Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 184 posts

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#71

Post by jimmaswell »

kbenson wrote: post #70

> Until today, the imposter's colleagues still know her as Chen Chunxiu, say media reports. Her degree has since been revoked and she has been sacked from her job. A government report says she is still under investigation. Is it nuts to anyone else that the more powerful, socially connected person stole the poorer but better scoring person's identity for not only school, but continued to be her professionally for yea…

Well-off people sometimes turn to thrill seeking. Apparently financially stable stay-at-home housewives are a big demographic in loss prevention because they steal for fun.

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#72

Post by gene91 »

ak39 wrote: post #58

How can the system rely on “no response is construed as failed”?! Bad design right there.

It's not exactly like that. For example, university official will track you down (through phone call, through help of local official or your high school official/teacher) if you didn't enroll. This is done to ensure people (especially from rural areas) don't give up their admission due to difficulties (for example, economical ones).

Obviously these doesn't help when some one takes your identity and enrolls on your behalf.

Even if there is rejection letter. It probably wouldn't make a difference to the subject of this article. A fake rejection can be easily fabricated (especially if the recipient doesn't know what a real one should look like.)

Also, the subject knows his/her score. The university has limited discretion to deny admission of people above the score threshold. At the end, it all comes down to low social economic status and corrupted officials working against the subject.

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#73

Post by toast0 »

viklove wrote: post #36
Falloodude wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This test is absolutely brutal compared to the SAT. Imagine if US students were subjected to three days of testing, eight hours each day, that included all the SAT II subjects plus regular SAT subject matter. Oh, and throw in a whole section on Middle English, too.

Sounds like AP testing, which is required for most competitive institutions.

My understanding is AP test results are usually used to grant credit for college classes, and not as an admission requirement? I guess it could be a factor in admissions, too, but I recall mostly people doing it to get a bit of a head start towards graduation, rather than to get a better shot at admission. (People passing AP tests are likely to get in _somewhere_, even if not their first choice)

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#74

Post by thewarrior »

uedue828e wrote: post #69

[flagged]

Could you elaborate what the differences are so we all can get a clearer picture ?

Is your claim that western civilization and values are superior to all others ?

Does China for eg kidnap people from other countries on secret flights and then water board them on an island outside of all countries laws ?

Did China blanket an entire foreign country in carcinogenic chemicals that caused birth defects for generations ?

Was it the non west that imposed sanctions on Iraq that by conservative estimates killed hundreds of thousands of children ?

Was it the non west that was the only civilization to use nuclear weapons against a civilian population ?

Or is it that anything is allowed as long as you call yourself western and liberal ?

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#75

Post by distances »

anonAndOn wrote: post #65
distances wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, different clubs are common and beneficial, and there's a lot of growing taking place during your uni years. But the parent was linking to professional actors, and I fail to see any relation there. The topic wasn't about admissions to theatrical majors in art universities.

I would much rather learn from somebody who has done it professionally at a very high level than some academic (or worse, a wannabe academic) who is all theory and no results. You see no value to taking a music theory class with a platinum artist in your discussions on song structure? Or maybe the rock star wants to expand his horizons a bit and is also in your Ethics class discussing the effect of Napster on his abi…

I'm all for rock stars expanding their horizons if they score better than those nerds. Though the education is even in that case likely better invested in the student aiming to get a career in the field, rather than in a rock star's recreational studies.

The "real players" could also visit as guest lecturers on your music theory class, assuming they have good enough merits on the subject.

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#76

Post by godelski »

thewarrior wrote: post #45
zozin wrote: post #37

This is enraging. Identity theft in the United States can be a headache, sure, but in most cases the financial institutions are the ones taking the brunt of the damage, and even that is probably covered by some sort of insurance scheme. This woman had her entire life stripped away from her, not to mention making her doubt her own abilities by implying she “failed” the exam. How do these people live with themselves, e…

The western sense of morality didn’t stop the admissions scandals to all top western universities like Harvard Stanford and so on. Chinese universities as far as I know don’t have things like institutionalized legacy admissions. I’d like people to reconsider the view that western societies are somehow inherently purer or less corrupt. Often it takes different forms. This can be seen in the way sanctions are imposed f…

While I think we should criticize others and call them out for their bad behavior I do want to stress that it is very important to hold ourselves to a high standard. This is an essential part of a democracy. There is always room to improve. We are trying to form a more perfect union. Criticize others to learn from their mistakes. Criticize ourselves so we fix ours. (I do think think self criticism is common in the west though often misunderstood, even amongst ourselves. Especially in the current political climate)

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#78

Post by Balgair »

HeavenFox wrote: post #18
notwhereyouare wrote: post #3

I'm curious as to how these tests compare to the US SAT. You can take the SAT multiple times and submit your best attempt. In this story, the test seems one and done. You get 1 attempt and you either get in, or you don't. Also reminds me of the story from India like 1 or 2 years ago where a test had faulty answers and people thought they didn't get into university because of that

These exams differ from SAT in three major ways. First, they are offered once a year. Didn't do as well as you hope? Try again next year. Second, the material is significantly harder. Take math as an example. The exam questions are a lot closer to AMC/AIME than to SAT. In fact, suppose language is not a problem, many Chinese middle schooler would do pretty well on SAT's math section. Also you are not allowed any calc…

India has similar systems as well.

One 'neat' tweak that the Indians take is the publication of the scores. You find out how you did because your name and score are printed in the newspaper, along with everyone else's.

So all the gossipy aunties and your folk's friends know your score and you know the scores of everyone else in school.

The social pressure to do well is insane. Your score reflects on your family, not just you.

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#79

Post by strikelaserclaw »

andreilys wrote: post #51
thewarrior wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The western sense of morality didn’t stop the admissions scandals to all top western universities like Harvard Stanford and so on. Chinese universities as far as I know don’t have things like institutionalized legacy admissions. I’d like people to reconsider the view that western societies are somehow inherently purer or less corrupt. Often it takes different forms. This can be seen in the way sanctions are imposed f…

Yep I’m sure that their universities have no concept of letting in children of a major donor or political figure with influence.

I'm sure Donald trump and George bush got in on merit!

Re: One woman's stolen identity exposed a system of exam fraud

#80

Post by kbenson »

jimmaswell wrote: post #71
kbenson wrote: post #70

> Until today, the imposter's colleagues still know her as Chen Chunxiu, say media reports. Her degree has since been revoked and she has been sacked from her job. A government report says she is still under investigation. Is it nuts to anyone else that the more powerful, socially connected person stole the poorer but better scoring person's identity for not only school, but continued to be her professionally for yea…

Well-off people sometimes turn to thrill seeking. Apparently financially stable stay-at-home housewives are a big demographic in loss prevention because they steal for fun.

I can see that, but I also don't expect those people to take over the identity entirely. Financially stable stay-at-home housewives have a lot of things tying them to their real identity.
Post reply on HN