Testing time for exam cheats

Beijing education authorities plan to stamp out well-equipped cheaters armed with high-tech tools for this year's gaokao, or national college entrance exam, which takes place from June 7-9 this year.

Beijing Education Examinations Authority has distributed newly updated CDs of anti-cheating training programs to 106 examination locations in the city to prepare the supervisors, according to the Beijing municipal government website.

"There are new ways for students to cheat, for example using electronic devices such as wireless headphones," said a teacher, surnamed Zhang, who has taught gaokao candidates this year and was a supervisor for the past two years.

"I didn't catch any cheaters, as it's very hard to tell if the equipment is well-disguised, but the authorities also use technology to fight against it, like blocking signals to digital receivers the students have," said Zhang.

The training CD revealed some of latest high-tech cheating kits on the market, like a ruler that can be rolled up, on the underside of which is a small screen that can show answers received from outside. Other stationery like erasers and pencil boxes can be converted too.

"I've never seen or heard of those high-tech devices, and I don't think most candidates would risk their future to do this, because cheating in the gaokao would mean severe consequences," said a high school teacher, surnamed Ji, from Beijing No. 20 Middle School, Haidian district.

Any cheater caught would be disqualified from entering college that year and have a permanent record in the files, said Ji, and this would apply even if a switched-off cellphone was found in an examinee's pocket.　

Despite being one of the fairest and most influential exams in the nation, according to local media, there have been scandals involving high-tech cheating devices in recent years.

The public security ministry detained 62 people suspected of selling electronic devices that would have helped students cheat as well as selling false exam documents just a few days before the gaokao last year.　

Zhu Li, an official from Beijing Radio Administration Bureau, who is responsible for detecting radio signals during the gaokao and other national tests, told the Beijing Daily they discovered 20 cases of cheating last year using wireless signal equipment.

"It's been estimated that we only caught 5 percent of the cheaters in all exams, including the gaokao. The device providers have been always able to make it harder to detect them," said Zhu.