Security of SAT to Be Beefed Up in Korea

The U.S. Educational Testing Service will toughen the running of the Scholastic Aptitude Test in certain countries, including Korea, to prevent cheating.

The move comes after Korean police caught test takers who cheated using the time difference by taking the SAT in Thailand and leaking answers to test takers in Korea.

The educational testing organization announced yesterday a statement on reinforcement of SAT security, saying it will beef up security at testing sites in Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, beginning with the May 1 test.

The organization said it will provide a culture of fair and standardized tests to test takers who take the SAT through hard work in a just and transparent manner.

Test takers aged 22 or older will be required to take the test at separate sites on the day of the test. This measure is designed to prevent cram school teachers from taking the test to help their students cheat or smuggle out test questions. The use of mobile phones and other electronic appliances will be banned at testing sites. Test takers will also not be allowed to change the type of test or testing site on the test day.

Security in the transportation and management of questionnaires will be conducted more thoroughly as well. A staff member in charge of SAT management at Daewon Foreign Language High School in Seoul, the SAT testing center in Korea, said, “We were informed by ETS headquarters that they will hand over questionnaires in the early morning of the test date beginning with the May 1 test. Questionnaires in the past had come 20 days prior to a test, but those for the May 1 test have yet to arrive.”

The measure is apparently to guard against the possibility of a prior leak of questionnaires through schools designated as testing centers.