Not if someone else took the tests and wrote the essays
I haven't read the official government complaint in depth, but from scanning through, it seems to vary how much different children knew. In some cases, they seemed completely involved in the process - demanding, "What are you going to do about that F I got in Art History?"
(From #279 -
"ZANGRILLO’s daughter inquired, in substance, what CW-1 was doing about an “F” grade that she had received in an art history class she had taken."
In other cases, it seems like the parent wanted their kid to show up, take the test so they would feel like they had done it, tell them a few things to not advertise, but mostly keep it on the downlow from their kid.
The McGlashan guy was very worried that his son would start getting letters and brochures from the athletic program and wonder why he would be getting those.
And also in the complaint, another parent said that McGlashan's kid had no idea that he was "helped" on the ACT. So the level of what different kids knew seems to vary.
From the complaint:
from #143
CW-1 Because you don’t need, because when this, the way this, the quieter it, the quieter this is, the better it is, so people don’t say, “Well, okay, this guy, why are all these people calling us? The kid’s already been accepted. He’s coming here as an athlete. He’s already in.” What you just want is, the person you're meeting with on Friday to say, you know, what we want [is]this kid.
McGLASHAN So he doesn’t have to know how he got in. Is that the case?
CW-1 What I would say to him, if you want to have that discussion now with [your son] there, that we have friends in athletics, they are going to help us, because [he] is an athlete, and they’re going to help us. From the--
McGLASHAN But I can’t say that in front of [my son], ’cause he knows he’s not.
148. On or about August 30, 2018, CW-1 received a call from AGUSTIN F. HUNEEUS, whose daughter attended the same high school as McGLASHAN’s son. HUNEEUS asked if “McGLASHAN [is] doing any of this (expletive)? Is he talking a clean game with me and helping his kid or not? ’Cause he makes me feel guilty.” HUNEEUS explained, in substance, that McGLASHAN’s “kid had no idea ... that you helped him on the ACT.”