The College Board canceled the SAT that was to be given at 45 testing sites on Jan 23 in the Chinese mainland and Macao because some students obtained test materials for the exam that is used to gain admission to many US colleges and universities.

The New York-based non-profit corporation would not say how many students were affected by the cancellation, but said it notified students on Jan 21 and will let them know when there will be a makeup exam.

In response to Chinese media reports of the cancellation, some Chinese took to online forums and speculated that testing preparatory companies likely got access to the exam materials to gain a competitive advantage.

Hu Zhonghua, founder of a company that prepares students for college exams, told China Daily previously that it is an "open secret" within the industry that people get access to testing materials to pass on to students taking the test.

"We know this is a significant inconvenience and have apologized to affected students who worked hard to prepare for this test," a College Board spokesman wrote in an e-mail to China Daily. "This decision is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the integrity of the SAT and to deliver valid scores to colleges and universities. We take a range of action steps to identify and mitigate risks."

The exam is taken by more than 300,000 students in 175 countries, according to the College Board. In addition to January, it is given in October, November, December, May and June.

Cheating on the SAT exam in Asia has been a concern for the College Board. Last year, 15 Chinese nationals were charged by Philadelphia prosecutors for providing fake passports to students to take the SAT exam on behalf of others.

In November 2014, some test takers in China and Korea had their scores canceled because some students had an unfair advantage on an October exam, an investigation found. College Board canceled an exam in Korea in spring of 2013 over similar concerns of cheating.

Hezi Jiang in New York contributed to this story.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com