Many solutions to strengthen the prevention of high-tech cheating in the High School Graduation Exam

However, with the rapid development of technology, the risk of exam insecurity is increasing, with sophisticated and unpredictable tricks.

Online cheating device market

A super small mini headphone with an advertisement that has many "outstanding advantages from appearance to product features that will help users easily disguise and hide it on their body without anyone being able to detect it".

According to this introduction, the product is a super small mini headset, has many features, especially can "eavesdrop, prompt with the highest efficiency". This new technology is also a powerful support tool to support exams, prompt, pass exams, improve scores or for use in high school graduation exams.

Just typing the phrase “micro-earphone” has thousands of results on social networks. This is one of the devices that candidates often use to eavesdrop on information transmitted from the outside. This tool is also often integrated with cameras to be able to transmit information out completely automatically.

Going into the products, we can see that the world of miniature headphones and devices that can receive and broadcast is extremely diverse, with many different forms. Accordingly, headphone devices are often advertised with compact designs, some are only the size of beans or grains of rice and users only need to insert them deep into their ears to hear clearly.

Meanwhile, the super small cameras are disguised in many forms such as normal pens, casio calculators that candidates can bring into the exam room. All of these devices have cameras integrated into the tip of the ballpoint pen, next to the slot... making it difficult for outsiders to detect or distinguish between normal ballpoint pens and pen-shaped cameras with the naked eye.

Or when disguising in a handheld calculator, candidates do not need to hide it on their person, because in terms of structure, all the functions of the calculator are still intact and the case does not have any other traces that would make the examiners suspicious.

These transmitting and receiving devices are currently being sold openly on social networks. Some suppliers even make clips so that buyers can easily use the device and have their own instructions for hiding it when entering prohibited places such as exam rooms. On the clips, there are phone numbers for buyers to contact, but when directly contacting the phone numbers to exchange, buyers need to provide their full name, phone number, etc. to be able to make a transaction. The purchase and sale only takes place online, but the money transfer is delivered directly in the form of COD shipping to avoid suspicion or detection of contraband or goods of unknown origin. In addition, transactions are often exchanged directly over the phone, not via text messages like normal products.

According to advertisements, the price of these devices ranges from only 1 to 2.5 million VND. Some owners are even willing to buy them back at 40% of the price if the buyer no longer uses them.

Beware of candidates using high technology

According to the 2023 High School Graduation Exam Regulations, from this exam, candidates are no longer allowed to bring "recording devices that only record information but cannot listen, watch, and cannot transmit or receive information, audio and visual signals directly without other supporting devices" into the exam room like last year to limit cheating in exams.

In fact, it is entirely possible for candidates to use high-tech devices to cheat in exams. At a recent conference on the implementation of the 2023 high school graduation exam, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Trung - Technical Department, Nghe An Provincial Police also said: "The use of technology to cheat in exams is increasingly sophisticated and easy to fool law enforcement forces, exam invigilators, especially in national exams".

Previously, in the 2022 high school graduation exam, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, 50 candidates violated the regulations, of which, most candidates made the mistake of bringing phones into the exam room and it is not excluded that there were cases where candidates brought phones in to cheat.

In Nghe An, according to a representative of the provincial police, during a recent Korean language exam, through inspection, the police force also discovered many students bringing recording and broadcasting objects into the exam room, even hiding them in secret places. Afterwards, through their own professional measures, these acts were all discovered and promptly corrected.

To limit the above situation, the police force has recently prevented many cases of trading in fraudulent devices of unknown origin. However, the worrying thing is that these devices are now very easy to buy and easy to use.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Trung also issued a warning because "exam cheating by using information technology equipment not only occurs among candidates but also among teachers, parents and those who participate in important stages of the exam. While candidates intentionally bring prohibited devices into the exam room to transmit and broadcast exam information outside, receive exam answers, teachers participating in organizing the exam intentionally commit negative acts such as editing scores for illegal profits. For parents, the act of using technology equipment to intentionally and illegally interfere with computers to collect information about exam questions, exam preparation, transportation, and swapping of papers. To help supervisors and exam invigilators detect cheating, Nghe An has also trained and pointed out a number of measures. Accordingly, it is possible to observe and check the characteristics of the items candidates bring into the exam room, observe the psychological manifestations of candidates such as "abnormal signs such as anxiety, restlessness, etc. box, unnatural, mumbled reading the questions while doing the test…”.

Regarding the issue of ensuring safety during the high school graduation exam and preventing cheating in exams, at recent meetings with schools, many school leaders also expressed their concerns and asked the police force to coordinate to strengthen the direction.

As at Nghi Loc 4 High School, teacher Le Trung Thang - Vice Principal of the school said: "The school has a fence quite close to the residential area and does not ensure a minimum distance of 25 meters compared to the regulations. This is very convenient for candidates if they use wireless transmission devices. Therefore, we hope that the police force will support the school in checking high-tech devices and coordinate to ensure security and order."

At the Ethnic Minority Boarding High School No. 2, teacher Nguyen Dau Truong - Principal of the school added: To limit the use of high technology, we have installed cameras in key areas, strictly instructing students not to use devices to cheat in exams and instructing teachers to comply with exam regulations and increase supervision of candidates before entering the exam room.

Regarding this content, before the examhigh school graduateIn 2023, through inspections by the Department of Education and Training, the Department also requested schools to pay attention to equipment and items that can receive and broadcast, and absolutely not to allow devices that can easily transmit such as computers and phones into exam storage rooms. In addition, officials in charge of organizing exams must not be subjective or negligent in performing their duties, in order to promptly detect signs of violations. Before and during the exam, the Education sector and the Public Security sector will also strengthen inspection, examination, and propaganda warnings about the nature of violations and consequences of buying and selling, using high-tech devices to cheat in exams.