The College Board has dealt with numerous issues surrounding test security and cheating scandals since the release of the redesigned SAT in early March. Back in February, right before the first administration of the new exam, the College Board sent out an announcement to test prep professionals, teachers, college counselors, and community members informing them that their registration would be postponed to the May exam. The trend continues: just yesterday, the College Board announced that all non-student test takers registered for the June exam would not be allowed to sit for the test.
Under an updated Intended Use Policy on the College Board website, the company indicated that test takers who are not applying to a college or university undergraduate program or applying to a scholarship, financial aid, or other program that requires a college admission test as part of the application process would be barred from most test dates. The only dates non-students can now take the SAT are January, May, and October, the dates when the College Board plans to publicly deactivate and release the tests after the administrations. This new rule applies only to US and Canadian test centers. At other international sites, non-students will only be able to register for May, though the College Board has suggested this rule may change. This new set of rules allows the College Board to more easily investigate and identify people registered for the SAT who may be attempting to steal or share test content.
Given the recent media scrutiny, it is no surprise that the College Board has now made it even more difficult for non-student testers to sit for the SAT. In their official statement in March, they recognized where they needed to do more in order to "protect...students from the bad actors who lie, cheat, and steal for personal gain." Their decision to restrict test prep professionals, tutors, and other non-student registrants from future administrations of the SAT is just one of the perhaps many steps the College Board is willing to take in order to prevent further problems.
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