By: Nathan Thai
People cheat. News flash, right? Every year, gossip circulates about duplicity on the PSAT/NMSQT and SAT. What usually plays out is in the days following the test, a handful of students gossip about accounts of cheaters: minor offenses (trading tests and calculators, leaking or taking advantage of answer keys) or more heinous offenses such as paying other students to take the exam in their stead.
The extent to which cheaters will go in order to secure a stunning test score is absurd. Last year was no exception. After the Fall 2017 PSAT/NMSQT, a mixture of truth and gossip affected MHS. That there were incidents at all is mystifying. Cheating on the PSAT is a waste of time and effort. It is misplaced endeavor for an ungraded test, and high costs outweigh nebulous benefits.
The P in PSAT actually stands for “preliminary,” but many students consider it a “practice” SAT. Note—practice, not “perfect.” Its purpose is binary: to let students assess their SAT readiness and to choose candidates for National Merit Scholarship. To cheat on this test is to disregard the first and more important reason. This form of SAT prep is given, free of charge, and optional. Don’t want it, don’t take it, don’t lose anything. Want it, take it, gain experience.
Most students turn to cheating because of a fixation on grades and test scores, a deep-rooted facet of modern public education. It is difficult to see the bigger picture when the expectation from parents and society is to exceed expectations. However, a student’s primary occupation should be studying. High marks should be the byproduct, not the be-all and end-all.
A majority of students do not have to work full-time jobs. As a result, there really is no excuse not to make time, study, and legitimately perform well, because most people have the time—they simply fail to use it efficiently. Time that goes into socializing, hobbies, or entertainment can be reallocated to study time.
Some students will have to pour a disproportionate amount of their time into studying, but life was never a balanced game. Conquering these benchmark tests is not always easy, but it will never be true that one absolutely must cheat in order to succeed.
The aforementioned risks of cheating on the PSAT are plenty, and I can’t see how the rewards are remotely worth breaking the rules. While one cannot get into legal trouble by cheating on the PSAT, the company which handles the test, Collegeboard, also handles the SAT. Getting caught will result in score cancellation and, potentially, your name on the blacklist. You won’t be able to take the actual SAT if Collegeboard decrees it so, and then you’ll wish you had just studied.
I suppose many students cheat because the PSAT/NMSQT offers scholarships for college. Yes, one could earn $2500 toward tuition. But remember, only 50,000 of 1,600,000 test-takers will qualify—only 7,500 actually receive scholarships. No matter how you slice it, cheating on the PSAT/NMSQT is cheating for a lottery ticket.