Cheaters in action
In this story we learn of one student whose attempt at using technology to cheat in last week's O-net exam failed. I wonder how many other students succeeded. I suspect the cheater in this story could have succeeded if he had been a bit more careful. We also learn in the story that old-fashioned cheaters are still very much alive. Again, I wonder if many of them were able to fool those supervising the tests.
Exam cheat used phone wristwatch
SIRIKUL BUNNAG
A student was caught using the latest electronic gadgetry, a mobile
phone built into a wristwatch, to cheat in last week’s O-net
exam.The 12th grader sat the paper on Friday. He hired people who had taken the test earlier in the week to send him the answers by text messages.
But his furtive glances at his watch raised the suspicions of an exam supervisor, who busted him.
Details of the teenager’s attempted chicanery were revealed in a posting on the website www.siamphone.com.
The writer said the cheat used the PhoneOne gadget watch. His punishment was to fail the subject, the writer said.
The PhoneOne model launched in Thailand early this year was not a big hit, so the student thought he could wear it into the exam centre unnoticed. He also carried an ordinary mobile phone and turned it off in front of the supervisor to fool him.
National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) director Utumporn Jamornmann confirmed the high-tech cheat was caught at the O-net exam centre in Chulalongkorn University.
Five students were found cheating in the maths and Thai language subjects.
The NIETS board meeting on March 7 would consider all instances of cheating uncovered in 18 exam centres, particularly the high-tech case.
They would try to devise means to outwit them, and decide on appropriate punishment for the dishonest students. She expected they would be failed.
The four other students were cheating the old-fashioned way, she said.
One pair sought permission to go to the toilet at the same time, and were caught sharing the answers.
Another student handed a friend a rubber with the answers written on it.
She said the NIETS board would also consider whether to allow 20 students who missed the O-net test to sit it later.
Higher Education Commission secretary-general Sumate Yamnoon said when students take the Advanced National Education Test (A-net) on Saturday and Sunday, supervisors would pay close attention to the watches they wear.
To deter potential cheats, students caught breaching the regulations would not be allowed to take the exam again for two years, he said.
gadgetry – small pieces of equipment that do useful or impressive things
furtive – done quickly and secretly to avoid being noticed
glances – looking somewhere quickly and then looking away again
suspicions – feelings that someone has done something wrong
busted – discovered that someone was doing something wrong
chicanery – the use of clever, unfair, or dishonest methods to trick people, especially in legal matters
revealed – let something be known
devise – to invent or create a method of doing something
outwit – to gain an advantage over someone, especially by using a clever (or dishonest) trick
deter – to make someone decide not to do something
potential – possible or likely in the future
breaching – breaking a rule, law or agreement
regulations – official rules that control the ways things are done