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Graduate Test Scores Under Review

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The Associated Press

Published: July 3, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. - RICHMOND, Va. - Prospective and current graduate business students who used a Web site to cheat on entrance examinations during the past five years could have their scores thrown out.

The exam's publisher, the Graduate Management Admission Council, is tracking down users of Scoretop.com after winning a lawsuit to shut down the site and seize a computer hard drive containing payment information and user identifications.

Scoretop sold VIP access for $30 a month, giving users previews to current questions on the latest Graduate Management Admission Test.

Some were posted by users after taking the exam.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema also ordered site operator Lei Shi to pay $2.35 million plus legal costs in a June 20 ruling in the copyright infringement lawsuit.

In court documents, GMAC cited a posting by a user who said the information offered on the site was "inestimable," saying that he saw 10 to 12 "word-by-word" items and "many of the other questions felt very familiar."

About 6,000 GMAT scores from when the Web site started in 2003 to the present are in question, GMAC spokeswoman Judy Phair said Wednesday.

It's unclear how many test-takers are involved, because they can take the test several times a year.

"We have an ethical responsibility to schools and students to say this is a secure and fair test," Phair said. "Obviously, you're not being fair if you have an unfair advantage."

The council plans to match data with test-takers and cancel the scores of anyone it determines knowingly used Scoretop to cheat on the GMAT.

It also will notify the schools receiving scores, and perhaps prevent them from retaking the test.

Phair said that she can't offer a timetable on the process.

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