Hot new anti-cheating tool: RFID tagging exams

Given the vast amount of digital goodies that can be utilized as tools to gain an unfair advantage in certain testing situations, it's about time we see the officials fight fire with fire. With some schools banning iPods while others tie them into the learning process, Edexcel is looking to nip any potential theft problems in the bud by tagging packs of GCSE and A-level papers with RFID. Reportedly, the level of security surrounding these papers is already quite strict, and while actual cases of theft have remained relatively small so far, the exam board's not willing to risk it. The papers are apparently quite tempting targets for larceny, as past episodes have landed the confidential information on underground markets and even the internet, and the new tagging system will keep track of "how many papers are in the bundle, where they came from, and where they are going." Interestingly, it was noted that the packs wouldn't actually be tracked remotely, but instead would "speed up checks carried out by compliance officers." Currently, a "major trial" is already underway to presumably judge the effectiveness of the new anti-cheating system, so we'd think twice before snagging that pack of papers laying on the teacher's deserted desk.

[Via The Register]

[S @ May 11th 2007 2:47PM]

Umm have they heard of cameras? What's to stop people from having a mini-cam tucked in a shirt fold, and taking pictures of the entire thing?! This just gives a false sense of security, if people want to steal it they will.

[PeteC @ Jun 20th 2007 10:29AM]

The fact the papers are security sealed.

[ssuk @ May 11th 2007 3:25PM]

Or they could lift it, photocopy it and then replace it before anyone notices...

[tiuk @ May 11th 2007 3:39PM]

Theft does happen. When I was in grade 10 or 11 we had to write a provincial literacy test as part of our graduation requirements. It ended up being postponed a day or two because someone had stolen a copy of the test beforehand.

[Richard Lai @ May 11th 2007 3:52PM]

I also heard that some time last year a truck that was delivering some exam papers in the UK got stolen, so the exam board had to issue a backup version of the paper for the exam.

[Archietype @ May 13th 2007 4:09PM]

Well I dunno why people ranked Richard so lowly but he's right about the exam papers being stolen. It was actually a few years ago and I remember the huge fuss there was in the UK at the time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3842245.stm

[ROFLROFFLES @ May 11th 2007 4:26PM]

How about creating a decoy..of say 5 set of test papers... all 5 sets will be issued from a different warehouses and actual set of paper to be used will only be informed to all exam centres an hour before the exam....

It will probably be hard to steal 5 papers at once...

Hehe...just my stupid idea... and it's probably expensive as heck to implement...

[jake @ May 11th 2007 6:50PM]

@ROFLROFFLES: Actually they do something similar in Romania.
The end-of-high-school exam also knowns as BAC consists of about 7 subjects. Each subject has around 100 variants prepared beforehand and , as of this year , published online. Just a little before the actual test a committee chooses one variant for each subject.
Last year they were not published before hand yet a day before the actual test someone leaked it ... They scrambled to choose a new one at random again and that was leaked as well =)).

[EdgeOne @ May 11th 2007 7:30PM]

Hot? New? Northern Apex RFID in Fort Wayne, IN has been doing this with Oxytocin for several years now...

[Gavin @ May 12th 2007 3:31AM]

See, what I think is funny is that this stuff has been going on since the beginning of school. Sure, the medium has changed... but what the students are doing hasn't changed. Kids have always shared info, and will continue to share info. I mean, look at http://www.universitynotes.net

I'm not condoning blatant cheating, but as for sharing a means to study for tests... I'm all for it.