GMAT is a supposed examination to determine if a person qualifies for a graduate studies program. However, recently, China has been on top of the storybook, as many students tried to leg up on the examinations by visiting web sites carrying illegally obtained test-preparation material.
Now, today, China is cracking down and soon students may regret their actions – they will be banned from retaking the test again. In essence, it means it would jeopardize their career, as their so-called route to promotion shall be gone.
The Graduate Management Admission Council is aggressively pursuing more and more websites that provide illegally copyrighted test materials for test takers. Moreover, the fiasco doesn’t end their as many students hire someone to take the exam in place of applicants.
This is truly devastating. It will lower the standards of many business schools in Asia. As statistics would speak, in 2009, there are 32 scores already revoked and had been blocked by GMAC in China. They are banned from taking the exams within five years. Illustratively, they found out one woman who took seven different exams to seven different applicants.
To counter the growing issue, the GMAC will be tightening up their security measures at testing centers. They will soon be using palm vein readers, which use infrared light to capture each test takers unique palm vein patter. They are also monitoring close to 15 million websites everyday through a crawling software looking for illegal sites compiling live GMAT questions.
The recent ruling in the country speaks about not providing any immediate consequences to students who used highly trafficked web site. As I see it, this is also because it is highly impossible to determine usernames of those sites, as owners hold it with strict confidentiality.
More so, they are engaging themselves in anti-cheating campaigns to safeguard the integrity of the exams. It seems like more and more actions will need to be taken for the overhaul to take effect.