Fake SAT Tests

What is a mock SAT or ACT? A mock SAT or ACT is a test written and scaled by a test preparation company.

Now those words alone should be enough to dissuade anyone from putting stock into any mock SAT or ACT results.

But, don’t just take my word for it. The National Association for College Admission Counseling, an association that represents 11,000 college admissions officers and high-school guidance counselors, released a report that finds fault with the frequent use of mock SAT tests because “they can be devised to inflate score gains when students take the actual SAT.”

The incredible thing is that high schools are allowing more test preparation companies to come on their campuses and give mock SAT or ACT tests. Why?

The SAT is given seven times a year, the ACT is given six times a year. The PSAT and PLAN are given once a year each. The College Board, the company that owns the SAT, and ACT release books with actual SATs and ACTs.  Obviously, there are plenty of opportunities to take REAL SAT and ACT tests. So, why are the high schools allowing test preparation companies to give mock SAT and ACT tests on their campuses?

The answer is complicated. At the heart of it, you would like to think that counselors believe they are doing a service by giving their students an opportunity to take these tests.

But, there may be a more insidious possibility. Perhaps the main reason high schools are sanctioning these tests is because all the money from the mock tests (usually $20 a student) is given to the high school. If a school has 250 students take a mock test that’s $5,000!

In these tough economic times $5,000 is a lot of money. Maybe a school can buy computers or pay a part time counselor to work a few hours a week.

Here is an incredible article written by students from Lowell High School. Lowell High School is the best public high school in San Francisco and one of the top high schools in the country. Read what students are saying about how mock SAT and ACT tests are graded and then you judge for yourself.

At AHEAD OF THE CLASS, we only use official SAT and ACT material for all diagnostic tests. Every test preparation company should do the same thing.

My personal advice? Don’t take a mock SAT or ACT. If you have already taken one of these tests, just throw it out.

David Benjamin Gruenbaum

High School students question use of Mock SAT test