Friday, March 31, 2006

How to cheat on the SAT test

Want an extra edge in the SAT test? More and more students are demanding extra time by claiming some dubious disability. There are psychologists, such as this one, who will give a mail-order diagnosis of some sort of learning disability. The the College Board folks have to give you extra time, or they'd be discriminating against the handicapped. As many as 10% of the test-takers take advantage of these procedures.

ABC News reports:
March 30, 2006 ? - When Ali Hellberg, 19, was in prep school, she said several of her classmates obtained notes from psychologists diagnosing them with learning disabilities, even though they didn't have any learning problems.

They faked learning disabilities to get extra time to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, in the hopes of getting a higher score, she said.

"I had a friend who is a good math student but is no math brain, and she got extended time and got a perfect score on her math SAT," Hellberg said.

That friend now attends an Ivy League school. ...

Approximately 300,000 students will take the three-hour-and-forty-five-minute SAT this Saturday; about 30,000 taking the test this year will be given special accommodations, including extra time.

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