American Diploma students in Egypt to take ACT instead of SAT due to leakage, Egyptian universities to accept new test

CAIRO - 6 September 2020: Egyptian students of the American Diploma will take the ACT test rather than the SAT, which has been leaked and canceled a few times in Egypt, Education Minister Tarek Shawky said Saturday.

 

College Board updated the Egyptian ministry with the news, Shawky revealed, explaining that it is the only institution responsible for the American Diploma tests, which are organized in Egypt by AMIDEAST. 

 

ACT is computer based, but SAT is paper-based, which contributed to its leakage, he said.

 

Shaqky emphasized that teacherand tasked-based evaluation will also contribute to the American diploma score. 

 

The ACT test, and before it the SAT, is the test accepted by Egyptian universities to enroll American Diploma students. Some 60,000 Egyptian students are part of the American Diploma system. 

 

The SAT test was also canceled in March 2019 in Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia for lack of test security. Egyptian students sued over the canceled scores, but their case was rejected by a U.S. judge. The SAT is owned by College Board, while ACT is owned by another U.S. organization. Both tests are equally accepted by American universities. 

 

The recurring issue has distressed the students and their families, with some of them sending their kids abroad to take the SAT in order to guarantee their scores won't get canceled.