GMAC取消84名作弊考生成绩

byXIAOLAIon2008/09/11·5 COMMENTS

in留学问答

据US News教育频道10日报道（2008/09），GMAC已取消84名作弊考生成绩，而为这些考生提供真题的网站scoretop.com今年六月份在标的为235万美元的版权诉讼中败诉。GMAC总计调查了从2004年到2007年间的6000个参试者成绩之后决定禁止12名考生在三年内再次参加GMAT考试，另外的72人被允许重新参加考试。GMAC亦将这些被取消的成绩情况告知超过100所的学校。

近日scoretop.com的网站域名已经被法院判归GMAC（Graduate Management Admission Council®）所有。scoretop.com的网站上的标题LOGO如下所示：

GMAC称，他们将坚决打击侵权行为，尤其关注那些声称销售或者分发所谓GMAT“真”题的网站。GMAC警告道，对于那些作弊的考生，一旦其作弊行为被核实，则要1) 取消该考生的成绩；2) 该考生讲永远被禁止参加GMAT考试；3) 所有的商学院都将获得该考生的作弊通告；4）此外，作弊考生还可能要面临民事或刑事诉讼。

繁体中文网站报道（原文出处）：

過去五年利用一個網站，在商學院入學考試作弊的研究生，成績可能被撤銷。主持這個網站的石磊(Lei Shi，譯音)也被罰款235萬元，另外還得付打官司的費用。Scoretop以30元月費提供貴賓服務，讓用戶預覽最新的GMAT試題。有些試題是由考完試的用戶提供。GMAC在法庭文件指出，有個用戶表示這個網站提供的資料非常有用，他考試時碰到10至12個一模一樣的題目，還有其他許多感覺非常熟悉的題目。GMAC打算把查獲的資料與考生比對，如斷定任何人利用Scoretop網站作弊，將取消其分數，並通知曾接到成績單的學校，甚至禁止這些學生重新參加考試。法庭文件表示石磊沒有請律師出庭辯護。GMAC表示他已返回中國。

Business Week的报道：“Shutting Down a GMAT Cheat Sheet”:

More than 1,000 prospective MBA students who paid $30 to use a now-defunct Web site to get a sneak peak at live questions from the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) before taking the exam may have their scores canceled in coming weeks. For many, their B-school dreams may be effectively over.

On June 20, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted the test’s publisher, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a $2.3 million judgment against the operator of the site, Scoretop.com. GMAC has seized the site’s domain name and shut down the site, and is analyzing a hard drive containing payment information.

GMAC said any students found to have used the Scoretop site will have their test scores canceled, the schools that received them will be notified, and the student will not be permitted to take the test again. Since most top B-schools require the GMAT, the students will have little chance of enrolling. “This is illegal,” said Judy Phair, GMAC’s vice-president for communications. “We have a hard drive, and we’re going to be analyzing it. If you used the site and paid your $30 to cheat, your scores will be canceled. They’re in big trouble.”

Small Advantage to Test Takers

GMAC sued the operator of the site, Lei Shi, for using it to distribute copyrighted GMAT-related materials without GMAC’s permission. Shi, who has reportedly returned from the site’s base in Ohio to his native China, is under investigation by the FBI, GMAC says. Shi, who did not have legal representation for the GMAC lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.

While the consequences for students may be severe, the advantage they gained by using Scoretop is almost inconsequential. Unlike other GMAT test-prep sites, which use retired questions, Scoretop and others claim to provide access to “live” questions that test takers might encounter when they show up for the exam. Participants on the site would debate the proper answers. But the GMAT uses a computer adaptive format that generates a new test for every user based on responses to previous questions from a stockpile that contains thousands of possible questions. “Even if a site is illegally able to obtain some real questions, it is extremely unlikely that a test taker will see the same questions on the live exam,” says Larry Rudner, GMAC vice-president for research and development.

Scoretop has been in operation since 2003. Visitors to the Scoretop Web site before it was shut down would have encountered posts from happy users and a list of “test experiences,” users’ firsthand reports about the most recent test questions. But on June 23, they found this message from GMAC: “GMAC takes cheating very seriously, especially attempts to obtain access to live test questions in advance of an exam. We also take very seriously any unauthorized distribution of our copyrighted GMAT preparation materials. If you are caught disclosing, accessing, or using ‘real’ GMAT questions your GMAT score will be cancelled [and] you may be subject to a civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution.”

The news about the cheating scandal was the talk of the annual GMAC conference in Chicago over the weekend, where the organization’s President and CEO David Wilson described the latest developments for an audience of 700.

It’s unclear how individual schools will respond. More than 4,000 graduate management programs use the test as part of the admissions process, but many of those using sites like Scoretop seek admission to the most competitive programs. So the fallout is likely to be limited to top schools.

Several schools, contacted June 23, said it was far too early to determine what fate awaits students or prospective students whose scores are canceled. “It’s impossible to say at this point what that means,” said Ed Anderson, Duke’s associate director of admissions.

Some Scoretop Users May Have MBAs

Joe Fox, director of MBA programs at Washington University’s Olin Business School, said a lot depends on what information GMAC can provide about individual students, especially the frequency with which they used the site. “There’s an infraction, that’s for sure,” Fox said. “At a minimum it flies in the face of our code of professional conduct. We could do anything we wanted—from a slap on the wrist to expulsion from the program—and we’d be well within our rights.”

Since the Scoretop site has been in operation since 2003, it’s possible that students with tainted GMAT scores are in the application process, currently enrolled, or already graduated. For those in the application process, the applicants may be rejected, and for those currently enrolled, expulsion is a possibility.

Several years ago, when a Chinese national was caught taking the GMAT for dozens of prospective students, one Olin student who had the test taken on his behalf was dismissed before he could complete his degree, Fox said. That’s a possibility this time around, too. “I think it’s fair to say we’ll take this seriously,” he added. “It could be the end of the line.”