In a recent online chat with BusinessWeek reporter Francesca Di Meglio and reader participants, a senior official from the Graduate Management Admission Council fielded questions about the ongoing Scoretop.com scandal, in which GMAC is now determining how to mete out punishment to MBA aspirants who used Scoretop to access live GMAT questions.
While they may provide a measure of reassurance to some students, GMAC Senior Vice President Peg Jöbst’s responses made clear that GMAC fully intends to proceed with the cancellation of scores for students found to have posted GMAT questions they saw on their GMAT exam on the Scoretop site or to have confirmed that they saw questions on Scoretop that then appeared on their GMAT exam.
Jöbst did not provide specific details about when cancellations will occur. “We are working as quickly as possible in our investigation,” she said. “The investigation must be thorough, as we do not take lightly the matter of canceling scores.” Students whose scores are cancelled will receive notification from GMAC directly, which also will notify schools that their scores have been cancelled. So far, no scores have been cancelled, Jöbst said.
Asked whether students who are found to fit into GMAC’s criteria for unethical use of the Scoretop site and whose scores are cancelled would have an opportunity to retake the GMAT, Jöbst responded: “Not likely.”
Once GMAC has completed its investigation and taken action against those students deemed to have violated GMAC policy, GMAC will post a notification on mba.com that its investigation is complete, Jöbst said. She added that she considered it “extremely unlikely” that GMAC would alter its criteria for cancellation or reopen the cases of students whose scores are not cancelled at a later date. Students who receive notification that their scores will be canceled will have an opportunity to appeal GMAC’s decision, she continued.
According to Jöbst’s answers to questions posed by concerned GMAC test takers during the chat, students who used a Scoretop VIP subscription but only browsed – without giving or obtaining live questions – do not fall within GMAC’s criteria for score cancellation. Jöbst encouraged students who are convinced that they do not fall under these criteria to proceed with their plans, be they to retake the GMAT exam or to prepare for enrollment in business school.
Some students expressed frustration that they hadn’t known that subscribing to Scoretop was in violation of GMAC’s policies and that GMAC should have done more to warn well-intentioned students which test preparation services to avoid.
Jöbst responded that GMAC does not endorse any specific Web sites or study materials other than those it operates directly, such as GMATPrep software, which is available free of charge through the mba.com site.
But she offered the following guidelines to help students avoid violating GMAC’s policies and procedures:
• Do not purchase, request, or share materials that claim to be “real” or “live” GMAT questions in any form.
• Be wary if you see discussion threads in which test content is shared and real or “live” questions are confirmed as accessible via the site or any participant(s) of the site (online or offline).
• Do not share any test content with anyone else after you have taken the test.
So there you have it. We’ll continue to keep you updated here on the Clear Admit site with any new developments in the Scoretop case.
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