SAT 8/25

@tpike12 - yup. Exactly. (Oh and I realize the “you” in your first sentence is generic and not “me”. I have a particular distain for cheaters). Some of them seem to believe they are “leveling the playing field” by cheating, to give their kids a chance to succeed. We do not have a caste system, and I feel badly for those countries that do, but teaching kids that cheating is ok, is NOT OK.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-sat-one/

From the article linked by @Center. Really pisses me off.

Xingyuan Ding is a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of America’s most exclusive public universities. In applying to schools, the 20-year-old from China took the SAT college entrance exam four times.

He had an advantage on his final try: a booklet compiled by a Shanghai test-preparation school he attended.

His study aid was far more valuable than the practice questions that students in America use to prepare for the SAT, the standardized test used by thousands of U.S. colleges to help select applicants. Known in Chinese as a jijing, the booklet was essentially an answer key. It revealed words from the correct responses to multiple-choice questions that had appeared on past SATs - many of which would be used again on the exam Ding took.

Thanks to the booklet, Ding said he already knew the answers to about half of the critical reading section of the SAT when he took the test in Hong Kong in December 2013.

“I felt really lucky,” Ding said.

His score on that section? A perfect 800, he said.

Ding’s advance look at material from the test he took was no fluke. His cram school is part of a vibrant Asian industry that systematically exploits security shortcomings in the SAT. Chief among them is a vulnerability created by the owner of the exam: the routine practice of reusing material from tests that already have been given.

@tpike12 if he is admitting he knew what he was doing why isnt he expelled for cheating?

I knew I was late-ish waiting until around the deadline to register DD for them chem subject test for 8/25 but I thought it would never be full as it was the summer. Wrong!! I couldn’t find a seat within 100 miles of my house in NE and said forget it, let’s just go with October. I do wonder after the fact if the test centers were at or near capacity compared to the previous year. This would be very telling as the number of college-bound students is actually on the decline.

Also, it baffles me that the CB would ever reuse an entire test when they could easily have a bank of which to draw from randomly. The college where I work is freaky about our nursing program (as I think most are) and they use a randomly-generated test bank for all tests through our learning management system. They wrote the questions and simply weight them to ensure that all students receive a comparably weighted exam.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/09/04/class-action-adds-problems-college-board

Wow at the above in post 148. What a mess.

@bigfandave - The students who flew to HI are not based in the US (although many are citizens or permanent residents (oh, and except for one, who lives in HI haha, so at least she didn’t have to turn around and fly back to Asia!), and the 2018 August test was available only in the US. They were not flying west, but rather east, from Asia. They are probably also taking the October test, but after a long summer of prep, some of them apparently felt that they were more ready for August, or perhaps some of them planned on taking August and October. As for June, well, that was before a summer of prepping (and right after AP season, which is tough for prep planning).

More importantly, though, I don’t know their motivations and don’t care to speculate. I do, however, know that they were not cheating; I taught them and if you saw the amount of work they did for me, you’d share my certainty.

Wow! This is why, and to all deference to my many legal eagle friends, ahh I didn’t go to law school despite a 46 on LSATs. Whatever happened to grit, detemination and learning from life lessons no matter how challenging, and in this case, that is highly debatable.

Well, it does take a lot of grit and determination to get through law school (and it takes a lot of it to get through my summer SAT prep sessions haha).

Any advice/comments for the senior that took the SAT in August and studied in a rigorous tutoring program for five months prior? I mean, I already registered for the October SAT. It’s cutting close to the colleges I’m applying to, but I’m too worried about missing deadlines right now. However, I’m bummed that my tutoring program guaranteed me a 1400+ (which I’m pretty sure I’ll receive) but I was hoping for a 1500. My latest practice test score was a 1530, and this SAT really made me feel stupid for making my parents pay for an expensive but worthwhile tutoring program. The reading section was unnervingly tough for me, and I’ve done at least 15 reading passages plus additional practice in the last five months. I was just getting the hang of it, until this test of course.

