<p>"A group of students at a Los Angeles high school is suspected of cheating on the ACT college entrance exam by paying a former student, who used fraudulent identification, to take the tests. The testing agency recently began investigating the claims, which could result in cancellation of scores provided to colleges.</p>
<p>But those colleges will not be told why the scores are invalid, nor will the students’ high school be clued in."</p>
<p>“The ACT cancels scores for a variety of reasons, including illness of the examinee, mis-timing of the test, disturbances or irregularity at the testing site. . . . It is the ACT policy to treat the ACT’s reasoning for canceling a specific score as confidential.”</p>
<p>No consequences? What’s wrong with this picture?</p>
<p>Should a student be accepted into a college (top-tier or not) with scores that aren’t even their own? Think if the adcoms were on the fence between two applicants, this one and an honest, hardworking student with a lower ACT. They choose the applicant with a higher ACT, one who cheated on the exam.</p>
<p>Yeah, they got caught… but what if they hadn’t? These kids knew exactly what they were doing, and should be punished for it.</p>
<p>Yeah I think the confidential thing should only be held true if the person was NOT cheating. In this case the colleges should definitely be notified.</p>
<p>My son found out his best friends cheated during the recent SAT II test this June. They copied down the answers and exchange the notes in the man’s room during the break. It is not the first time, and would not be the last time they do it. My son also found them cheated during the school final exams. It made my son very upset. They did get 800 for their SAT II Math test. They also got the highest scores in the Physics final.</p>
<p>Back in the 80’s when I was in HS there were rumors that some kids in my HS did this. I am suprised it still goes on. </p>
<p>I recently heard (more rumors) kids were suspected of cheating on SATs by copying answers from an unknowning, gifted student while the proctor was not doing their job. This is of course very disappointing …</p>
<p>Somone from my school claimed he cheated on the SAT. He got in the around an 1800 I think, which isn’t anything astronomically high, but he could get into some decent college over an honest applicant.</p>
<p>It would be nice if there were less cheating on the ACT/SAT, but I don’t think students should be overly penalized for this mistake. For instance, I know a girl that was thrown out of the ACT session because her digital watch sounded at the top of the hour. Colleges don’t need to know about those random things, and that’s not really cheating.</p>
<p>“Suspected of cheating.” That’s the thing. If they are absolutely, positive (i.e. fake ID’s), colleges should be notified. But if it’s something like wandering eyes (which might not actually have to do with cheating), it is better not to notify the college. You don’t want to risk ruining the kid’s future.</p>
<p>I’d first like to disagree with the OP for the reasons stated by sishu. It’s better safe than sorry when it comes to ruining an innocent student’s future. Any system to categorize cheating would be inefficient as the CB and ACT have no financial incentive to prevent cheating. I wish I could go back to a thread from last month in the SAT prep forum. A journalist had signed up to take the SAT to get a feel for the experience and actually witness blatant cheating. He attempted to contact the CB about it, but it turns out they really do not do much/care if cheating is reported. Their testing integrity department’s main function is to deal with people ticked off about cheaters.</p>
<p>Now that I have the more logically coherent part of my argument out of the way…I for one do not feel much animosity toward these students. Sure, they may take a slot at a top school that I would have gotten, but did I really deserve it all that much more? I think the SAT and ACT are B.S. tests. Now, if someone had cheated, bribed, or did something illicit to win an athletic/academic competition, get As in his classes, or something along those lines, then I would be P.O.'d.</p>
<p>The SAT and ACT are not merit tests. They are tests for the wealthy who can afford test prep and a few lucky lower/middle class kids. Anger should only be directed at the adcoms, schools, and organizations that are responsible for the test’s existence. Not misguided students who under overwhelming pressure make a poor decision.</p>
<p>My friend sat next to me during the AP Biology exam, and after the end of Section II, he clapped me on my shoulders and said, “thanks for letting me copy off you.” he got a 5, and i got a 4. im ticked off now.</p>
<p>If someone pays another person to take his or her test or swaps answers or otherwise clearly cheated, then, yes, it should go on their transcripts and the schools should be notified. Otherwise theyre just getting a slap on the wrist and that won’t discourage cheating at all.</p>
<p>HopefulCEO, once anyone get in college, it’s not that hard to stay in</p>
<p>I think it should remain confidential for first-time offenders, put on a black list for second time offenders, and banned from the test for third time offenders.</p>
<p>“Should a student be banned from college because of one incident?”
well, it’s kinda like lying under oath. When you take the test, you sign your name agreeing to the terms, which includes that you will not cheat.</p>
<p>brenden, please don’t pull that argument. the tests still test intelligence to a fairly decent degree, and they are just as important as grades. fair admissions assessment would be impossible without the tests. different high schools differ so much in difficulty, and different classes taught by different teachers differ so much in difficulty. a standardized exam adds an aspect of fairness, even if that fairness is flawed</p>
<p>everybody feels pressure, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to cheat</p>