on the SAT, i think cheating is very prevalent on AP, just from what i've seen</p>

16

<p>Radon,</p>

<p>The person who cheats from you (or, worse yet, from a higher-scoring student) can beat you out in the college game. Colleges assume that students are honest and obtained their scores legitimately. They do not have time to question every score, so what you propose WILL NOT happen. Think about it.</p>

<p>How do people cheat on the APs??</p>

17

<p>Who the hell cares! This is a pointless thread. Yes many kids cheat, but it's like saying "We should do something about people who pirate cable" or "download music!!" What purpose does this serve other than to make you feel better about yourself. Study for the test, and you'll do well. If you don't, you either didn't prepare adequately or you just aren't that smart, and crying about other people won't change that.</p>

18

<p>inneedofhelp,</p>

<p>If you're not going to be helpful, and you don't care about this topic, you are certainly entitled to your positions. But your comments do not take away from the fact that this DOES matter, and it IS a problem we can tackle and solve. Additionally, I think most of us can agree that cheating on the SAT is a slightly worse problem than pirating cable or illegally downloading music. Just don't read this thread if you don't want to help.</p>

19

<p>I really have a hard time believing that a person who needs to cheat on the SATs has a good enough transcript to steal my spot at college. (Not to be haughty, but I think it's true.) </p>

<p>I despise cheating, and I do think ETS takes every bit of money they can, but I think most of the problems lie with proctors, and the most ETS could do is probably spot-check, so there really isn't an effective way to curb cheating. I do agree that penalties should be harsher. THat might be one solution.</p>

20

<p>SAT2s have laughable security. One time, in a bathroom break I heard this guy who took the 2c first giving the answers to hard questions to his friend.</p>