The College Board SAT Score Selling Scheme
The Story
A persistent black market where students pay to have someone else take the SAT or ACT for them, or pay test center administrators to alter scores. The schemes often involve fake IDs, compromised test centers, or insiders. While the Varsity Blues scandal involved one organized ring, this represents a decentralized, ongoing problem that undermines the integrity of standardized testing.
🚩 Red Flags
- Dramatic score improvements between practice tests and official exams
- Photos on IDs that don't closely match the student
- Students testing far from their home locations
- Test administrators living beyond their means
- Specific test centers with suspiciously high average scores
⚖️ The Fallout
Students caught face score cancellations and bans. Test administrators face criminal charges. The College Board continuously updates security measures, but new methods of cheating emerge.
📚 Lessons Learned
Any high-stakes testing system will create incentives to cheat. Technological solutions alone cannot solve human corruption. The arms race between test security and cheaters is perpetual.
Related Scams