AI to check cheating as record 13.42M Chinese students sit for college test

ISTANBUL

Authorities are using artificial intelligence (AI) to check for cheating as a record 13.42 million students on Friday sat for the college entrance test across China, state media reported.

Known locally as “gaokao,” the test results determine students’ university admissions which eventually shape their future.

China’s Education Ministry said the number is a “record high” since matriculation resumed in 1977.

This year, 510,000 more students appeared in the test compared to last year, when around 12.91 million students sat for the largest exam in the world.

Authorities in the southern Guangdong province have put in place AI to check students for exam cheating.

Students in the province have to pass through two checks using detectors and a security machine gate.

The measures are designed to detect electronic devices.

Authorities installed intelligent inspection systems to monitor exam venues in the province, as well as radio signal shielding equipment to prevent cheating.

They also imposed measures to halt noise from traffic and construction sites to avoid disturbance to the students.

In the capital Beijing, at least 105 examination centers have been set up for prospective students, while at least seven provinces made changes to the examination pattern.

Prospective students write answers in three major subjects, including Chinese, mathematics, and foreign language, and they also have a choice between physics and history.

They are also required to choose among the subjects of ideology and politics, geography, chemistry, and biology.

There are special arrangements for around 11,000 students with special needs, including the creation of Braille exam papers.