A flurry of social media postings have claimed that the August 25th SAT test was the same test that was administered in China and South Korea in October 2017. The 2017 test and answers were leaked and were being used as practice tests. Students who had taken the official 2017 test in Asia or used the October version as a practice test would obviously have an unfair advantage when taking the August test in the US.
There is speculation that some students knew they could come to the US and that the August test version would be the same. These students came to the US to take the test knowing they would be able to perform well since they had access to the questions and answers beforehand. Others say that students were not intentionally cheating, but had either taken the 2017 official test in Asia or used practice tests to prepare, and were just happily surprised after they realized they already knew the questions and answers. There is not an international August test date, so many Asian students travel to the US to take the August test before college application season.
While The College Board does knowingly recycle test questions, they have not responded to the allegations that the test was leaked and students may have used the answers to cheat on the test. They have, however, stated via their Twitter account that they will release the scores as planned on September 7th and that they have no intention of canceling the scores. One final comment on their Twitter account said that measures are in place to detect cheating and ensure the validity and accuracy of all scores.
