A higher schooler in Florida accused of cheating on the SAT has announced plans to retake the test.
In January, Kamilah Campbell went public about her frustration regarding a College Board investigation into her 1230 SAT score over possible cheating. As Blavity reported, the teen claimed she was innocent and said she was being targeted because she'd been able to improve on her previous score of 900 significantly.
On February 7, the scholar's lawyer, Ben Crump, and the College Board released a joint statement about Campbell's decision, CNN reports.
“The attention generated by Kamilah’s case has been extremely stressful and emotionally traumatizing for her,” the statement read. “Rather than further challenging the score validity process, she is now interested in potentially retaking the SAT and continuing her path forward privately as she pursues her college goals.”
Weeks ago, the Miami Gardens student said the investigation was keeping her from applying to her top-choice schools as well as to necessary scholarships. She also said she felt as if College Board officials were challenging her intelligence and ability to excel.
“They are saying I had to either cheat or have prior knowledge to the test,” Campbell said.
The College Board and the company responsible for overseeing the SAT, the Educational Testing Service (ETS), have pushed back against Campbell's claims.
According to WNews, ETS sent Campbell a letter claiming it flagged her score due to the similarity of her answers to other students who took the test in the same room as she did.
In a statement sent to Blavity, the College Board wrote it would “never hold or cancel scores unless there is very strong evidence."
"We do our best to honor the work students do and ensure we have all the evidence that should inform decisions about score reviews," the statement continued. "We follow the same process for reviewing scores for all students; race, ethnicity, or any other personal attributes have no role in this process."
Campbell believes she will be vindicated after her next round of testing and has said her drastic improvement was the result of her dedication, which reportedly included five hours per week of intense studies at Khan Academy, according to The Miami Times.
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