Sale of Exam Answer Sheets and Final Questions; From Fraud to Reality

The Ministry of Education and the police are threatening buyers and sellers of exam questions while claiming the integrity of both the entrance exam and final exams. On the other hand, sellers claim to sell guaranteed answer sheets for the entrance exam for between 210 to 240 million tomans, with final exam questions priced between one to three million tomans. Every year before the entrance exam and final exams, the police, Ministry of Education, and the Assessment Organization threaten both buyers and sellers of answer sheets, even arresting some, while assuring the public of the integrity of the exams after they are conducted. However, buying and selling channels remain active, and to prove their claims, they publish answer sheet questions simultaneously with the start of the exam. The only difference in this year's entrance exam transactions is the emphasis on not using any type of earpiece (small wireless headphones). Selling channels for entrance exam questions are currently pre-selling, but Amin Razavi Nejad, head of the Ministry of Education's security center, claims, "Complete oversight of the exams is conducted from the time of question formulation to distribution in the field, and there is no possibility of publishing questions before the exam process begins. Our colleagues at the Evaluation and Quality Assurance Center of the Ministry of Education publish the original questions on their website minutes after the exam begins." In the market for buying and selling exams and questions, however, the situation is different. A seller named Sam, who is a pseudonym, tells Radio Farda that the cheapest price for the answer sheet for the mathematics field is 210 million tomans. Following that, the key to the humanities entrance exam questions is sold for 220 million tomans, and the experimental field for 240 million tomans. The total cost is received in cryptocurrency or cash via card-to-card transfer. Last year, these answer sheets were traded for between 50 to 150 million tomans. Sam also offers an installment option: "Half the amount is received at the time of the transaction, and the rest after the results are announced, but in this method, you must be verified." All sellers have the same condition. Verification means that the buyer must send a photo of their entrance exam registration form, ID card, and a paper stating "For... regarding the key to the 1403 entrance exam" to the seller. Additionally, they need to record a few seconds of video introducing themselves and stating that this video is for verification for Sam and for verification regarding the key to the 1403 entrance exam. This documentation is to ensure that if the buyer thinks about not paying the remaining amount after the exam, their information will be published, leading to scandal. At that point, the Assessment Organization will also get involved, and the buyer will face disqualification. Sellers of questions and answer sheets also consider single-subject options for those who do not wish to buy all entrance exam questions. The price for a single subject for the experimental field is 60 million tomans, for mathematics 50 million tomans, and for humanities 40 million tomans. According to Sam, the work is done in teams, and after receiving the questions, different subject teams complete the answer sheets and send them to buyers. Sam has had a channel for buying and selling entrance exam and final exam questions for six years and pre-sells a limited number of entrance exam questions each year. He states that he must deliver the answers to everyone in a short time, so it is better to have a limited number of sales. Unlike previous years when very delicate and somewhat invisible earpieces were needed to use the answer sheets, this year, however, they are not necessary. Sam says, "The answer sheet reaches the buyer a few hours before the exam, about 10 to 12 hours prior, and the only solution is to memorize the answers." Sellers of entrance and final exam answer sheets claim that although their work has become slightly harder, the process is ongoing. On the other hand, the head of the final exam security task force has announced that legal action will soon be taken against those claiming to sell exam questions. In any case, the entrance exam and final exams are considered among the most important exams, and every year significant efforts are made to protect the questions, but the questions leak every year, indicating that the source is either within the Assessment Organization or from the supervisors. In May of this year, Brigadier General Vahid Majid, head of the Cyber Police, reported: "The fight against entrance exam fraud in cyberspace is being taken seriously. According to conducted surveillance, about 20 people have been arrested for selling fake questions for the 1403 national exam on foreign platforms including Telegram, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Since 1999, over five thousand bookmarks including channels, groups, and links have engaged in criminal activity. With the actions of the Cyber Police, this number has been reduced to two thousand, of which 800 have been identified, and ultimately about 400 cyber criminals who were the main actors have been arrested." Colonel Davood Moazami, head of the Greater Tehran Cyber Police, has also warned candidates participating in the entrance and final exams not to fall for "opportunistic" and "exploitative" individuals. They engage in fraud under the guise of advertising, such as selling entrance exam questions, selling main resources for the entrance exam, and tests, ultimately directing candidates – buyers – to phishing pages and emptying their bank accounts or selling fake questions, causing candidates to lose both the entrance exam and a significant amount of money in false hopes of having the questions. In the warnings of most responsible officials, any buying and selling of questions and direct or indirect cheating is denied, while less than a month ago, the Shargh newspaper published a report on the status of buying and selling final exam questions. In that report, while claimants had verifiable documents and expressed readiness to appear in any court, the Ministry of Education dismissed it as false and fabricated. At the same time, an individual who was present as an exam supervisor stated that they had handed him the questions and answers. In that report, the financial turnover of buying and selling final exam answers in schools was estimated at about 500 million tomans. However, in that report, one of the employees of one of the education ministry regions described the issue as very normal and stated that the buying and selling of questions and answer sheets is "an organized operation." Some channels publish questions and answers publicly simultaneously with the exams to prove their honesty in selling questions. Bita, a pseudonym for another seller who specializes only in selling final exam questions for the 10th and 11th grades, tells Radio Farda: "Questions and answer sheets are sent between two to four in the morning, and the price for final exam questions is three million tomans per subject, and for 10th and 11th grades, one and a half million tomans. According to Ms. Bita, buyers can also transfer the money via card-to-card or through cryptocurrency. The hours of sale are also limited, and the sales file closes at 9 PM each night. The written IELTS exam in Iran was canceled due to 'leaked questions.' The existence of cheating and leaked questions in various exams from final exams to entrance exams and IELTS in Iran is not a new issue and has progressed to the point that the IELTS exam was suspended for a while. Individuals are arrested in connection with the buying and selling of entrance exam questions, and after the entrance exam, several cheating tools, including very delicate earpieces that are hidden in the ear and disguised with tweezers or placed in glasses, are discovered. The total evidence indicates that cheating is ongoing, but the police, the Assessment Organization, and the Ministry of Education deny it and continue to do so.