Police arrest four, probe brokers in SAT leak scandal

January 27, 2010

 

Police said yesterday they are investigating reports of brokers who habitually leak test sheets from the United States-based Scholastic Aptitude Test, trading questions for big sums of money - and they’re looking into whether major private institutes and parents are involved in the get-ahead-by-cheating scheme.

Police are also investigating the sale of another U.S.-based exam, the Secondary School Admission Test, which is aimed at students looking to enter private high schools in the United States.

Since the cash-for-questions scandal broke, it has been growing legs. Two security staff members from the office of testing integrity of the Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT, were dispatched to Korea ahead of last Saturday’s exam to head off the illegal practices.

Despite their presence, on Sunday police arrested four suspects on charges of stealing mathematics and physics questions from Saturday’s test. The suspects allegedly either cut out the questions or input them into scientific calculators students are allowed to carry into test centers.

On Monday, an official with ETS said that SAT centers in Korea would remain open despite the investigation.

A police official who asked not to be named said, “We must closely examine the scandals that are circling the private academy circle in Gangnam, southern Seoul.”

A head of private language institute in southern Seoul said Monday that a broker was behind the recent alleged leak of the SAT and SSAT tests.

The head, who asked not to be named, said while he was a lecturer at a different private academy in 2005, he witnessed someone ask a head of that academy to buy stolen SSAT test sheets for 50 million won ($43,500).

He said he talked with the head about how to deal with the proposal.

“As far as I know, the head at the time did not buy the test papers, but said that the person who was trying to sell the sheets was definitely a broker,” said the head.

“After I established my own institute later, alleged leakages of SSAT test sheets continued. Even students and parents kept asking me how to get the questions in advance.”

In addition, police are probing whether some SAT lecturers tried to raise their competitiveness, and their wages, by telling people instructors can release test sheets in advance.

“They allegedly praised themselves when they leaked test papers,” said a police official who asked not to be identified. “Some lecturers acted like brokers in order to make a deal with many private academies and parents.”

Meanwhile, in Thailand, a probe is being conducted over whether a lecturer surnamed Kim obtained the SAT test and answer sheets from a test-taker in Bangkok, then passed them on to two students in the United States.

From: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2915835

 

Police broaden probe into alleged SAT test leak

Police said Monday they are widening probe into leakage of the U.S. college entrance exam following a series of scams involving private prep centers in Seoul that receive high tuitions from students in return for guaranteeing high scores, according to Yonhap News.

Police have questioned four people, including an instructor at a private institute, over allegations of stealing a copy of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) at a high school in Gyeonggi Province near Seoul on Saturday.

The 36-year-old lecturer, who taught a test preparation class at a private institute in Seoul, told police that he took the test papers outside the test room to use them as instruction material for his students.

The investigation comes on the heels of a similar case last week, when another lecturer at a private institute was arrested after allegedly obtaining copies of the SAT test from a Thai student who took the SAT in Bangkok last January and sent questions to students who were about to take the same test.

The lecturer confessed that he helped two Korean students in the United States cheat on the SAT exam by sending the materials via email, taking advantage of time zone difference.

The U.S.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS), the organizer of SAT tests, strictly bans the disclosure of all SAT test

 

FW: Korean Police Asked to Probe SAT Leaks

Educational Testing Service, the U.S. company that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test and various other English proficiency tests, has dispatched staff to conduct an independent probe into the leak of SAT test papers following the arrest of two Korean lecturers who allegedly helped students cheat. The staffers handed over their findings and filed a complaint with Korean authorities.

The two ETS staffers arrived in Korea last Thursday on a fact-finding mission and handed over to police data they had compiled since 2007 about such incidents. ETS promised to investigate all incidents thoroughly and inform universities where students found to have cheated on the test are studying. ETS said it may beef up security measures for all SAT tests taken in Korea depending on the results of the investigation.

Korean police on Sunday said the ETS data included a blacklist of suspected cheaters on the SAT.

Just when the ETS staffers were visiting, another test leak was reported on Saturday, prompting police to widen the investigation. The incident follows less than a week after the first one, where an SAT lecturer at a private crammer in the affluent Gangnam District obtained a copy of the SAT from a Thai student who took the exam in Bangkok in January and, taking advantage of the time difference, allegedly emailed the test paper and answer sheets to two Korean students who took the same test twelve hours later in Connecticut.

Private crammers in Gangnam blame the back-to-back instances of cheating on the highly competitive atmosphere in the industry. "SAT crammers charge high fees because they teach only during vacation when students abroad return to Korea," said one owner of a crammer in Gangnam. "Students and parents expect to see scores improve significantly given the money they spend, and I am aware of frequent instances of leaked tests."   

Gangnam crammers offer special vacation crash courses and charge millions of won. One crammer in Apgujeong-dong charges W5 million a month (US$1=W1,146) for five hours of lectures a day. Successful tutors can make nine-figure salaries. Another owner of a crammer said since there are more than 100 SAT crammers in Seoul alone, getting hold of leaked copies of the SAT is a sort of "survival tactic."

 

SAT Question of the Day

From SAT Question of the Day...

Read the following SAT test question, then select your answer.

If a, b, and c are numbers such that a/b=3 and b/c=7 , then (a+b)/(b+c) is equal to which of the following?

A. 7/2
B. 7/8
C. 3/7
D. 1/7
E. 21

College Board solution:

From is implied that (1)

And from is implied that (2)

If we multiply (1) and (2) together, we have that ( b is canceled out).

There's an easier way. Just get a fraction that has just b and c.

a=3b
b=7c

so (a+b)/(b+c) = ...

3b+b
----- =
7c+c

4b
--- = 1/2 (b/c)
8c

b/c=7, so the answer is 1/2(7) = 7/2


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Is the international SAT the same as the U.S. version?

The test is overseen by the same organization worldwide.

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What is the range of scores for the SAT?

You can score below 200, but College Board won't report it; the organization will assume you meant to cancel your scores if you submitted your name and other information but left the answer sheet blank.

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