An AI-supervised remote exam went so badly that 58,000 students must retake it
An AI-supervised remote exam went so badly that 58,000 students must retake it
一场人工智能监考的远程考试惨遭翻车，5.8万名学生被迫重考
Earlier this summer, nearly 160,000 applicants took the entrance exam for UNAM, Mexico’s largest university. For the first time, they did it completely remotely, using a “lockdown” browser and AI-powered webcam proctoring software, over several weeks from late May through early June. 今年夏天早些时候，近16万名考生参加了墨西哥最大高校——墨西哥国立自治大学（UNAM）的入学考试。这是该校首次完全采取远程方式进行考试，考生在5月下旬至6月上旬的几周内，通过“锁定”浏览器和人工智能驱动的网络摄像头监考软件完成了测试。
It was a disaster. When exam results came in, they bore little resemblance to past results, especially at the top. Between 2021 and 2025, 3.5 percent of test takers scored 100 or more on the 120-question UNAM test. This year, 16.3 percent did so. The story was even worse at the highest of the high end. Between 2021 and 2025, 0.9 percent of test takers scored 110 or more; this year, 5.5 percent did so. 结果是一场灾难。当考试成绩公布时，其结果与往年大相径庭，尤其是在高分段。在2021年至2025年间，UNAM总分120分的试卷中，只有3.5%的考生得分在100分以上。而今年，这一比例高达16.3%。在顶尖高分段情况更为严重：2021年至2025年间，得分在110分以上的考生仅占0.9%；而今年，这一比例飙升至5.5%。
The surge in top scores led to accusations of widespread cheating, and UNAM appointed a commission of experts to investigate the situation. The group was given the unwieldy name “la Comisión Técnica de Personas Expertas para la Revisión del Proceso de Selección de Ingreso a Licenciatura para el Ciclo Escolar 2026-2027/1,” and it has just submitted its recommendations. 高分人数的激增引发了关于大规模作弊的指控，UNAM随即任命了一个专家委员会来调查此事。该委员会拥有一个冗长的名称——“2026-2027/1学年本科入学选拔过程审查专家技术委员会”，目前该委员会已提交了调查建议。
The commission believes that the best path forward, given all the concerns, is to administer a “control exam”—that is, applicants will have to sit for another test, and they will do so in person. This control exam will apply not only to those who secured a spot at UNAM based on this year’s test but also to everyone who would have been admitted based on minimum successful scores in their program of study since 2021. About 58,000 people could be affected, and places at UNAM will now depend on the results of the new test. 委员会认为，考虑到种种疑虑，最好的解决办法是进行一场“对照考试”，即申请人必须参加另一场线下实地考试。这场对照考试不仅针对今年通过考试获得UNAM入学资格的学生，也涵盖了所有自2021年以来达到各专业最低录取分数线的申请者。约有5.8万人将受到影响，UNAM的录取名额现在将取决于这场新考试的结果。
(Details on the control exam should appear soon; classes are currently scheduled to begin on August 10, so everything will have to move quickly unless the school decides to delay classes.) According to Gaceta UNAM, the school’s official news publication, the university rector has apologized to honest applicants, since they will now have to prepare for and take the test again despite doing nothing wrong. Still, the control exam is “necessary to give certainty and guarantee equity in access,” the rector added. （对照考试的细节预计很快公布；目前课程定于8月10日开始，因此除非学校决定推迟开学，否则一切都必须迅速推进。）据UNAM官方新闻刊物《Gaceta UNAM》报道，校长已向诚实的申请者道歉，因为他们尽管没有做错任何事，却不得不重新准备并参加考试。不过，校长补充说，这场对照考试对于“提供确定性并确保入学公平”是必要的。
No one yet knows what kinds of cheating may have taken place. The exam was multiple choice rather than essay-based, so it is difficult to look for typical indications of AI cheating (complete answers being pasted immediately into text boxes, etc.). It is also possible that students relied on cheat sheets, leaked questions, and other traditional cheating methods. 目前尚不清楚具体采取了何种作弊手段。由于考试是选择题而非论文题，因此很难发现人工智能作弊的典型迹象（如将完整答案直接粘贴到文本框中等）。学生也有可能依赖小抄、泄题或其他传统作弊手段。
A New York Times report last week on the cheating scandal noted that “cheating tips were circulating widely before the tests went live this spring. Online accounts advised students to position monitors outside the web-camera frame where they could access ChatGPT or other AI models. Others suggested hiding earphones under their hair, or hiring someone else to take the exam, off camera.” 《纽约时报》上周关于此次作弊丑闻的报道指出：“今年春天考试开始前，作弊技巧就在广泛流传。网络账号建议学生将显示器放置在摄像头拍摄范围之外，以便访问ChatGPT或其他人工智能模型。其他人则建议将耳机藏在头发下，或者雇佣他人代考。”
Because this year’s exam was administered remotely, applicants had to install and use security products that tried to protect testing integrity. A report in El País said that the test required the LockDown Browser from Respondus. According to the company, once an exam begins in this browser, students are “unable to print, copy, go to other web addresses, or access other applications on the computer. Web searches, instant messaging, minimizing the browser, and hundreds of other functions are also prevented. Once the exam is completed, students are permitted to exit the browser and their computer will return to its normal state.” 由于今年的考试是远程进行的，申请人必须安装并使用旨在保护考试完整性的安全产品。《国家报》（El País）的一篇报道称，考试要求使用Respondus公司的“锁定浏览器”（LockDown Browser）。据该公司称，一旦在此浏览器中开始考试，学生将“无法打印、复制、访问其他网址或打开电脑上的其他应用程序。网页搜索、即时通讯、最小化浏览器以及数百种其他功能也会被禁止。考试结束后，学生方可退出浏览器，电脑将恢复正常状态。”
UNAM also used a proctoring system from Territorium that monitored each test-taker’s webcam with AI algorithms. The system watched for signs that another person had taken the applicant’s place in front of the computer, or for the use of cell phones or earphones, or even for the applicant leaving the frame. The test also had one human supervisor for every 150 applicants; supervisors received alerts from the system and could notify UNAM officials about irregularities. UNAM还使用了Territorium的监考系统，该系统通过人工智能算法监控每位考生的网络摄像头。系统会监测是否有他人代替申请人坐在电脑前、是否使用手机或耳机，甚至监测申请人是否离开了拍摄画面。此外，每150名申请者配备一名人工监考员；监考员会收到系统的警报，并可向UNAM官员报告违规行为。
These measures do not seem to have worked well. (UNAM canceled nearly 2 percent of total exams for unspecified conduct issues, so it apparently caught a few people.) Even UNAM has acknowledged “the probability that a significant number of applicants may have received help” on the test. AI expert Raul Rojas, speaking to NPR, said statistical modeling suggested “that almost half of the students were cheating when taking the exam online.” 这些措施似乎并未奏效。（UNAM因未指明的行为问题取消了近2%的考试，显然抓到了一些人。）就连UNAM也承认，“有相当数量的申请者在考试中获得帮助的可能性很大”。人工智能专家劳尔·罗哈斯（Raul Rojas）在接受美国国家公共电台（NPR）采访时表示，统计模型显示，“几乎有一半的学生在在线考试时作弊”。
Now, almost 58,000 applicants will have to try again in an official exam room, watched by a human proctor. 现在，近5.8万名申请者将不得不在正式的考场中，在人工监考员的注视下重新参加考试。