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Nora Tong

One person may have accessed website during HKCEE; no proof it was student

The examination authority has ruled out ordering students to resit an English language examination after its  investigation of  claims of widespread cheating found no evidence of a significant problem.

There was a public outcry  this month when students sitting the exam claimed some  candidates had cheated by using mobile phones to access the internet while visiting the toilet.

But, an investigation by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority has found that 'in all probability' only one person in Hong Kong accessed the website in question by mobile phone at the time students were sitting the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Exam English syllabus B reading paper on May 4.

Four others using desktop computers looked at the website, www.stoptextbully.com, during the 90-minute exam, it found.

The information was taken from a log of the IP numbers of devices used to  visit  the site.  IP numbers do not reveal a user's identity, and  the authority's secretary-general, Peter Hill, said it had written to the internet service provider involved requesting the mobile-phone user's personal details, but had not received a reply.

He said the time the mobile user spent on the website appeared too great for that person to have done it while sitting the exam.

'The evidence seems to suggest that one person logged in twice,' Dr Hill said. 'The first time was for about 14 minutes, the second time for about three minutes, separated by an interval of about 40 minutes.

'Because this isn't a major issue at this stage, we believe there is no case for a resit of the examination, nor is there any need to cancel the mark of any part of the examination.'

He would not apologise for the inclusion of the website address in the exam paper, which made it possible for students to check answers to a section of the paper.

The authority justified its inclusion by saying it had to show sources for works quoted. However, Dr Hill said it would look  into other ways to cite quoted works.

The authority was also investigating technology that would enable it to detect the use of mobile phones in exam centres or in centres' toilets, he said. It would also look into banning phones from exam halls altogether, as was the practice in some countries.

Candidates are currently allowed to bring mobile phones into the exam hall, but they must be switched off and cannot be carried on the student's person.

Secretary for Education and Manpower, Arthur Li Kwok-cheung said he was comforted by the findings.

However, a student group said it planned to go ahead with a march to demand an apology for the authority's  handling of the affair.

Ben Chung Kam-lun, 17, chairman of the Hong Kong Secondary Students' Union, said  the authority should apologise to students. '[It]  has to take responsibility for the fact that it gave students the opportunity to cheat,' he said.

Form Five student Frederik Fan Cheung-fung, 16, said:  'I know that a lot of students have been online discussing this a lot, rather than spending that time revising or preparing for their exams.'



Resit ruled out after probe of cheat claim in exam