The newest outpost of the College Board, the American standardized-testing organization, lies nearly 7,300 miles east of the nonprofit organization’s headquarters in New York City
Opened in 2019 in the Mahrauli section of Delhi, the four-person office of College Board India commands an enviable view of Qutub Minar, the world’s tallest brick minaret—a 240-foot marble-and-sandstone structure built to honor the sultan who brought Muslim rule to the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century. College Board India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American nonprofit, has established a beachhead in the organization’s little-noticed battle to expand its reach, sustain its $1 billion a year in revenue, and preserve its legacy at a time it seems to be facing an unprecedented threat. Test-optional and test-blind admissions policies accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic would appear to imperil College Board’s SAT college-entrance exam, the rival ACT, and their respective...