Education | SAT tests cancelled over cheating concerns

The College Board has cancelled college entrance exams on Saturday in China and Macau after the company learned that many of the applicants might have seen the exam paper for the upcoming SAT.
The now-cancelled Scholastic Aptitude Test was to be held at over 45 testing centers across mainland China and Macau. However, students in Hong Kong sat the test on Saturday as scheduled.
The cancellation is the latest blow for the non-profit New York-based testing firm, which has experienced security problems in Asia in the past.
In an email sent to the registered students, the College Board apologized for the “significant inconveniences” inflicted on students who had “worked hard to prepare,” according to University World News.  The College Board spokesman Zachary Goldberg said that they would email students this week to arrange a make-up test, which may be scheduled in a month or so.
The College Board has also apologized to counselors, saying that disclosing details about its investigation and security measures “would compromise its effectiveness and integrity measures.”
“This is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the integrity of the SAT and to deliver valid scores to colleges and universities. We take a range of action steps to identify and mitigate [against security breaches],” says Goldberg.
Last year, federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh charged 15 Chinese citizens after they allegedly participated in a conspiracy to have impostors take the SAT and other college entrance tests on behalf of registered Chinese students. The suspects were caught while attempting to take the tests, which is assumed to be in exchange for USD6,000.
In 2013, the administration of the SAT tests was called off in South Korea due to an alleged widespread cheating scandal, which caused delays in releasing the SAT scores of students in various parts of Asia, including South Korea.
Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director for FairTest, noted that the exams taken overseas have previously been administered to students in US, which increases the possibility of students in Asia obtaining the recently administered exam. Based on confidential sources, coaching companies, mainly those located in China and South Korea, are selling complete duplicates of upcoming SAT exams.
Sitting the SAT is a prerequisite for acceptance into U.S. universities.  China boasts the highest number of students enrolled in U.S. colleges.  Staff reporter