How Asian 実験（する）-prep companies exposed the new SAT
By Renee Dudley, Steve Stecklow, Alexandra Harney and Irene Jay Liu
March 28 (Reuters) - On the morning of Saturday, March 5, students gathered at 実験（する） 中心s around the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs to take the SAT, the all-important college 入り口 exam.
The day was momentous - not 簡単に for the 実験（する）-takers but also for the College Board, the not-for-利益（をあげる） that owns the exam. The organization was debuting an 完全に new 見解／翻訳／版 of the SAT whose redesign was years in the making.
In Asia, 実験（する）-準備 companies were eager for （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. Any 詳細（に述べる）s about what was on the new SAT might be invaluable to their （弁護士の）依頼人s. That's 特に true because for years, the College Board routinely has 再使用するd SAT 実験（する）s overseas after first 治めるing them in America.
East Asian cram schools have 繰り返して 偉業／利用するd that practice to 違反 the SAT, and the College Board has come to see the 実験（する）-prep 産業 as a daunting adversary. For the first 申し込む／申し出ing of the redesigned SAT this month, the organization 課すd an 追加するd 安全 手段: It banned 教えるs and other 非，不，無-students from taking the exam that day.
The 戦う／戦い to 保護（する）／緊急輸入制限 the new SAT was on. It was lost almost as soon as the 実験（する） began.
実験（する）-prep companies had 地位，任命するd teachers outside U.S. 実験（する） 中心s, ready to 取調べ／厳しく尋問する 出口ing students about what was on the exam. Within hours, American 実験（する）-takers 長，率いるd online to discuss the new SAT in 詳細（に述べる）.
On the popular website College Confidential, students 述べるd 部分s of the reading section from exams given on March 5. There was an essay on plate tectonics. A letter by the 1960s labor 行動主義者 Cesar Chavez. A 科学の paper about baby fat. A passage from a Michael Chabon novel. And more. 実験（する）-prep companies in Asia 選ぶd up this chatter and 報告（する）／憶測d 支援する to （弁護士の）依頼人s.
Then, last week, Reuters was shown two 文書s that 明らかにする／漏らす far more 相当な 穴を開けるs in the SAT's 弁護s.
Both 文書s 含む／封じ込めるd entire sections from exams given on March 5. The College Board said it has a "long-standing 政策" not to comment on what may be on an exam. Reuters 立証するd the authenticity of the 文書s nonetheless with people familiar with the new SAT's content - 含むing students who took the 実験（する）.
The first とじ込み／提出する, 申し込む／申し出d 解放する／自由な by a Chinese online 実験（する）-advice company called SAT Helper, 再建するs one 見解／翻訳／版 of that day's exam booklet. It had a 52-question reading section with five text passages - 含むing the Chavez letter and the plate tectonics essay.
The second 文書 was shown to Reuters by a Chinese tipster who had 警告するd the College Board last year about 安全 違反s. It 含む／封じ込めるd images of another 見解／翻訳／版 of the March 5 実験（する）. の中で its reading passages? The Chavez letter, the baby-fat paper, the plate tectonics piece and the Chabon novel.
AUTHENTIC EXAM DOCUMENTS
Three high school students reviewed the 文書s and 確認するd that the 構成要素 （機の）カム from the actual March 5 SATs they had taken. Reuters is not 指名するing them because 実験（する）-takers agree when they 登録（する） for the exam not to 公表する／暴露する what's on it.
"That's literally the one I took," said one student, a high school junior in Maryland.
"It would have been better if I'd seen it before the 実験（する）," another high school student, a junior in Texas, said laughing.
"The questions started coming out as soon as I finished the 実験（する）," said a third student, a junior in Florida. "I thought this time the College Board had 解放（する）d them itself."
The College Board says that 実験（する） 安全 and 配達するing valid 得点する／非難する／２０s are central to its 使節団. In 新規加入 to barring 非，不，無-student 実験（する）-takers from the March 5 exam - a practice that will continue on most 実験（する） dates - it has taken other 対策 in 最近の years to 妨害する the Asian prep 産業. SATs are now shipped to and from some 実験（する） 場所／位置s in lock boxes, and the College Board 定期的に sends out "take-負かす／撃墜する notices" if it sees 実験（する） 構成要素 online.
But as the brand-new bootleg 実験（する） booklets show, the cram schools continue to find ways to subvert the 弁護s of the College Board and its 安全 請負業者, 教育の 実験（する）ing Service of Princeton, New Jersey.
