More than 2,000 Chinese pharmacy students caught cheating in licensing exam: state media

More than 2,000 pharmacists from Xi’an cheated in the national licensing test, state television reported on Sunday night.

The candidates wore earpieces through which answers to the test questions were transmitted via radio.

The scam earlier this month was uncovered when invigilators detected abnormal radio signals from an illegal frequency.

“It is the worst scandal over the past few years,” Du Fangshuai, the chief of Shaanxi testing authority, told state media. “We’ve caught 2,440 candidates in total at seven test centres. At one centre there were 700 candidates cheating at the test.”

The total number caught cheating accounted for almost one in 10 of the 25,000 candidates who sat the test in the province.

One of the pharmacists caught cheating told state media half of test takers at one exam centre were wearing the same earpiece. “I don’t know why but some were not caught,” he was quoted as saying.

Local police have arrested several people allegedly behind the scam and are continuing to investigate.