College student paid to take SATs for high school students...

Caught this on the news today on WPIX

www.wpix.com...

www.therepublic.com...

Apparently a college student, Sam Eshaghoff, was caught being paid to take tests for high school students in Mineola, NY. When I first heard about it on the news tonight I simply thought Ok, whatever.. what's next? But as I continued to watch and thought about it more, some very strange ideas came to mind.

First of all, authorities have placed not only Sam, but students who paid him to take tests for him, under arrest. Obviously cheating on a test is not a good thing to do, but you can be arrested for it??

Second of all, how exactly did all these kids get "$1500 to $2500" each to pay for Sam to take their tests? Did their parents give them the money or is there something else going on such as a drug ring? For all I know, they were all arrested for "cheating on SATs" to cover up a larger issue, that the TPTB don't want us little guys to know about.

The next thought I had was if there is some kind of actual criminal organization going on behind this, how long has it been going on for? How many people have false SAT scores exactly??

During an interview with one of Sam's friends, the guy was talking about how it's been going on for a while, that Sam's a really smart, good guy, and that he's not the only one taking tests for high school students.

They also went on to talk about how people think the students all need to have a photo ID with them before they take the test, and that the Max score is now 2400... I'm 30 years old now, and as far as I remember nobody had to have a photo ID with them to take the test, and the max score also used to be lower - when did that change?

I scored around 1180 on mine and ended up getting a few scholarships.

Edit: Interesting, here's some info I found about changing the perfect SAT score from 1600 to 2400:
englishplus.com...

Anyway, I guess the only people that really know what's going on are the ones involved, but this puts up all kinds of red flags for me - something is going on, but exactly what is anyone's guess.

Any ideas or more info??

Can I pay him to take a statistics course for me?

No red flags. When I was in high school I used to earn extra cash doing papers for college students.
15 dollars a page. I was offered hundreds to take SATS for lazy dumb rich kids, but I never wanted to risk myself that way.

photo id? our college has cards with photo's on that have barcodes to scan in instead of paper registers

privacy is dead thanks to fools like this who give lawmakers a playing card.

ed: to be fair, the uk is probably further down the line than you guys, or not.

I think your over thinking it.

reply to post by dashen


I'm sure plenty of us earned a few bucks writing papers for jocks, but this is a bit more complex than that in my mind... How many times a day can students even go to take the SAT now? When I was in high school there were 2 days, Saturday's, and everyone had to pick one or the other - then after you got those results you had the option of retesting. How is it even possible that one guy took so many tests in the first place? It's not like you can grab 5 or 6 tests at a time; even if your school has tons of students, you'd think the people giving the tests would notice somebody taking the exam over and over again.

The fact that these kids were actually arrested for cheating on their SAT's, to the point where it made the news, seems very odd.

Our society here in the western world is all about capitalism. We pay our money for results.

If I pay someone to give me a perfect SAT score, I better get it or I will sue for fraud.

Capitalism works.

It is a real crook in the neck to have someone stifle the good ol' money for something theory.

reply to post by Time2Think


i wonder if there was a money back policy if the score came back less than a desired minimum. begs the question how to complain about it. methinks that he's done this before. he got caught because a disgruntled customer wasn't satisfied with a prior score.

You people are messed up. This has nothing to do with Capitalism other than the fact the guy was getting paid to take the tests - it doesn't say anywhere that his "customers" complained about not getting what they paid for.

I mean really? You honestly think these kids and / or their parents turned themselves in for cheating on college entrance exams so they could file for Fraud? Unbelievable. If that's the case then why in the world wouldn't EVERYONE be doing it?

It DOES however mention an ETS computer crash, which also brings up some questions. That would explain how one person could "take the test" for so many different people; maybe he wasn't actually going there in person, but instead changing information on the ETS computers...

The DA's Office says its currently investigating whether similar SAT scams have occurred in at least two other Nassau County high schools, as well as allegations that Eshaghoff took the SAT exam for students of other high schools.

Educational Testing Service (ETS), the non-profit organization that administers the test, told prosecutors that it conducted its own investigation of the matter, but was unable to provide some investigation documentation to prosecutors citing a computer crash.

