College entrance SAT exams cancelled in China and Macau after test leaks out
The cancellation is due to concern about test copy leakage, and makeup tests could be next month.
The College Board, a testing firm based in New York, has cancelled college entrance exams planned for Saturday in the Chinese mainland and Macau due to cheating concerns that some students may have seen copies of the exam.
“The decision is based on evidence that some students have been exposed to test materials intended for this administration,” according to the email received by education agencies and test applicants who post in the China’s social media Sina Weibo.
The email was sent on Thursday, and said it will update students with details about a makeup test next week. Stacy Caldwell, College Board’s vice president for college readiness assessment, said the makeup test will probably be scheduled in a month or so, according to Associated Press.
Hong Kong test centers are not affected. The mainland Chinese students usually take the tests in Macau and Hong Kong.
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The SAT, or Scholar Assessment Test, is a standardized college admission exam to measure academic ability for students to apply universities and colleges in US.
“We have an unwavering commitment to provide a fair testing environment for all students. When we have evidence of a security accident, we take all necessary actions to ensure the validity of test results,” the testing agency said in the email.
The cancellation may involve 45 test centers in the mainland and Macau, but it is not clear so far how many students will be affected by the cancellation.
“We take test security very seriously,” Caldwell said to AP. “When we deliver an SAT score, that score is a fair and balanced score. When we see any sorts of reports of security incidents, we run them down,” said Caldwell.
It is not the first time that College Board cancelled or delayed the tests on leakage scandals.
In May 2013, it cancelled the SAT test in South Korea, which affected about 1,500 students. Last September, it cancelled scores in some Chinese test centres. Delays to release scores also took place in the previous years, with the last time in October last year involving China and South Korea.
SAT tests can be traced back to 2005 and saw exponential growth in participants, especially in Asia. The College Board will release a new version of the SAT in March and Saturday’s test was the last time for the current version of SAT.
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Shirley Zhao
