By Michael Ahearne ’14
THE ROUNDUP

All students taking the SAT or ACT around the country will be required to submit and bring photo identification in order to take the exams starting this fall.

This new safety measures was first implemented March, 27 after a SAT cheating scandal involving at least 20 students at Long Island High School.

The scandal involved students either asking or paying other students to take the SAT for them using a fake ID, helping to achieve a higher score.

To help ensure that events similar to this do not happen again, the College Board implemented new ID rules to help ensure that it is the correct student taking the test.

College Counselor Mr. Rey Santos explained what the new photo ID process is like.

“Students are going to have to upload a photo of themselves when they register for the exam, and there are specific requirements for what type of photo is accepted, what’s not; they want a close up of the face, and with certain restrictions, like no busy backgrounds, or no full length backgrounds, it has to be a headshot of the student,” Mr. Santos said.

According to The College Board, examples of acceptable ID would be government-issued driver’s licenses, official school identification cards, government-issued passports, government-issued military or national identification card, the College Board’s Student ID Form or Talent Identification Program ID.

“Students have to submit a photo with their registration, and they are going to have to do it at least four days before their actual exam and do that online,” Mr. Santos said. “If students do not submit the photo, they are automatically canceled for that registration for their exam, and they will have to reschedule for a later test day.”

After submitting and registering a photo, there will also be multiple ID checks on the day of the test itself.

“On the day of the exam, the student’s photo will be printed on their registration ticket, and when they check in, they will have to submit a photo ID to match up with that photo on the registration ticket,” Mr. Santos said.

After that, there will still be more ID checks. When students return from break, they will be required to show their ID again and after the test, there will be another ID check.

A copy of the photo that was submitted with the registration will also be sent to the schools themselves when the schools get the students score results.