What has made such 違反s 特に 損失ing in 最近の years is the College Board's 決まりきった仕事 再使用する overseas of SAT 実験（する） 構成要素 以前 given in America. The 再生利用するing of exam items has enabled 実験（する）-prep 操作者s to 供給する international students an 前進する look at reading passages, grammar problems and other 構成要素 that may be on 未来 実験（する）s. いつかs, the cram schools even create answer 重要なs for their （弁護士の）依頼人s.
The College Board 確認するd to Reuters that it 計画（する）s to continue 再生利用するing 実験（する） 構成要素. The redesigned SAT will be 治めるd for the first time overseas in May, and it's ありそうもない that the first foreign 実験（する）s will 含む 構成要素 that was 治めるd March 5 in America. Still, the fact that the new 実験（する） booklets were so quickly 循環させるd 論証するs tha t the redesigned SAT remains 攻撃を受けやすい.
"We're working against cartel-like companies in 中国 and other countries that will stop at nothing to 濃厚にする themselves," said John McGrath, the College Board's 上級の 副／悪徳行為 大統領，／社長 for communications and marketing. "These bad actors will continue to 嘘（をつく）, cheat and steal to the detriment of students who work hard and play by the 支配するs."
THE RECYCLING PROBLEM
U.S. admissions officers who were 簡潔な／要約するd on what Reuters 設立する said the College Board せねばならない stop 再生利用するing exam 構成要素. "What they should do, step one, is consider ending the practice of 再使用するing 実験（する） content," said Joy St. John, dean of admission at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. If applicants have seen exam 構成要素 before taking the 実験（する）, St. John said, "our ability to select students who are the best fits for Wellesley is really 妥協d."
Even some cram-school 操作者s agree, 説 that the continued 再使用する of 実験（する） 構成要素 will make the new exam an 平易な 示す.
The redesigned SAT "won't 解決する the 根底となる problem, unless they have a continual flow of new questions, and use every 実験（する） only once," said Peng Wu, a general 経営者／支配人 at Sanli, a Shanghai-based 実験（する）-prep chain. Sanli created booklets of past 実験（する） 構成要素 to help students 準備する for the old SAT. One former （弁護士の）依頼人, now a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Reuters a Sanli booklet helped him 得点する／非難する／２０ a perfect 800 on the 批判的な reading section of the SAT.
The 見込み that questions from the redesigned SAT will be 再生利用するd on 未来 実験（する）s "is definitely a good thing for us," Wu said.
In a letter to Reuters, College Board 副／悪徳行為 大統領，／社長 Stacy Caldwell defended the or ganization's 扱うing of 安全. The College Board and its 請負業者, ETS, stand behind the 有効性，効力 of the 実験（する） 得点する／非難する／２０s sent to U.S. colleges and their 活動／戦闘s "to 保護する the 正直さ of the exam," she said. Ray Nicosia, who 長，率いるs the Office of 実験（する）ing 正直さ at ETS, said the number of people who cheat on the SAT is "far いっそう少なく than 1 パーセント."
With the new 実験（する）, Caldwell 誓約（する）d that the College Board "will continue to take bold 活動／戦闘s to stop cheating and 窃盗."
How the College Board will 後継する at that 使節団 is 不明瞭な. 内部の College Board 文書s show that 実験（する）-準備 中心s have been able to 侵入する 安全 for years, often by 偉業／利用するing the 決まりきった仕事 再使用する of 実験（する） 構成要素 overseas.
Over the past three years, interviews and 文書s show, the College Board has often tried but failed to plug the flow of 漏れるs. At other times, Reuters 設立する, the College Board decided to go ahead with exams even after 存在 警告するd that 実験（する） 構成要素 it had 以前 治めるd was in wide 循環／発行部数.
Some people in the 実験（する）ing and teaching professions say they were disheartened by how the College Board or ETS 扱うd 証拠 of possible 違反s.
The tipster in 中国 who 供給するd Reuters with a copy of the new SAT booklet said he sent the same 構成要素 to an ETS 捜査官／調査官 on March 18. He said he hasn't received a 返答. A 広報担当者 for ETS referred questions on the 事柄 to the College Board, which said it does not comment "on 明確な／細部 実験（する） content."
"BEAUTIFUL VISION"
By 2012, the College Board had decided to redesign the SAT. Market 圧力s played a 役割 in the 決定／判定勝ち（する） to remake the 実験（する）.
