Another Alleged SAT Cheating Case Unveiled

Another leak of SAT questions was reported over the weekend amid an expanding probe into the cheating scandal involving the U.S. college entrance exam.

The scandal that took advantage of the time difference between Asia and the United States, and has led to allegations that leakage of SAT questions frequently occurs at private academic institutes.

Police in Seoul’s southern district of Suseo said yesterday that they questioned a 36-year-old instructor and three college part-timer staff he hired on whether they leaked SAT questions from an exam given Saturday at a middle school in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province.

Each part-timer is known to have been paid 100,000 won (87 U.S. dollars).

Police are expected to request an arrest warrant for the instructor today.

Though they originally planned to take the exam at a high school in Hoengseong, Gangwon Province, they allegedly changed the venue to the Gapyeong middle school on the day of the exam.

According to police, Jang and his staff conspired to leak SAT test papers in advance. They either leaked part of sections he was in charge of or typed questions in a scientific calculator.

Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT, said this is the fourth time they leaked SAT questions, following similar instances in October, November and December last year by taking the exam together.

The organization took no major action though it became aware of the instructor’s actions last month. When news of the scandal rocked Korea, however, it dispatched exam security executives to Korea Thursday and asked police to investigate the instructor Saturday.

The instructor told police, “I took out the test paper to use it as class material for my students at the institute.”

Given the possibility that he could send the questions to his students in the U.S. by taking advantage of the time difference, police seized his laptop to probe the charges against him more deeply.

The institute also employs another instructor implicated in an SAT question leak last year using the time difference when he was with another academy.

minki@donga.com