ETS does not notify colleges or high schools when students are suspected of cheating, but instead cancels their scores and offers suspected cheaters a refund, a free re-test, or the opportunity to arbitrate.

Old news...Saw this on "Shameless"

You are overthinking it, but it is still odd that they got arrested for cheating on the SAT's... I would think the worst that could happen would be the colleges they applied to would not let them in... because they cheated on their SAT's.

Hmmm.... Weird.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth

Hmmm.. weird

So how exactly am I overthinking it? It IS weird. That's the point!

This story has now made "national news", I saw it this morning on NBC.
today.msnbc.msn.com...

Now it's said the guy used fake ID's to take the tests; he was caught when the board realized the handwriting was exactly the same on several tests - or so they say.

No matter what really did or did not happen, the story is still very strange to me- that's why I took the time to post it here on ATS.

reply to post by Upyerheart


Ha. that's pretty damn crazy, never even heard of the show shameless before - but yea it's almost exactly the same thing happening on the show than there in New York... VERY Weird.. they also hint at the end of the segment that he didn't just go and take the tests...

Funny how no one else has commented on this at all lately - it's became a bigger issue ever since, and has been brought up again several times now, to the point where it's spread to other schools.

I realize it's "common sense" that it most likely has been going on all over the place for many years, but it still is a very disturbing idea when you actually sit down and think about it...

Yet another way the rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer - irregardless of anything else other than money. Is this sort of thing EVER going to end? Probably not.

When it comes to the rich attending ivy league schools, etc... I always just assumed the parents donated to the schools, giving their kids a "free pass". Makes you wonder if their child came to them and said "Hey, if you give me a couple thousand bucks, you don't have to donate $100,000+". If that's the case, then what parent would refuse? It doesn't take a Harvard graduate to figure that one out.

Originally posted by Time2Think


Second of all, how exactly did all these kids get "$1500 to $2500" each to pay for Sam to take their tests?

Getting $1500 to $2500 isn't all that hard to do in high school, if you don't mind breaking the rules. Back when I went, I could clear $50/day just by selling cigarettes. Porn mags would net me $15 each, while movies would get me $40. (This was back before the internet became teens main source of porn.) I couldn't make money on sodas and snacks since our school had vending machines, but I could get a $1.50 out of a pack of gum. A 6 pack of booze would've netted me $30, but I refused to sell that, as well as hard drugs.

Then there's the gambling. On a good day I would make $20 to $40 at Match. (Two people flip a quarter, one calls evens, the other odds. If two heads or tails came up, evens won and got the quarters. If it came up a head and tails, odds won. If we added in a 3rd person, whoever flipped heads while everyone else had tails won.) Poker had the potential of netting $200+ a day, depending on how well I could bluff, and who I could get to play. Of course, there was also the classic, working a part time job, and doing others homework for pay. A lot of the time I made more at school than I did bagging groceries or flipping burgers.

reply to post by tebyen


You know, honestly I'd like to believe that their parents weren't involved, but it's very difficult for me to do. When you're talking about it being "easy" to make that kind of money when you're in highschool, it's possible.. but if kids are gambling let alone anyone is gambling, they tend to lose a lot more then they win. It also kinda helps if you have money on you before hand, unless of course you want to get yourself into trouble after you lose a game, and if that's the case chances are parents / authorities are already involved way before a kid spends $2500 bucks on a test. The other part that's pretty hard to believe is why in the world would some kid in highschool spend $2500 on SAT scores when they can buy cool things like computers, video games, go to concerts, and of course, parties... The idea of a kid in highschool actually earning themselves $2500 to spend on a test sort of gives you the impression that they're responsible, and probably don't really NEED to spend any money on SAT scores - unless of course they feel like they'll be disowned by there parents if they don't get that Harvard acceptance letter (and I'm stretching here looking for a good answer).

In any case, I keep hearing about it over and over again on the news. Where as I'm 30 years old and have never heard of it going on before. I'm sure tons of kids in highschool get the idea, but I really doubt most of them ever try to carry through with it.

The other part to it is if you're spending hundreds of dollars on stuff, I'm pretty sure you're parents would realize something is going on. So I guess whether their parents are the ones spending the money on the tests or not, in the end it comes back to them anyway.