I took this photo at the Youngpoong Bookstore at Mario Outlet in Seoul! As you can see, Hackers Education Group is first out the door with updated TOEFL books in Korea, and they even scored a nice little table display at the front of the store’s test prep section. Basic editions of the books are also available, round back.
Despite its somewhat silly name, Hackers is the biggest publisher of prep books for English tests in Korea. They also publish some of the very best books in this category. They hire some of the very best test prep minds in the country as staff writers.
When ETS held a gathering to promote the revised TOEFL in Seoul a few weeks ago, representatives from Hackers were on the guest list. That’s noteworthy because according to prosecutors here in Korea, between 2007 and 2012 Hackers (allegedly) sent staff to (allegedly) copy questions from administrations of ETS tests using hidden cameras and microphones. The chairman of Hackers, allegedly surnamed Cho, received an 18 month prison sentence for his part in the alleged scheme. The sentence was later suspended.
Press coverage at the time indicated that ETS would be seeking compensatory payments to cover the cost of “Korea only” versions of tests it created in response to these alleged activities, but I don’t know if they ever went ahead with that.
Anyway. I don’t know if the Hackers invite is a sign that the chilly relationship between these two parties has thawed. Or if it is just a reflection of the alleged fact that institutional memory at these organizations isn’t what it used to be.
