Hi everyone,
Normally, I just read college confidential without posting any replies. However, recent events have seriously concerned me so much I made an account to draw everyone’s attention to these issues.
This year, I took both the USABO and USAPHO exams and witnessed blatant incidents of cheating.
USABO:
After the exam, I found at a student at my school had taken it at a testing center owned and proctored by his close relative. This is highly suspicious as I know this student is struggling in to get A’s biology even at school, AND the exam is offered at school where everyone else took it. The proctor, his close relative, not only knows the questions beforehand but also takes home the tests at the end of the day. Thus, I am almost certain he cheated on this exam. Furthermore, as seen on the 2016-2017 USABO thread, people have tricked others into giving up questions on the test before they have taken it.
USAPHO:
I discovered the same person took it again at his close relative’s testing center, even though it was also offered at the school. He is not even taking physics in school yet managed to pass the open exam by an extremely wide margin; his score was even higher than my other friend’s who has taken all 3 AP physics classes and has even independently done research related to it.
He could also cheat in the same way to pass the semifinal exams and make both camps. This is absolutely ridiculous!!!
The long testing period, as well as the tests being given at private testing centers that have clear conflicts of interest, make it way too easy for people to cheat on the USABO and USAPHO exams. This directly impacts all of us as each spot a cheater gets is one less spot a person who worked legitimately hard for it can get.
These olympiads should ALL be structured like the USNCO, where tests MUST be given at accredited high schools, and each region takes the test at the same time. Close relatives of students are not allowed to proctor exams, and they are put through a vetting process.
To protect the integrity of such prestigious programs, we need to take action to prevent this from continuing to happen. I suggest everyone email the USABO and USAPHO coordinators as well as their parent organizations, CEE and AAPT, respectively, to ask them to address our concerns.