GRE cheating revealed abroad
Administers say it will not effect WU admissions
Kyle Karioka
Issue date: 9/13/02 Section: News
The integrity of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) has come into question in recent weeks, as numerous security breaches and evidence of dishonest practices have been revealed.
An investigation conducted by Educational Testing Services (ETS), which administers the GRE, discovered numerous Asian-language websites that revealed questions found in the computer-based version of the GRE General Test and the Computer Science Subject Test. The websites contained questions and answers posted by test takers who memorized problems and later shared them with others online.
Immediately after ETS released its findings, it sent out letters to graduate schools cautioning deans that scores from the verbal section of the GRE may not be valid for some students from China, Taiwan, and Korea. As a result, the GRE Board decided to suspend the computer-based test in the countries where the illegal activities occurred. The paper-based version of the General Test will be reintroduced in those areas.
In response to the improper question sharing on the Computer Science Subject Test, the GRE Board decided that the exam would only have one worldwide administration, which will be this December. However, the test will not be administered at all in India and China this year.
The investigation scrutinized more than 40 countries and found inconsistencies in Taiwan, Korea, India, and China, including Hong Kong. The paper-based version of the General Test is seen as a more secure alternative since it uses each question once while the computer-based test re-uses questions from a large pool of possible problems.
"The GRE Board has been forced to take this action to protect the interests of honest test takers in those areas and to protect the integrity of the test," said the ETS website.
Robert E. Thatch, Dean of the Washington University's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and a former member of the GRE Board said that technology is aiding GRE cheaters.
An investigation conducted by Educational Testing Services (ETS), which administers the GRE, discovered numerous Asian-language websites that revealed questions found in the computer-based version of the GRE General Test and the Computer Science Subject Test. The websites contained questions and answers posted by test takers who memorized problems and later shared them with others online.
Immediately after ETS released its findings, it sent out letters to graduate schools cautioning deans that scores from the verbal section of the GRE may not be valid for some students from China, Taiwan, and Korea. As a result, the GRE Board decided to suspend the computer-based test in the countries where the illegal activities occurred. The paper-based version of the General Test will be reintroduced in those areas.
In response to the improper question sharing on the Computer Science Subject Test, the GRE Board decided that the exam would only have one worldwide administration, which will be this December. However, the test will not be administered at all in India and China this year.
The investigation scrutinized more than 40 countries and found inconsistencies in Taiwan, Korea, India, and China, including Hong Kong. The paper-based version of the General Test is seen as a more secure alternative since it uses each question once while the computer-based test re-uses questions from a large pool of possible problems.
"The GRE Board has been forced to take this action to protect the interests of honest test takers in those areas and to protect the integrity of the test," said the ETS website.
Robert E. Thatch, Dean of the Washington University's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and a former member of the GRE Board said that technology is aiding GRE cheaters.
