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The Perfect Score: Cheating on the SAT

January 1, 2012 4:35 PM

In his first interview about his criminal fraud, Sam Eshaghoff tells how he was able to take the SAT and ACT college admissions exams for others who paid him up to $2,500 per test. Alison Stewart reports.

The Perfect Score: Cheating on the SAT
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by ezconor May 8, 2012 5:33 PM EDT
"It's not fair to the kids who play by the rules" Well it's not fair to the kids like me who did well in high school but not on the SAT and didn't get into the colleges I wanted. The SAT plays WAY too big a role in college admission than it should.
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by mrj12 April 30, 2012 8:04 PM EDT
The SAT no longer has a place in the US. Many believe it gives little information on how well a student will do in college. People say it's a standardized test. The problem with that is not everyone learns or thinks the same. When I took it I did the best I could, but I only got in like the 950's which does nothing for me. So not only did I waist my time and money, It also stressed me out to the max... This test needs to go.
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by 73Niki73 February 13, 2012 8:58 PM EST
This news feature is the best thing that could have happened to this kid! He is obviously ubersmart, is creative, handles his clients well (try doing business by word of mouth), and has a great work ethic (for real - he didn't have to do *that* well on all those tests). Most importantly, he interviewed really well - After watching the news feature...How many of you liked him? How many of you actually bought the "I'm Robin Hood for the Dumb" I think it was a brilliant defense! Here he is, just a real smart kid in a big world, and for a small price he can give Mr screwu-up, Joe Blow Jr a second chance to make a good life for himself. And then, major spin! Can we really even blame him or Joe Blow Jr??? The moral flaw is with the parents since they were the financial backers of the deal. And really, when you think about it, what is the likelihood that Joe Blow Jr has $2500 plus airfare AND even if he did, what are the chances that he spent it on a SAT Test body double. One step further - enter Joe Blow's parents -- and they can blame the public school system, the No Child Left Behind Act, and Gay Marriage (because Gay Marriage is the ruination of everything)....I think this kid needs to either get into politics or become a preacher!
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by 47rower47 January 8, 2012 9:38 PM EST
Greater security measures must be taken here, but the real testing fraud is currently taking place abroad in China and Japan. It estimated that 50%, instead of America's 1%, of the standardized test scores given by prospective international students are the result of fraud.
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by billbillybill January 6, 2012 10:59 AM EST
The standardized testing is a huge scam! this kid is an entrepreneur and i guarantee he won't be a corporate slave. He found an issue, he had a solution, and executed on it. Standardized tests and even most education systems treat everyone the same and try to mold people into corporate donkeys. Good work sam!
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by scornwall2269 January 4, 2012 8:20 AM EST
That's crazy, but its pretty cool. I wouldn't pass that up either. Its a big deal for the people that made this test but for real I freak out when I see the sat pssa or whatever else that has to do with a test. I'm in high school and my midterms are coming up. I enjoyed hearing that, it took weight off of my shoulders. -wish me luck
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by FromEthiopiaToo January 3, 2012 10:22 PM EST
Many points can be made from this incident.


What is the consequence of both cheating and having someone take the test for you? This needs to be emphasized so that others are hindered from thinking of going in same this direction. I don't see any other reason for showing this story.

What is the value of working hard and passing for someone in the long term? This is something all parents are trying to instill in their children. Use this as an example to repel the experience all together. And Why should we value honesty?

It a two way street, we can tighten the process and procedure to make it difficult for cheaters but kids and educators, and parents also have a vested interest in how they play a role to ultimately help students do well. If students don't understand why they are taking tests in the fist place, then I am afraid there is a gap between the educators and the students.
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by carepentater January 3, 2012 9:22 PM EST
When I took the test 20 years ago, I dont remember a school I.D. being valid for admission. Only a Stae issued I.D. in Maryland was acceptable. A policy like that would help. That "Fecking Eejet" to use an Irish expression, that is in charge of the Sat is in serious denial. I hope that district attorney lady sends everybody to jail for years. ESPECIALLY that brash kid who is laughing all the way to the bank!!!!
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by b-lump January 3, 2012 5:56 PM EST
Everyone questioning Sam's lack of conscience for taking these tests should realize he is qualified for the Senate or to be a governor ala Jon Corzine; or to be an executive at Goldman Sachs...then he can make serious cash!!!
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by pollydee January 3, 2012 5:10 PM EST
as a licensed teacher in new york state, i recall the tight security in place when i took the certification exams for teaching. upon each desk was the test, an empty rectangle for fingerprints, an ink pad and a alcohol swab for cleaning up. we needed to place our state issued photo id atop the test, and a qualified, trained, proctor came around, matched the photo, name, person, candidate name on the test, and witnessed the fingerprint that each candidate placed atop his/her test. simple. secure. why isn't this type of security, simple as it is, in place for all standardized testing? one cannot trick his/her fingerprints, it is done on site, at the moment the test is about to be administered, photo id in check. done. even in the case of identical twins, the possibility of cheating seems impossible. is this rocket-science to apply this type of procedure to sat, act, etc... testing of potential college students? furthermore, it is ludicrous that the students who employed sam are "protected" by the testing company's policy of not reporting possible cheating. why don't they want to report it? because it is self-serving, and suggests that they have failed to provide valid, reliable testing? is there no accountability for them as a corporation? this is ridiculous. and so these kids sit in their spots at schools that they would never have gotten into in the first place. in small town, like great neck, where sam did much of his work, most students apply to the same roster of top-notch schools. and how many can get in coming out of the same town? and so those deserving students, who have beat themselves up throughout school studying and trying and being tutored, and working their tails off, miss the slots, as these other undeserving kids take them. and then the colleges are never advised??? these kids ON THE SPOT should be identified, required to re-take the sat exam, and prove themselves at whatever point in college that they are in. and when they can't remotely "do as well" as second time, they should be promptly expelled. too damn bad, they never earned their slots to begin with. what they earned is the knowledge that the system is flawed and the ends somehow justify the means. too bad their parents, who surely funded this test-taking sham proved to be the lowest role-models one could imagine. and i live in great neck. this is a very small town, and i know all these kids, and their misguided, entitled, obnoxious parents. the town is full of them. rules are made for others, and if you can beat the system, you are considered wonderful. thank god for the fact that there are still some decent and honorable, HONEST people still around. what a joke... sam said he was doing it for "altruistic purposes" to give a chance to others who had none? oh, give me a break.... even if he did not take a penny for what he did, it was wrong, but altruistic, when he was padding his own wallet? he shouldn't be tutoring students as community service- he should be doing some hard community service, like cleaning toilets for the town... dirtbags all of them- sam and his clients and their parents as well.
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