If anyone has been following the news, in May of this year (2015) the College Board announced that it was not releasing any of the scores from recent SATs taken in East Asia, notably China and Korea and neighboring countries.

We do understand that there are some cultural things that may be hard or impossible to change. What some cultures see as cooperation, Western cultures see as cheating. At least one Asian writer has admitted that he took entrance exams for 500 clients before he was caught. However, those are enforcement problems which the College Board, ACT, Educational Testing Service, and others have to deal with.

There is one very poor test-taking strategy that is taught by some Asian test preparation books and classes that may have contributed to this problem with the Asian SATs. Asian schools, especially those in China, emphasize memorization. Western schools emphasize skills. Some Asian test preparation books and classes give students boilerplate essays to memorize (complete with some minor errors to make them look genuine). The plan is that if the student memorizes somewhere between twenty and fifty of these short essays, then at least one of the memorized essays should work for whatever kind of general question the SAT or ACT asks. The SAT only gives students 25 minutes, so most upper half essays have between 250 and 400 words—not too difficult of a task to memorize.

Can you see a problem with this? What if even two students use the same memorized essay? There is a possibility that the essay could be flagged. If hundreds use the same essay, it will certainly look like cheating occurred. It would appear as if someone either copied an essay or passed it on to someone else. At best the essay will be disqualified, at worst the whole test will. If your official test record says that you were suspected of cheating, no college will accept you!

Sample essays used in SAT review books and classes may give helpful examples. We try to do that at English Plus with our Verbal Vanquish program and e-book. But if you are tempted to memorize such an essay with the idea of possibly using it on an actual SAT or other entrance exam, do not do it! If others are doing the same thing, you could be accused of copying or cheating. Be yourself. Answer the essay question in your own words. It is better to find a school or a class that is at an appropriate level than to be using someone else’s work. Write your own essay. Your conscience will be spared and you will never have to endure the shame of being accused of cheating.