For yea rs, the college 入り口 exam 産業 has been under 緊張する. Several million American high school students take the SAT or the 競争相手 ACT exam each year. But a growing number of U.S. colleges and universities have stopped 要求するing the 実験（する）s, and some educators question their usefulness in 予報するing a student's success in college.
At the same time, the New York-based College Board has been losing market 株 in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs. Its competitor, ACT of Iowa, attracted more 実験（する）-takers than the SAT for the first time in 2012. The SAT remains No. 1 overseas.
Within months of becoming 大統領，／社長 of the College Board in the 落ちる of 2012, David Coleman 始める，決める out his "beautiful 見通し" for the re-engineered SAT. It "will 控訴，上告 to students over ACT," he wrote. It would be "more 焦点（を合わせる）d, transparent, and 明確な／細部" than the ACT, he 追加するd. And unlike the ACT, it wouldn't 含む a science 実験（する）.
Coleman 拒絶する／低下するd to comment for this story.
As College Board leaders began working on their new 実験（する）, they 遭遇（する）d major problems 保護するing the 存在するing SAT.
In May 2013, cram schools in South Korea, known as hagwons, 後継するd at 得るing 構成要素 from the exam the College Board ーするつもりであるd to give that month. It isn't （疑いを）晴らす how the 構成要素 漏れるd. The 安全 違反 was discovered by South Korean 法律 施行 公式の／役人s.
The College Board 答える／応じるd to that 漏れる by 取り消すing the scheduled exam. "Because a number of 実験（する）-takers have likely already been exposed to these 実験（する） 構成要素s, we had no choice," the organization said in a 声明 at the time. The College Board 拒絶する／低下するd to say how many students saw the exam ahead of time, or whether it knows how the hagwons got the questions.
The 決定／判定勝ち（する） was 激烈な. Never in the history of the SAT, first given in 1926, had the College Board 取り消すd an exam sitting across an entire nation for 安全 推論する／理由s.
After the 出来事/事件, 公式の／役人s 査定する／（税金などを）課すd how many untainted 見解／翻訳／版s of the exam remained. The College Board learned that half of the exams in its 在庫 had been 妥協d to some degree. To 戦闘 the 違反s, the College Board 減ずるd the number of 実験（する） dates in South Korea and two Middle Eastern countries - to four times a year rather than six. Doing so would 限界 the 可能性のある for cheating, 公式の／役人s 結論するd.
But College Board 公式の／役人s told Reuters that they went 今後 with a 十分な 予定する of exams in Greater 中国, where far more students take the 実験（する）, because they 設立する no 証拠 that 実験（する） 構成要素 had been stolen there.
"CELEBRATING" IN THE HALL
Not long afterward, more 違反s 現れるd in 中国.
In January 2014, a student from Concordia International School Shanghai took a scheduled break during an SAT sitting in one of 中国's largest cities.
When the student stepped into the hall, he saw groups of kids "talking about the exam, 株ing the answers, and 'celebrating' about the 実験（する）," によれば an account the student wrote to the school's 主要な／長／主犯. The school, which 拒絶する／低下するd to 指名する the student, 供給するd the account to Reuters.
The 実験（する） given in 中国 that day 含むd some of the same reading sections that had been used on an SAT given in December 2012, just 13 months earlier. A Shanghai 実験（する）-prep 中心, 退役軍人s Education, had 得るd an exam and given it to its students for practice.
To 決定する the extent of the problem, 行政官／管理者s at Concordia International School questioned all of their students who took the SAT that day. Nine students 認める they had 熟考する／考慮するd at 退役軍人s Education and had seen the entire 実験（する） in 前進する, said Concordia 主要な／長／主犯 Nicholas Kent. Concordia 報告（する）／憶測d their 指名するs to ETS, which 取り消すd their 得点する／非難する／２０s, he said. ETS 拒絶する／低下するd to comment on the episode.
It's 不明瞭な how many other students saw 実験（する） 構成要素 in 前進する. Ben Yoon, the 大統領，／社長 of 退役軍人s Education, 確認するd that he 株d the December 2012 実験（する） with students but said he had no idea it 含むd actual questions from an 近づいている exam.
"My 学校／設ける gets all of its teaching 構成要素s through open sources," 含むing on the Internet, Yoon said in a written 声明. "I was shocked and appalled by the very 可能性 that such 実験（する） 構成要素s could be 得るd so easily."
