Upcoming SAT Testing in China Is Cancelled amid Fears the Students Have Already Seen the US University Entrance Paper
Sophie Williams, Daily Mail, January 22, 2016
The College Board, the company in charge of the American university entrance examination, yesterday cancelled their scheduled assessments in 45 centers across China.
The American organisation claimed many of the applicants in China may have seen the exam paper for the upcoming SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test, which was set to be held this weekend, according to Huanqiu, in affiliation with the People’s Daily Online.
However, the College Board says it is unclear how many students have been affected.
The College Board sent a message to the affected test centers informing them of the cancellation.
The company says that many students gained access to the test paper in advance of the examination which was set for this weekend.
This weekend’s exams were set to be the last versions of the current paper. A newer test was set to be introduced following this exam.
SAT exams are required to gain entry into US universities and analyse students’ academic ability.
According to Stacy Caldwell, the firm’s vice president for college readiness assessments, students will be told next week when they can take the test.
It’s not unusual for some students to go to extreme measures to ensure a place at a US university.
For many families in China, they see their child going to a US university as a status symbol and a way out of poverty.
Last year, federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh charged 15 Chinese citizens in a conspiracy to have impostors take the SAT and other entrance tests in Pennsylvania since 2011.
A former University of Pittsburgh student, Han Tong, 24, has pleaded guilty to being the go-between for Chinese students who paid up to $6,000 to have impostors take the tests for them. He is due to be sentenced on April 21 this year.
The last time the College Board cancelled the SAT was back in 2013, when examinations were halted in South Korea amid similar fears that students had already seen the paper.
In 2014, some test users in China and Korea had their test scores cancelled after the College Board investigated the results of the exam. The board declared a number of test takers had an ‘unfair advantage’.
