New SAT Security Measures

A piece by Valerie Strauss in “The Washington Post” reports on new security measures College Board is implementing to curb incidences of cheating on the SAT.

In light of numerous incidences of cheating on SAT administrations, College Board recently announced several new security measures aimed to curb the practice of students attempting to gain an unfair advantage. While there has been attempts at cheating on the SAT for as long as the SAT has existed, these incidences have proliferated of late — notably in Asia. And its led to the cancelation of exams. Indeed many college admissions officers at highly selective colleges have become skeptical of test scores that were administered in Asia, which is unfair to the vast majority of students in Asia who don’t in any way cheat on the SAT.

So what measures will College Board be implementing in the hope of reducing incidences of cheating? As reports Valerie Strauss for “The Washington Post,” “For starters, they’ll be limiting the number of international test dates. During the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years, only four administrations of the SAT will be offered internationally — in October, December, March, and May. The SAT will no longer be offered internationally in June (though SAT Subject Tests will continue to be offered internationally in June). Additionally, the names of test prep companies suspected of stealing tests or having folks take tests in other time zones to report questions for test-takers in later time zones will be supplied to law enforcement officials. Increased audits will be conducted at test centers around the world. And students suspected of cheating will not be allowed to take further College Board exams — including SAT Subject Tests and AP exams.

Ivy Coach salutes College Board for announcing new security measures to — hopefully — stop cheaters in their tracks.

Here’s hoping that these new measures implemented by College Board stop cheaters in their tracks so that no student should have an unfair advantage on the SAT and so the scores of honest students who take these exams in Asia — indeed the vast majority of students — are not viewed skeptically. Because that too is most unfair.

What do our readers think of the new SAT security measures?