By October 2014, more problems had surfaced. A few days before the October 実験（する） was 治めるd, a 教える in South Korea sent a 十分な copy of what he believed was the exam to the College Board, the 教える told Reuters. The 教える, who 拒絶する／低下するd to give his 指名する to the College Board, said he 警告するd the organization about other 漏れるd 実験（する）s - and about the 仲買人s who were selling the exams. The exam was given as scheduled.
But later that month, the College Board withheld 問題／発行するing 実験（する） 得点する／非難する／２０s in parts of East Asia while it 調査／捜査するd possible cheating on the exam. It took the same step for the next three Asian 実験（する） sittings 同様に. 保留するing 得点する／非難する／２０s is a serious step: It means students 適用するing to universities are in limbo while ETS 決定するs whether their 得点する／非難する／２０s need to be 取り消すd. In the October exam, 得点する／非難する／２０s were withheld for every 実験（する）-taker in 中国 and South Korea, where a 連合させるd 55,000 実験（する）s were taken last school year. The College Board didn't 公表する／暴露する the 結果 of the 調査.
A TUTOR IN KOREA
That November, Linfeng Liu, now 20, took the SAT in Hong Kong. She said she was happy to 認める five questions on vocabulary and reading comprehension. Paraphrased 見解／翻訳／版s of the same questions had been in a booklet 供給するd by the 実験（する）-prep 中心 she …に出席するd in 中国, she said.
"It helped," said Liu, now a freshman at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. "I did those questions more quickly, so I had more time for the reading comprehension section."
The College Board's Caldwell says that cram schools, not students like Liu, are to 非難する for such 出来事/事件s.
The next month, December 2014, the College Board 問題／発行するd a 声明 about the problems in Asia. "Over the past three months, organizations and individuals have 不法に 得るd and 株d 実験（する） 構成要素s for their own 利益（をあげる）," the 声明 said.
The South Korean 教える - the person who had 警報d the College Board to a possible 漏れる ahead of the October 2014 exam - once again tried to 警告する 公式の／役人s. He showed Reuters an 交流 he had with an ETS 捜査官／調査官 in January 2015.
大（公）使館員d to his email was what he believed to be the 近づいている exam. にもかかわらず the 教える's 警告, the College Board went ahead with the exam on Jan. 24. Afterward, it again 延期するd 解放（する）ing 実験（する） 得点する／非難する／２０s.
"I was shocked and indignant that the College Board decided to proceed with the exams anyway," the 教える said.
An ETS 広報担当者 確認するd that one of its 捜査官／調査官s "was in 接触する with this person. We have no 付加 comment other than the fact that ETS and the College Board take all tips 本気で and 調査／捜査する them 完全に."
"COMPLETELY LEAKED"
By September 2015, ETS was 存在 警告するd by another tipster that the SAT given in March in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs was 広まる in Asia. This tipster, based in 中国, was one of the sources who sent Reuters images of the redesigned SAT earlier this month.
In his September 2015 email to ETS, the tipster said that the SAT given just six months earlier in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs was 広まる in Asia. The 構成要素 had been "広範囲にわたって 分散させるd," the tipster 警告するd. As 証拠, he 大（公）使館員d a text とじ込み／提出する 含む／封じ込めるing what he said were parts of the exam.
An 捜査官／調査官 for ETS quickly replied. "The 文書s will be reviewed asap," the 捜査官／調査官 wrote, によれば emails reviewed by Reuters.
Nine days later, the tipster corresponded with the 捜査官／調査官 again and sent some screenshots of the exam. The 捜査官／調査官 asked if the March 2015 実験（する） given in North America was "広範囲にわたって spread out." The tipster 答える／応じるd that it "is 完全に 漏れるd out" and said that he had a ざっと目を通す of the entire 実験（する）. He also 大（公）使館員d more 証拠: photos of what he believed to be the 実験（する） booklet itself. The tipster told Reuters he never heard 支援する.
The tipster didn't know it at the time, but the College Board was about to 再使用する the March 2015 U.S. exam in 中国 and どこかよそで just a few days later, in its October sitting.
にもかかわらず the 警告s, the 実験（する） was given as planned. Caldwell, the College Board 副／悪徳行為 大統領，／社長 in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the SAT, said ETS 調査／捜査するd the 事柄 and didn't think there had been "普及した student 接近" to exam 構成要素. She 追加するd that the "（警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） 欠如（する）d the 明確な／細部 facts to みなす it 信頼できる."
