The College Board, the company which provides the university entrance examination for universities in the United States, took the unprecedented step of canceling testing for South Korean students for the second month in a row due to people leaking test content ahead of time.
Starting in the last week of May, certain students began to receive emails stating that due to the leaking of test material, they were not able to sit for the June Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The College Board sent a similar email canceling test dates in May. Since the leak first came to light in April, the Seoul Department of Education has been investigating a number of hagwons for leaking the material to their students.
The reaction online has been almost universal disgust for the hagwon system that obtained the test material ahead of time and the fixation on test preparation in Korean society.
Article from SBS:
South Korea’s June SAT Canceled…Students in Chaos
For the second month in a row, South Korean students found out that their reservations to take the United States university entrance exam have been canceled. Students who have been studying for the exam are currently in an uproar, trying to figure out what has happened and what their options are.
The company that offers the exam, known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), sent emails to students who had reserved June test dates announcing that they would not be able to sit for the exam.
Earlier this year, the College Board completely canceled its May testing date due to Korean foreign language schools leaking the content of the test early.
Students received the cancellation email early in the morning, although it appears as if some students have not received any email, leaving them wondering about what will happen.
“The headquarters of the College Board is in the United States, we are first trying to figure out why the test was canceled from them,” said a representative of the testing company in South Korea.
The email stated that students who had already made a reservation would be refunded their fee and provided with alternative testing dates which will be announced later next month.
Comments from Daum:
닭모가지:
Korean bastards have been cheating so much that they are trying to prepare new policies in America…
웃긴다:
How humiliating, truly humiliating
그레이우드:
When it comes to studying for a test, there are two ways to go about it. One, by studying 90% of the material that could possibly show up on the test questions, knowing that only 5% of what you study will actually be appear. Two, by strategy and careful selection, only study the 15% of the possible material that is very likely to show up on the exam, of which 5% will actually appear. If both students end up with the same good score and send it to colleges, how is the admissions officer supposed to compare them? The first method is the American way of studying, the second method is the Korean way of studying. They are confusing a good test score with good knowledge of the test material.
승아:
Those students aren’t being thrown into confusion, they are merely reaping what they have sown. If you are using underhanded methods to get ahead and think everything will go according to plan, then you’re really no better than a thief…Unlike South Korea, America isn’t the kind of place where they operate haphazardly all the time… It’s time for those students who were cheating to get ahead to reflect on how they have hurt those students who were studying honestly for the test, cheaters are worse than garbage
울뚜라콧딱지:
Let’s use this as an opportunity to fix Korea’s qualification exams. As it now stands, test takers just study the material that hagwons have identified and served up to them. Why can’t we do the same thing that America does? We’ve got to fix Noryangjin tsk tsk [Note: Noryangjin is a district in Seoul known for its large number of exam study schools]
권영석:
This is so humiliating..You’ve got to work hard to get ahead, not just learn how to trick the system…
withu!!:
They reap what they have sown…this is because hagwons, just focused on making money, have been paying test takers to memorize one question each from the test and then collecting the results into special study guides…it’s the students who lose in the end..The TOEIC and the SAT even put in notices saying that students should never share the contents of the exam, then hagwons have students memorize the questions and report back to them? The TOEIC will soon have the same kind of test cancellations in the future
chlchl:
Think of Korea’s college entrance exam… if some other country were to offer it to their students, and then their students ended up getting better scores than we did, all without being able to speak Korean, then do you think that we would trust their score results???
YUH-JA :
This is fantastic~~~all those students who didn’t know any of the material were planning to go to university in America, now they have no idea what to do..I’ve always hated it,,,all those students who succeeded not because they actually know the material but because they just figured out tricks.. it’s just a matter of time before they change the test format
사물노리:
It’s just the brats of rich parents who are complaining about this, nothing special about that
Ghost:
If you’re so wealthy, then just go to school by offering them a big donation..if that doesn’t work out, find an alternative method..nobody gets a good score by studying hard anymore..
겔포스:
sounds like we are still stuck in a colonial mindset, complaining about not being able to study on the “mainland” ke ke ke. but what’s funny is that they are only reaping what they have sown
Red_Devil:
I’m sure the company lost a lot of money from this, shouldn’t the people who leaked the test questions have to pay compensation?
Comments from Twitter:
Beat’rice Kidogom @kidogom
Now the leaking of SAT material to Korean students has led to the cancellation of the test and an international incident. The police searched a hagwon that was suspected of leaking test material and rather than it suffering, it ended up attracting even more students. One of their teachers who forged his education credentials was accused of leaking the SAT material, he then went on to become their most popular lecturer..
Bayesian @bayescog
The SAT was canceled again. The hagwons and the instructors at the center of this scandal, far from suffering any setbacks, they will end up getting even more students and make more money
바닷속 @2badasok
cancellation of the SAT in Korea for the second month in a row => shows a society where the desire to get whatever you want by any means necessary has run rampant. As Korean society gives itself over to cheating, political infiltration by the North and fighting among itself, our future grows darker
유현 @Merong5079
Well, the June SAT has been cancelled, does that mean that there is no hope for entering American universities in time for the September semester?
투윈드(2wind) @whirlwind_ko
So the June SAT is cancelled… does that mean that students who study at international schools will fly abroad to take the test?
