Based on integrity, reject cheating, fulfill dreams in the college entrance exam, live up to youth
Compiled from: Ministry of Education, People's Congress Digital
Today marks another year of the college entrance examination. The gaokao is a major test for countless students across the country, and parents all hope their children can get into their ideal schools. But every year as the exam approaches, information about so-called “gaokao answers,” “gaokao tools,” and “pre-exam predictions” pops up online to attract the attention of students and parents, when in fact these are all scams to swindle money.
Case One: There Is No Such Thing as "Gaokao Answers" — Online Scams Are the Reality
In May 2021, police in Anhui received reports from the public that someone was defrauding parents and students online under the guise of “selling answers to the college entrance examination.” Through analysis and assessment, the police quickly identified a suspect surnamed Huang from Jiangxi. In March of this year, Huang entered multiple chat groups via QQ, falsely claiming that he had channels to purchase college entrance examination answers, and sold so-called “college entrance examination answers” to parents and students at a price of 15,000 yuan per subject, defrauding more than 10 people across five provinces including Anhui, Shandong, and Hunan, and obtaining more than 100,000 yuan. Currently, Huang has been criminally detained by the police in accordance with the law, and the case is under further investigation.
Case 2: Cheating on Exams Ruins Your Future; Do Not Rely on Wishful Thinking
On the eve of the 2020 college entrance examination, public security organs' cybersecurity departments across various regions successively uncovered multiple cases of organized exam cheating. The criminal gangs involved used the internet to recruit cheating candidates, charged exorbitant fees, illegally provided exam cheating services for candidates, and sought substantial economic gains. The public security organs in Liaoning uncovered a case involving organized cheating in the college entrance examination, lawfully apprehended and criminally detained more than 20 criminal suspects, and seized a batch of wireless exam cheating devices. Public security organs in Tianjin, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and other places continued to conduct investigative strikes against manufacturers of wireless exam cheating devices, destroyed multiple device production dens, and seized over a thousand sets of specialized equipment for eavesdropping and covert photography.
Case Three: Posting "seat-grabbing" threads before exams and promoting "hit predictions" afterward.
Before exams, some social training institutions often create title bars on website forums, QQ Zones, or self-media platforms, posting "placeholder posts" with blank content and hiding them. After the exam, they re-edit the exam question content obtained from the internet into these "placeholder posts" and make them public. This creates the illusion of having obtained exam questions before the test or "predicting the actual exam questions," and is used as a gimmick for training and tutoring promotion, attracting netizens' attention and confusing public perception.
Relevant legal provisions
[1] Education Law of the People's Republic of China
[2] Article 79[3] If an examinee commits any of the following acts during a national education examination, the staff of the education examination institution organizing the examination shall take necessary measures at the examination site to stop the act and terminate the examinee's continued participation in the examination; the education examination institution organizing the examination may cancel the examinee's relevant examination qualification or examination results; if the circumstances are serious, the education administrative department shall order the examinee to suspend participation in the relevant national education examination for a period of one to three years; if the act constitutes a violation of public security administration, the public security organ shall impose a public security administration penalty in accordance with the law; if the act constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law:
[4] (1) Illegally obtaining examination questions or answers;
[5] (2) Carrying or using cheating equipment or materials for the examination;
[6] (3) Copying others' answers;
(4) Having another person take an examination on one's behalf;
(5) Other cheating behaviors that obtain exam results through improper means.
Article 80If any organization or individual commits one of the following acts in a national education examination and has illegal gains, the public security authority shall confiscate the illegal gains and impose a fine of not less than one time but not more than five times the illegal gains; if the circumstances are serious, detention of not less than five days but not more than fifteen days shall be imposed; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued according to law; if the person is a state functionary, disciplinary action shall also be taken according to law:
(1) Organizing cheating;
(2) Providing assistance or convenience for cheating by means such as providing exam cheating equipment.
(3) Taking an examination on behalf of another person;
(4) Leaking or disseminating exam questions or answers before the end of the examination;
(5) Other acts that disrupt the order of the examination.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 284-1 Whoever organizes cheating in a national examination prescribed by law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also or only be fined; if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.
Whoever provides cheating equipment or other assistance to another person for committing the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
For implementing exam cheating, illegally selling or providing the test questions or answers of the exam specified in the first paragraph to others shall be punished according to the provisions of the first paragraph.
Anyone who takes an exam specified in the first paragraph on behalf of another person, or allows another person to take the exam on their behalf, shall be sentenced to criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also or solely be fined.
[1] The author's perspective
The gaokao is a national examination prescribed by law, and its test papers are classified as top-secret state materials. Therefore, extremely strict management measures are in place every year for the storage and transportation of gaokao test papers. As can be seen from the above provisions of the Criminal Law, selling or providing test questions or answers in national examinations prescribed by law constitutes illegal conduct. Candidates and their parents should not harbor any false hopes either. The “top-secret gaokao answers” peddled online are often impossible to be genuine, which not only wastes money but may even ruin a child’s future.
In Case Three, there is another new scam known as the "placeholder post." Essentially, the fraudsters have obtained administrator privileges, allowing them to publish a blank post before the exam that is not visible to the public. After the college entrance examination concludes, they then fill in the exam content and set it to be publicly visible, creating the illusion that they had "predicted" the questions before the exam, thereby carrying out fraud and seeking illicit gains. The author reminds all candidates not to readily believe such false claims to avoid being deceived.
Additionally, illegally manufacturing, selling, and using wireless exam cheating devices during the college entrance exam is also a criminal offense, seriously endangering the security of national education exams and undermining social fairness and justice. Cheating on the college entrance exam can result in the cancellation of scores at the least, or criminal offenses at the worst. Do not test the law by selling or purchasing exam cheating devices, lest you ruin your own future and regret it beyond remedy.
The college entrance exam is not only a test of one's academic achievements over more than a decade but also a review of one's moral character. Here, the author wishes all college entrance exam candidates to face the exam with honesty and confidence, and achieve ideal results!
