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Dude_Duder
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:50 pm
Hi all,
I live in an Asian country and am currently studying for my GMAT. In my preparations I am obviously looking to get as much practice and tips as I can to get the highest score possible. I have, therefore, asked my friends about their study recommendations and I must say that I am somewhat disappointed, as their solution is ethically questionable in my eyes.
What I am told is basically that one can obtain GMAT questions that will very likely be on the exam ahead of the actual test. Apparently there are two ways that build on the fact that GMAC renews its questions only once a month or so:
1. Pay somebody to get you questions that appeared on the GMAT. I am guessing that a test center somewhere must be involved and "allow" someone two write down or take pictures of the questions that appear on the screen. Those are then later bundled and sold to individuals.
2. Become a member of an online community. Members of the community that take the exam will memorize a few questions and answer choices (only math section) and post them on the board for other members to see. The community has many members that assure it to get relevant questions.
Now, I already took the exam and studied hard to get a decent, but not great result. Of course I was tempted to subscribe to the methods above, but didn't do it in the end, because of ethical considerations - I think that I wouldn't want people that cheated their way into b-school sitting next to me.
However, I feel that my "honesty" is a disadvantage. If everybody cheats and gets a better score than me, then I will look less qualified to adcoms (others things being equal).
I would like to hear your opinions about these kind of practices! I would also like to receive a recommendation for what I should do; be honest and risk failure or retake the exam with "preparation" to improve my chances, but drop my moral standard? What else needs to be done about this to keep the chances fair for everyone?
P.S. I know my testimony may sound unbelievable to some, but I can assure you that it is a significant number of people that make use of these practices.
I live in an Asian country and am currently studying for my GMAT. In my preparations I am obviously looking to get as much practice and tips as I can to get the highest score possible. I have, therefore, asked my friends about their study recommendations and I must say that I am somewhat disappointed, as their solution is ethically questionable in my eyes.
What I am told is basically that one can obtain GMAT questions that will very likely be on the exam ahead of the actual test. Apparently there are two ways that build on the fact that GMAC renews its questions only once a month or so:
1. Pay somebody to get you questions that appeared on the GMAT. I am guessing that a test center somewhere must be involved and "allow" someone two write down or take pictures of the questions that appear on the screen. Those are then later bundled and sold to individuals.
2. Become a member of an online community. Members of the community that take the exam will memorize a few questions and answer choices (only math section) and post them on the board for other members to see. The community has many members that assure it to get relevant questions.
Now, I already took the exam and studied hard to get a decent, but not great result. Of course I was tempted to subscribe to the methods above, but didn't do it in the end, because of ethical considerations - I think that I wouldn't want people that cheated their way into b-school sitting next to me.
However, I feel that my "honesty" is a disadvantage. If everybody cheats and gets a better score than me, then I will look less qualified to adcoms (others things being equal).
I would like to hear your opinions about these kind of practices! I would also like to receive a recommendation for what I should do; be honest and risk failure or retake the exam with "preparation" to improve my chances, but drop my moral standard? What else needs to be done about this to keep the chances fair for everyone?
P.S. I know my testimony may sound unbelievable to some, but I can assure you that it is a significant number of people that make use of these practices.
Last edited by Dude_Duder on Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
For the top engineering school in India - IIT, for about 4000 seats approximately 400,000 students toil to take the JEE each year. For the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) the story is even more competitive - around 900 officers are taken in from around 300,000 applicants. (infact 60 to 90 officers make it to the top IAS/IFS roles making it the toughest competitive exam on earth).
