"B" for Business or "B" for Busted? GMAT Cheating Scandal
Swapnil Parikh
Issue date: 9/29/08 Section: News
The GMAT cheating scandal that has been shaking some of the world's top business schools since June finally appears to be approaching closure.
The cheating began several years ago when a website, www.TopScore.com, posted on their site "live" GMAT questions -- questions that were still being used on GMAT exams. For a $30 monthly fee, individuals could gain access to this site, potentially giving those users an unfair advantage on the important exam. Over the summer, GMAC, the organization which oversees this exam, led a probe into this cheating, based on the contents of a computer hard drive seized from TopScore.
While the evidence indicated that more than 5,000 subscribers had paid for access to this website, GMAC ultimately made the decision to take action only against those individuals for whom GMAC felt that they had iron-clad proof of taking advantage of the "live" content. This decision resulted in the cancellation of a total of 84 scores.
Of these 84, the council decided to let seventy-two of the individuals retake the exam immediately, while twelve students who were found to additionally be responsible for posting questions from the exam on the website were punished more severely -- with a score cancellation, plus a three-year ban on retaking the exam.
The real issue arises at the almost 100 schools that have already accepted students with cancelled exam scores; many are still deciding how to deal with the situation. At the University of Chicago, for example, the admission of two students has been cancelled. In many other cases, the fallout is still to come.
At Ross, Soojin Kwon Koh informed the Monroe Street Journal that two Ross students have had their GMAT scores cancelled by GMAC: one of the two has already graduated and the other is a current student.
Dean Robert Dolan commented on the situation and how the school plans to deal with the affected students: "We will take any proven violations of either GMAT testing policies or our school's honor code with utmost seriousness," said Dolan. According to Koh, Ross has been in contact with both individuals with cancelled scores, and those individuals are aware that the Ross administration is in the process of determining appropriate action.
Not surprisingly, there is mixed reaction by students, some claiming that GMAC has done excellent work, while others feel that GMAC needs to issue more and harsher penalties so that this kind of dishonesty does not reoccur in the future.
With the end of GMAC's investigation, it is now each individual school's time to take action. Donald McCabe at the Rutgers Business School said, "Each school must decide for itself how to handle the tainted scores, but doing nothing is not an option." Over the next few months, these business schools have will have to demonstrate their stance on the repercussions for cheating and set an example for the future.
The cheating began several years ago when a website, www.TopScore.com, posted on their site "live" GMAT questions -- questions that were still being used on GMAT exams. For a $30 monthly fee, individuals could gain access to this site, potentially giving those users an unfair advantage on the important exam. Over the summer, GMAC, the organization which oversees this exam, led a probe into this cheating, based on the contents of a computer hard drive seized from TopScore.
While the evidence indicated that more than 5,000 subscribers had paid for access to this website, GMAC ultimately made the decision to take action only against those individuals for whom GMAC felt that they had iron-clad proof of taking advantage of the "live" content. This decision resulted in the cancellation of a total of 84 scores.
Of these 84, the council decided to let seventy-two of the individuals retake the exam immediately, while twelve students who were found to additionally be responsible for posting questions from the exam on the website were punished more severely -- with a score cancellation, plus a three-year ban on retaking the exam.
The real issue arises at the almost 100 schools that have already accepted students with cancelled exam scores; many are still deciding how to deal with the situation. At the University of Chicago, for example, the admission of two students has been cancelled. In many other cases, the fallout is still to come.
At Ross, Soojin Kwon Koh informed the Monroe Street Journal that two Ross students have had their GMAT scores cancelled by GMAC: one of the two has already graduated and the other is a current student.
Dean Robert Dolan commented on the situation and how the school plans to deal with the affected students: "We will take any proven violations of either GMAT testing policies or our school's honor code with utmost seriousness," said Dolan. According to Koh, Ross has been in contact with both individuals with cancelled scores, and those individuals are aware that the Ross administration is in the process of determining appropriate action.
Not surprisingly, there is mixed reaction by students, some claiming that GMAC has done excellent work, while others feel that GMAC needs to issue more and harsher penalties so that this kind of dishonesty does not reoccur in the future.
With the end of GMAC's investigation, it is now each individual school's time to take action. Donald McCabe at the Rutgers Business School said, "Each school must decide for itself how to handle the tainted scores, but doing nothing is not an option." Over the next few months, these business schools have will have to demonstrate their stance on the repercussions for cheating and set an example for the future.
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