Police to Question 2 More Suspects in SAT Scandal

Police said yesterday that they will soon question two Korean students who allegedly took part in a cheating scandal involving the U.S. SAT.

With the help of an SAT prep instructor, the two are known to have taken advantage of the time difference between Asia and the United States to raise the scores.

The National Police Agency said yesterday, “We will soon call in two people who took part in the cheating, as one of them received an SAT test sheet via e-mail from a Korean (SAT prep) instructor.”

One of the two came to Korea in September last year, and denied to police over the phone of receiving the e-mail in question.

Based on a check of the student’s e-mail messages, police said the student while in the U.S. checked his e-mail as soon as the instructor sent one in the early morning of Jan. 24 last year.

This has led to speculation that the student conspired to leak the test.

Police said the two students posted high scores on the SAT I, the test in question, with one scoring 2,250 and the other 2,210 points. Both attend a high school in Connecticut and have applied to 10 prestigious universities in the U.S., including Ivy League schools.

“They received 50 to 100 more points than normal after attending cram school,” police added.

Another student who attended the same cram school got an almost perfect score of 2,390.

“The College Board in charge of the SAT has learned of the cheating and began an investigation. The scores of certain students have reportedly been nullified,” police said.

minki@donga.com