Carl Ganter is co-founder and managing director of Circle of Blue and is vice chariman of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Water Security.

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The new test "has sort of thrown everyone into a tailspin, " said Janet Roberts, the director of education at Aristotle Circle, a tutoring and consulting firm.

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Mr Parsa will remain on the board of Circle as founder and a non-executive director, the company said.

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