Seems like kids in my room had different tests…any idea how many versions were given?
People from other threads are saying up to 8 different versions?
Personally I have no idea lol but it’s alot like the ACT now isn’t it?
Only 1 in my room, the proctor almost gave those of us taking the essay the variable section…
Herein spells an official end to the massive leakage era of the SAT.
ALAS.
One can hope. I, for one, am skeptical, and if history is any guide, we all should be.
Speaking of leakage, I think some of the SAT questions were identical or almost identical to official published practice…
Well, the College Board should continue to make new exams from the millions it makes and also administer multiple international versons (at least 12), especially in Korea and in China, where cheating is most prevalent. I guess the big question is whether the CB reverts to its former practice of recycling tests internationally and worse yet, whether it will get lazy again and use the exact same international exam the world over.
ALAS!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
But what do you say or do when you keep getting fooled over and over?
Oh my. I hope not. That would be truly unconscionable.
Agreed. Been saying it for years. So should the ACT, which is now even more vulnerable to cheating than the SAT (it’s about as vulnerable as the SAT was 4-5 years ago).
I’m sure people try to cheat on all types of exams, not just the ACT or SAT, by many possible means, but why has the ACT suddenly become “more vulnerable to cheating” than the SAT? I don’t quite follow.
@johnkimact - it’s not sudden, but for many years, one way tests got “into the wild” was because there was a three-week window between test centers’ receiving the exams and the actual test date. A year or so ago, the CB started sending the tests to international sites in padlocked cases, only sending the lock combinations a couple hours before the exam. That foiled some of the major cheating methods–cheaters may have had the unreleased tests, but they could no longer know in advance which one would come out.
There are a few other things, but they’re multiple-level hearsay, so I won’t repeat them as I wouldn’t expect you to take them at face value.
Sidetrack here, and I probably started it–my bad.
Okay. I see what you’re saying, but little good these “padlocked cases” seem to be doing in light of the major cheating scandal that erupted in China earlier this year.
http://www.barrons.com/articles/sat-integrity-falls-victim-to-china-cheating-scandal-1453713163
“But it’s worrisome the College Board appears unable to stop rampant cheating despite determined efforts, such as delivering locked boxes of test forms to schools that can only be opened the morning of the exam.”
Even more worrisome is that the College Board is imposing its arbitrary will to prevent cheating by cancelling the registrations of some March test-takers (discussed at length in another thread where you also seem to mention the ACT out of nowhere), so genuinely concerned are they that someone is going to try to cheat! Hah!
But as there have been no major cheating scandals to date involving the ACT, hearsay or not, I’d have to say there is something that the ACT is definitely doing right, while one can hardly be surprised when there is yet another colossal screw-up by the College Board. =P
I know about that, yeah, but that was one form of cheating. The locks definitely prevented another form, one that was spread far beyond China. The stuff this fall was even more ridiculous because there were almost no unrecycled tests left, so prediction was trivial, not to mention the fact that some students had taken literally the same test just months before when it was given in the US.
Fair enough. I’m quite sure we’ll hear of some scandals in the next year or two, though.
Am I the only one who suspects that CB WANTS students to be able to cheat, and just doesn’t want the cheating to get into the press? There are so many holes in test security that would be relatively easy to close.
As a teacher, I learned some very simple rules to reduce cheating:
- Don't reuse tests. For example, if a student is sick, he gets a different test, not the same one all his friends just took.
- Distribute only one section of the test at a time. Collect answer sheets at the end of the section. Do you think I am going to give the students both halves of a test at the same time if each section has a separate time limit? Or one section is with calculator and one is without? That is brain-dead.
- Don't allow proctors to sit during the test. Proctors must stand and circulate during the room throughout the test. Why are they sitting on their butts texting during the test? I would never do that.
- Have proctors in bathrooms. No doors on bathroom stalls. A lot of shady stuff happens in bathrooms. Everyone knows that. Even the airlines have smoke detectors in there.
I actually read a blog in which the blogger wrote that one of the skills tested by the SAT is how smart you are at cheating, so it’s a kind of I.Q. test
But test security is bad for business. Who wants that…
At least 3 versions I have counted…