How Asian test-prep companies quickly penetrated the new SAT

Wednesday, April 6th, 2016

Asian test-prep companies quickly penetrated the new SAT:

This month, Asian test-prep centers targeted the redesigned SAT.

For the first sitting of the test, on March 5, the College Board barred people who aren’t applying to college from taking the SAT. The step prevented cram school teachers who’d registered for the test from getting a direct look at the exam. Test-prep operators found ways around the measure.

Sanli, the Chinese test-prep chain, says it sent 11 teachers to the United States to collect information on the redesigned exam. They debriefed 40 Sanli students studying at U.S. high schools who took the new SAT as they exited test centers, according to Wu, the general manager. Sanli presented its findings at a seminar at a Shanghai hotel.

Other Asian operators harvested material from the new exam simply by going online. After the test ended, the website College Confidential was full of talk about the exam. The site said last week that it received and complied with one take-down request from the College Board after the new test.

And within hours of the test, a Chinese SAT coach who calls himself “Roy” had pieced together items that were on the reading and optional essay sections. Soon he was sharing his take on the test in a video posted on social media.

“Have you read College Confidential?” Roy said in an interview. “All the detailed material is there.”

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