The latest Times of India report provides most of the heretofore unknown information about the TOEFL/GRE cheating issue. It indicates that although ETS completed its sting operation in November, the results were reported to local police “only after two months.” It was in that time that the ringleader left for the USA, where he continued to operate the cheating ring. There he remains, apparently.
Careful readers of the last few “Times” articles will now have a pretty clear picture of how the cheating went down. I’m loathe to write a “how to cheat” guide on LinkedIn, but if anyone from ETS (or another testing organization) is still in the dark send me a private message and I’ll lay it out for you. For what it is worth, it tracks with some of the low-tech methods described in the “Rest of World” article about cheating in China. Recall how one cheater was described as simply standing beside the test-taker (and eating skewered meats) as the test was underway.
It may be time to temporarily pause at-home testing for tests that are heavily dependent on multiple choice questions.
Sorry. I don’t have time for breathless sarcasm this morning.