Candidates taking the College English Test Band Four (CET-4) at the North
China University of Technology in Beijing on Saturday heard on their earphones
not only questions for listening comprehension, but also murmurs of the answers,
according to a Beijing News report.
Students who take the College English
Test Band Four(CET-4)walk out from examination room set in Beijing
Normal University.Annually CET-4 test was held
yesterday.[Xinhua]
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A senior from the university told a
reporter anonymously that as the listening test began, along with the questions,
a strange voice was broadcast to his earphones. It lasted until the end of the
section, he said, adding that he identified the voice as giving the answers to
the test.
After completing the test, the student learned from his friends testing in
other classrooms that the voice had been broadcast to all of them.
He said some people had advertised on the school's bulletin board and online
BBS before the test for the sale of a mini-earphone to cheat¡ªa fact that was
confirmed by the reporter.
In a random survey conducted after the test, all of the interviewees
expressed hearing the voice. Moreover, some of them said it seemed like an
organized fraud. They said the answers may have been transmitted by someone
jamming the normal broadcast.
A student revealed the same thing had happened during a test being
administered at the school before, though it seemed even worse this time.
Local police immediately arrested two suspects after hearing the case,
however failing to find any special equipment they may have used to broadcast
the answers.
The two were arrested after being found by a passer-by in a car in a parking
lot outside the university, seemingly transmitting the answers with a mobile
phone and a notebook connected to the internet.
Police said they have confirmed the identities of the two as undergraduates
with the university's School of Architecture and have found the student supposed
to be receiving the answers. However, the accuracy of the answers has not yet
been verified.
Still, police denied that the suspects were without a doubt those behind the
incident, revealing the possibility that others may have been responsible for
the school-wide broadcast. They also said attempts to discover the sender by
tracing the air signal were impossible and that they were considering other ways
to handle the case.
The transmission of the answers was also confirmed by teachers who were
monitoring the classrooms during the test.
A representative from the school's administration said they have submitted
the case to higher authorities for investigation.
Some candidates have complained to the school that their marks may be
affected by the incident. However, university authorities have said they have no
right to help organize a re-test.