GMAT Cheating Controversy Grows

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GMAC develops new test questions all the time—they cost GMAC about $2,400 each—and retires those that have been in circulation.

The Scoretop site, unlike legitimate GMAT preparation companies such as Kaplan or Manhattan GMAT, offered a VIP service for $30 for 30 days that GMAC says gave visitors access to the "live" test questions. Legitimate test-prep companies use retired questions that have been legally purchased from GMAC.

It's unclear exactly how Scoretop obtained the live questions, although at least some of them were posted by the site's users after having taken the GMAT. It's also unclear whether everyone who used the site knew the questions were live. The site described the questions as being "fully owned by Scoretop [and] written by our own…tutors."

At the same time, though, many of the posts found on the site strongly suggest visitors knew the questions were live. The messages reference question "sets" and "JJs"—an acronym for "jungle juice"—which refer to groups of live questions that have been reconstructed by test-takers and posted on the site.

In one post cited by GMAC in its copyright infringement case, "h3adsh0t" describes the value of the JJs as "inestimable," adding that he saw "10-12 JJs [when I took the GMAT], word by word, and many of the other questions felt very familiar." In a "post-exam debriefing" filed by "sammi," he described how he "got 3 successive [math] questions, of which all three were from scoretop Nov or Dec! …[T]he confidence you derive out of solving a seen problem is incomparable."

Potential Score Cancellations

On June 27, a lawyer representing GMAC in the copyright infringement case said that's the kind of electronic paper trail the organization is looking for on the Scoretop hard drive and elsewhere. While the hard drive contains payment information on VIP members, the lawyer, Robert Burgoyne, says it's unlikely all VIP members will have their scores canceled by GMAC. "GMAC isn't going to start canceling scores because people are VIP members," he says. "We'll look for something that actually links people to conduct they should have known was improper."

Burgoyne says this may include individuals who posted live questions in "post-exam debriefings," those who accessed the debriefings, and those who encountered Scoretop questions on the GMAT and reported that on the site—even if there's no evidence they knew they were accessing live questions on Scoretop prior to the exam.

GMAC spokeswoman Judy Phair says the number of individuals who paid for VIP access now totals more than 6,000, a dramatic increase over the 1,000 that GMAC originally reported. The 6,000 were VIP members over the five years of Scoretop's existence, so it's possible the number includes many current applicants, current students, and MBA graduates. Since all 6,000 had access to the live questions, all 6,000 are potentially subject to score cancellations, although the exact number who will face cancellation will not be known for at least several weeks.

Nondisclosure Agreement

Many people who used the Scoretop site are already worried that cancellation of their GMAT scores might derail their careers, and in BusinessWeek.com's MBA Forum many are threatening to sue GMAC if that happens.

But it appears they would have a hard time making a case. To register for the test, prospective students must agree to GMAC's terms and conditions, which include a confidentiality agreement prohibiting the disclosure of test questions. To enter the test center, they must sign an agreement that gives GMAC the authority to cancel test scores if the test-taker discloses a question "in any form or by any means."

At the computer terminal itself, the test-taker must agree to a second, more detailed nondisclosure agreement. And in the 2008 GMAT Bulletin, GMAC reserves the right to cancel scores for any misconduct, including mere access to test content prior to the test, "even if a specific examinee's actual access to disclosed test content cannot be confirmed by GMAC."

Lavelle is an associate editor at BusinessWeek.