But two weeks before the exam took place overseas, parts of the 実験（する） could be 設立する on the Internet.
On Sept. 18, Zhan.com, a Chinese website with more than 500,000 概算の 月毎の 訪問者s, 地位，任命するd several of the reading passages from the 実験（する） the College Board was about to 再使用する.
The 場所／位置 is run by a Shanghai-based online 実験（する）-prep company called Little Zhan Education. A Little Zhan teacher said the school only 地位，任命するs "mock papers," but he 定評のある that "some of the questions might match those that 現実に appeared in the 実験（する）."
As the College Board went ahead with the SAT on Oct. 3, the tipster tried emailing admissions officers at 36 最高の，を越す American colleges.
"The reliability of the 実験（する） has been 厳しく 妥協d since last year," he wrote that day, using the pseudonym "中国 anticheating." "As you can see from the pictures I 大（公）使館員d, these are the reading sections of the SAT 実験（する） 存在 行為／行うd now."
Some of the emails were sent to incorrect 演説（する）／住所s. But 公式の／役人s at a few of the schools 解任するd receiving the message. Gregory Roberts, dean of admission at the University of Virginia, said his office 接触するd the College Board after reading the email.
"We spoke by phone," Roberts said. "They were aware of these emails." The College Board 拒絶する／低下するd to comment.
On Jan. 20, days ahead of another exam overseas, the "中国 anticheating" tipster sent Reuters 47 photographs. The images showed what appeared to be parts of six sections of the SAT 実験（する） booklet used in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs the month before, 同様に as a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of answers. The tipster said he sent the same 警告, with the photos, to a College Board 公式の／役人.
A PREDICTION
In his email to Reuters, he also made a 予測: the 見解／翻訳／版 of the 実験（する） in his 所有／入手 was "very likely" to be 再使用するd three days later, on Jan. 23, at the international sitting of the exam.
He was 権利: Parts of the 実験（する） that was to be given that day were 同一の to the 見解／翻訳／版 given 以前 in America. He also was 権利 about the （危険などに）さらす. Reuters 設立する that dozens of questions on the 実験（する） were 株d and discussed on the popular website reddit.
The College Board tried to 含む／封じ込める the 損失. On Jan. 21, it 公表する／暴露するd that it was 取り消すing the scheduled SAT on Jan. 23 at every 実験（する） 中心 in 本土／大陸 中国 and Macau.
But どこかよそで in Asia, the College Board gave the SAT as planned. The next month, the College Board 通知するd American universities that it was 延期するing the 得点する／非難する／２０s of an 公表されていない number of students because of "a 安全 出来事/事件." The 延期するs 影響する／感情d 実験（する） takers in Singapore and other Asian cities, によれば a 指導／手引 助言者／カウンセラー in the 地域.
This month, Asian 実験（する）-prep 中心s 的d the redesigned SAT.
For the first sitting of the 実験（する）, on March 5, the College Board 閉めだした people who aren't 適用するing to college from taking the SAT. The step 妨げるd cram school teachers who'd 登録（する）d for the 実験（する） from getting a direct look at the exam. 実験（する）-prep 操作者s 設立する ways around the 手段.
Sanli, the Chinese 実験（する）-prep chain, says it sent 11 teachers to the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs to collect （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） on the redesigned exam. They debriefed 40 Sanli students 熟考する／考慮するing at U.S. high schools who took the new SAT as they 出口d 実験（する） 中心s, によれば Wu, the general 経営者／支配人. Sanli 現在のd its findings at a セミナー at a Shanghai hotel.
Other Asian 操作者s 収穫d 構成要素 from the new exam 簡単に by going online. After the 実験（する） ended, the website College Confidential was 十分な of talk about the exam. The 場所／位置 said last week that it received and 従うd with one take-負かす／撃墜する request from the College Board after the new 実験（する）.
And within hours of the 実験（する）, a Chinese SAT coach who calls himself "Roy" had pieced together items that were on the reading and optional essay sections. Soon he was 株ing his take on the 実験（する） in a ビデオ 地位，任命するd on social マスコミ.
"Have you read College Confidential?" Roy said in an interview. "All the 詳細（に述べる）d 構成要素 is there."
(This story was 報告（する）／憶測d from Shanghai, Hong Kong, ソウル, Boston and New York. 付加 報告（する）／憶測ing by Ju-min Park, James Pomfret, Rebecca Jang, Benny Kung, and the Shanghai newsroom. Edited by Blake Morrison)
