The increase of fraudulent activities in GRE has seen a higher percentage in India as the test-takers are taking help of the experts. The largest franchisee of The Princeton Review reported this issue to Niti Aayog and the Ministry of Education. The cheat activities in GRE increase as during the Covid-19 situation, more number of test-takers are taking GRE from their homes.

The franchisee questions the moral aspects of the candidates as the test-takers are using unfair means to qualify the test. The use of outside experts or collaborators also has a negative impact on the quality of the candidates.

Statistics of GRE Candidates in India

As per the reports of ETS, in 2019, 85,050 candidates took GRE from India. From China, the number was 90,146 and from US the number was 3.95 lacs. As universities accepting GRE scores are equally accepting GRE at-home scores, the number of GRE applicants has a steady hike in 2020 in India.

What is the Fraudulent Activity in GRE?

There are a number of GRE examinees who have admitted to take help of the experts are not wished to be named – but it is a fact that they have a well-executed plan.

In GRE at-home test, the candidates are asked to show their entire room with the webcam. Everything inside the room is visible. Here, it is to be mentioned that GRE at home will begin only after the proper verification is done.

The test process of GRE happens to be a flexible one and it allows the candidates to move both backward and forward during the test. This is supposed to be a loophole where the examinees are engaged in cheat activities.

How the Candidates Cheat with the help of Experts?

As per the observation of the people who have suspected the cheating, a person or the expert enters the room from an angle which is not properly visible in the webcam. As a result, the proctor cannot see the person.

This expert takes the picture of the questions of a specific section while scrolling towards another section. Now, this expert leaves the room with the picture of questions and answer options of either GRE quant or GRE verbal.

The actual candidate starts solving the questions of other section at this time. Once the expert solves the questions of that section, he/she enters the room with a piece of paper where the answers are written.

A biomedical student anonymously mentioned that most of the collaborators or the experts are the students of 3rd or 4th year. Additionally, it is mentioned that the teachers of these students approach them to take GRE on behalf of GRE candidates.

Now it is a fact that these 3rd and 4th year candidates are offered a huge sum of money for their service – as per the report, a group of 4-5 students gets paid 30,000 to 40,000 for taking GRE on behalf of the candidates.

Present Condition of the Fraudulent activity in GRE

Currently, a bigger circle is observed behind these fraudulent activities as a student who worked as experts mentioned that they too want to appear in GRE in future. Plus, it is an excellent way of making money in such a short time. The first-year students who are in good connection with the instructors are the ones who get helped the most.

Manya Education, one of the most reliable GRE coaching providers in India also found the approaches of help of their qualified teachers. This unethical call for help was mainly found in Andhra and Telangana. Manya, being an initiative of Princeton, informed ETS about this.

Official Step Against the Fraudulent Activity

ETS spokesperson mentioned that the candidates are now unnecessarily casual because of the at-home version and take unethical advantages. The tech team of ETS is constantly working to make the security even tighter.

Plus, to stop this unethical activity from the grassroot level, ETS started the invalidation of the GRE scores. With this service, ETS can invalidate the GRE scores of a candidate in case their activities appear suspicious. Amendment to GRE policies to prevent the fraudulent activities of using experts while taking GRE.

Even though there is no plan of changing the test format, but a review of the GRE at-home offering will be done, so that the candidates keep enjoying GRE at-home test in the post-Covid times.

As GRE at-home is identical to test-center GRE, the number of applicants for GRE at-home is increasing. Along with this, the use of experts is also increasing. At any cost, the use of experts in GRE at-home cannot be accepted and ETS will take all the necessary steps to stop this.