Hopefully Collegeboard doesn’t screw up October too. The only thing that makes me a bit happier is knowing that this was Collegeboard’s mistake and not my fault for the countless hours I’ve spent my summer studying for a test.

My son took the SAT on 8/25/18. He is applying early action to university. He ended up paying a $30 late fee for ACT registration on the last date of registration because he really needs SAT or ACT score to apply for Early Action/Decision. The SAT he took has been leaked, and it’s not fair that it has been used earlier in October 2017 for Asian students. A test prep company called IVYPEDIA in China posted the test a week before the actual test. I can’t attach the same image here because technical issue. Most news about August SAT test leaked got that photo attached but not all people understand the real meanings of the last two sentences in Chinese on the bottom of the photo. The bolded Chinese sentence can be translated as: “This is an emergency preparation kit for the August SAT, please make sure to receive it!” As this is a test prep company, they want to make sure that all of their students view it before taking the August SAT in order to boost their students’ scores. The last sentence says: “Secretly telling you the secrets to a 1580” Also, the entire image was posted on August 16th, 9 whole days before the real test date of the August SAT. Another ridiculous example is someone being able to post an answer key for the August SAT literally a couple of hours after the real August SAT. Do you still think it’s a fair test?

I dont know what to think. Mine studied for 2 months on khan academy and did all of the CB practice tests available scoring them on Khan. I feel they prepared thoroughly and were ready to take the test --and we do not have the time to take it again. It is my understanding that the score and equating is done in advance so that no matter what happens our kids’ scores will be whatever they deserve based on number correct/missed. If 300 asian students get 1600s I dont care at this point. If CB investigates and they all come from the same town or city and/or they all flew over here for the test and/or their scores are just too good (compared to their last tests or compared to each other) and too consistent I hope CB cancels their scores. Clearly the cheating industry seems to be the most concentrated/ organized in Asia and the wide scale cheating is occurring there. It is what it is. I think CB should follow ACTs lead and no longer administer the test in China. I also think US colleges may want to crack down by requiring more from international students–really up the burden to look for inconsistencies. Yes CB seems to be a mess but still --cheating is cheating.

@FrustratedDad - this thread has details and links about that leak and the cheating involved. I hope your son gets a great score and is unaffected by this outrageous security failure and even more outrageous cheating.

:-< As a parent whose child took both the June and the August tests, I am incredibly frustrated!

The leaked test was posted by the Chinese prep company IVYPEDIA on August 16 which was China time. The last day for Late SAT registration was August 15 US time. That means if you were able to see the leaked test with fee paid online right after it had been posted by the Chinese prep company, you still could get you August 25 SAT registered on time with late fee. Some news said thousands of Asian kids flew to US for taking August 25 SAT because there was no August SAT in Asia. The airfare from Asia to USA is not cheap. I don’t believe those Asia kids flew to US for taking August 25 SAT just because there was no August SAT in Asia. Some US August 25 SAT takers posted on youtube they saw many buses full-loaded with Asia kids went to SAT test centers and they also saw most of those Asian kids finished this test fast and relaxed. My son’s score will be curved out terribly by too many 1600 gainers if this test is not cancelled by College Board. This SAT should be cancelled totally. There should be one extra SAT free (without any recycled materials) before the early Action/Decision deadline for all the August SAT takers. For those August SAT takers who think they can get good scores by themselves own in Aug SAT, they can still can get good scores in the extra SAT test. However, I really don’t think College Board will let it happen.

@frustratedad I learned about all of this when i started this thread… I dont really know exactly what happened–only what I have heard on this board and a few articles since. It doesnt seem that CB is going to do anything given that the test results come out in a few days.

My son will remind the admission offices of those colleges he applies for with this news of leaked August SAT test if it is not cancelled by College Board. However, I believe most admission offices should have already seen the news about this leaked August SAT test.

@frustratedad Be careful–your son doesnt need to be the messenger reminding them of what they surely know. I wouldn’t send the test OR cancel your test now–and then your son can just retake in October. I believe you can cancel your test up until the scores are released–something like that I think??