The accusations surfaced in an online discussion board for the SAT by people claiming to have witnessed groups of students cheating during the exam at high school "M" in January.

A poster called "Nell" who claimed to be a student witness wrote: “Students checked and shared answers during breaks. One student even checked a word in an electronic dictionary.” Another message said: “A student told a friend the answers from the previous section, even though the proctor was next to them. Since the proctors are teachers at that school, they turned a blind eye.”

Test-takers submit their answer books after all the sections are completed, which allows opportunities to check and correct answers during breaks. Electronic dictionaries are prohibited at testing sites. A representative of "M" high school denied the allegations, saying “Cheating is impossible because of thorough proctoring. It must be a misunderstanding.”

Last year, "H" high school for foreign languages was reportedly canceled as a test site by the Educational Testing Service, which writes and administers the SAT, on a tip that SAT questions had been leaked to students before the test date. Critics say that the tests should no longer be delivered several days prior to the test day and that teachers should not be allowed to proctor their own school's students.

(englishnews@chosun.com )