From Quora: My answer to "What are some of the best ways to cheat on the SAT?"

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-best-ways-to-cheat-on-the-SAT/answer/John-Linneball

The best way to cheat is not to cheat. You’re screwed if you get caught - practically no college will take a known (stupid) cheater. While the official policy of the SAT and ACT is NOT to report cheating to colleges, and just to cancel the score(s), it becomes a very ugly situation if the cheating isn’t discovered until after you’ve reported the scores to the colleges to which you are applying. See, for example, What Happens if I Get Caught Cheating on the SAT or ACT? . I can’t see how the colleges either wouldn’t be told why the scores were cancelled, or simply “read between the lines” and figure out why.


And you’re defeating the purpose of the test, which is to establish a baseline for colleges to see if you’re generally up to the academic standards of their institutions. While the SAT is hardly perfect at measuring academic ability, it’s good enough that faking a score of 1540 when you could have scored, at best. about 1000 honestly risks your being admitted to a college too rigorous (i.e. hard) for you to handle.


Then you’re stuck with the choice of working unbelievably hard and possibly still failing (if you’re lucky, or really are just “bad at standardized tests,” fine, you may do well if you work hard), or having to cheat in most of your coursework and exams. Asking for help could lead to some “Um, how exactly did you get in here if you don’t know that?” type comments, but even if it doesn’t, you’ll have to spend a lot of time learning things other students at your college already know. Just don’t.