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SAT Cheating Ring Sees 7 Students Arrested in New York

Seven New York students have been arrested for cheating on their SATs, including one teenager who allegedly accepted money to take the test for six students.

Samuel Eshaghoff, 19, is a sophomore at Emory University in New York and was prompted by six students of Long Island’s Great Neck North high school to take the SAT under false identities. The six paid him between $1,500 to $2,500 and provided him with fake identification bearing their names and Eshaghoff’s photograph.

It is unknown how he performed the criminal act for one of the students, a female, with whom Eshaghoff had a romantic relationship with. She is the only one in the group who did not pay Eshaghoff.

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Test officials and legal authorities are arguing over whether the incident was isolated, and investigations of students at other schools are ongoing.

The rise in cheating incidents raises the question: do the SAT’s present too much of a challenge to students? Regardless, District Attorney Kathleen Rice issued a warning to SAT takers.

“Colleges look for the best and brightest students, yet these six defendants tried to cheat the system and may have kept honest and qualified students from getting into their dream school,” Rice’s statement included. “These arrests should serve as a warning to those taking the SAT this Saturday that if you cheat, you can face serious criminal consequences.”

The six students were identified earlier this year when faculty members at Great Neck North heard rumors that students hired a tester to take the SAT in place of them. The students were able to be identified because their SAT results were massively out of line with their performance in the classroom.

Currently, there is no policy for punishing those guilty of cheating on the SAT’s. The Educational Testing Service, the company which administers the SAT, normally notifies students with irregular scores that their test will not be counted.

Eshaghoff’s attorney Matin Emouna was not available for comment, but he told the Associated Press that Eshaghoff would be pleading not guilty.

“He has cooperated with the investigation, and he denies the charges,” said Emouna.

The attorney added that the matter should have been handled by the school, and not in the courts.

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