Freshman Exposes SAT Flaws

A Harvard freshman and his high school classmate are receiving nationwide attention for a scheme they devised to demonstrate how easy it is to cheat on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

In an article written for the March issue of Penthouse magazine, David L. Weller '92 and fellow Stuyvesant High School graduate Larry Schultzargue that lax security measures allow impostors to take the SAT and substitute their scores for others. The SAT is the largest college preparatory entrance examination in the country, given to more than 2 million students each year.

"We figured, `what better way to...dramatize this than to actually do this ourselves?'" Weller said in an interview yesterday.

Penthouse paid each of them $1000 for the story, Weller said.

To prove their point, Weller and Schultz registered for a one-hour Achievement Test last June, after the pair had already gained entrance to college. The achievement test and the three-hour SAT share identical registration and security measures, and both are administered by the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS).

Weller signed up for the test under a false name, using a fake identification card sporting the name "Joe Blogger." Schultz adopted a false name and then forged a physical description of himself on school stationery he created, Weller said.

Weller and Schultz also bypassed a Stuyvesant High School test site for another local site in order not to be recognized.

They were admitted to the test without any trouble, Weller said, adding that upon leaving they "cancelled their scores," or voluntarily asked that their tests not be graded. SAT security measures preventing students from impersonating others generally do not extend beyond guarding admission to test sites.

The pair have recounted their exploits on The Today Show and on Cable News Network (CNN). In each appearance, they have criticized ETS for having inadequate security measures during some standardized tests.

"It shouldn't be this easy to walk into a test and conduct an impersonation," Weller said. "It's just so easy to do." Weller said that in fact, cheating is big business at Stuyvesant, an elite public school in Manhattan. Students at a nearby school regularly pay Stuyvesant students approximately $300 to take their tests for them, he said.

Weller suggested that ETS could improve security by requiring that students take the SAT at their own high schools.

ETS spokesperson Thomas Ewing downplayed Wellerand Schultz's claims. Ewing said the pair weresuccessful only because they went to great lengthsto pull off their stunt.

"If somebody, with enough advance planning,wants to cheat. they can," Ewing said, adding thathe doubted many students would go to the troubleof forging school stationery.

The students have also criticized ETS for notnotifying colleges when a student has been caughtcheating on an exam. The SAT allows students todesignate colleges where they wish their scores tobe forwarded.

Ewing said that the firm has "an agreement ofconfidentiality" with those who take its tests."If a student has gotten a score fraudulently, weconsider that a matter between us and thestudent," he said. "We don't consider ourselves alaw enforcement agency."

When cancelling a student's test score becauseof cheating, ETS does not inform a college of thereason for cancellation.

Weller said that 1000 SAT test scores arecanceled each year for cheating. ETS employs 22people to investigate cases of suspected cheating,he said