Three years after they phased out paper and pencils and began administering computerized versions of the Graduate Record Examination, officials are going back to paper in some overseas regions.
Computer-based testing was supposed to make test-taking more efficient, accessible and convenient.
But while computers have made test taking easier for some students, critics say that electronic testing is still susceptible to scoring errors, security breaches and other flaws.
Prompted by a sudden rise in GRE verbal scores from China, the Educational Testing Service launched an investigation on behalf of the GRE board that uncovered Asian-language websites offering questions from live versions of the computer-based GRE general test.
The GRE board instructed the ETS to temporarily suspend the computer-based GRE general test in China, Taiwan and Korea until security can be guaranteed. ETS will reintroduce paper-based versions of the exam in these regions that will be administered just twice a year, in November and March.
"(The GRE board) found that the only secure way (to administer the GRE in these countries) is to return to pencil and paper," said John Yopp, vice president for graduate and professional education for ETS.
"In this situation, (paper-based exams) provided us with a more secure solution," said Carole Beere, chairwoman of the Graduate Record Examinations board.
Critics of computer-based testing say the return to paper signals larger flaws and inaccurate scores that have plagued computerized tests since their inception.
"This is just the latest snafu in a string of problems since the ETS began the introduction of the computer-based GRE in the early 1990s," said Bob Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest. "This is a technology that is not ready for prime time that has been forced on test takers because of corporate greed."
The ETS investigation, which covered more than 40 countries, showed security breaches occurring only in China, Taiwan and Korea.
Investigators found that verbal test scores in these regions increased each time a computer-based version of the test was replenished with a new pool of questions.
However, critics say the extent of the cheating could be even more widespread, since the Asian-language websites (which the ETS did not identify, citing security reasons) are accessible from the United States and elsewhere with native speakers and online translation services.
"The notion that, in the age of the Internet, this problem would be confined simply to Asia is ludicrous," Schaeffer said.
Cheating scandals aren't new to standardized tests. In one elaborate scam, GRE test-takers in New York allegedly phoned answers to a man in Los Angeles, who used the three-hour time-zone difference to encode answers on pencils.
But while the forms of cheating have changed, paper-based exams still provide a secure alternative to computer-based exams, since all items are used on the same day and then retired. With computerized testing, the same pool of items is used for two or three months.
"That provides a tremendous incentive for people to memorize part of it," Schaeffer said. "You can't re-use items for extended periods of time."
Still, officials want to return to computer-based testing as soon as security is restored.
"I don't think that people are blaming computer-based testing (for security breaches)," Beere said. "The World Wide Web, the Internet -- any technological progress -- brings new opportunities and also new challenges. We see this as part of the growing pains. We haven't even realized all the advantages (of computer-based testing) yet."
But critics say that computerized adaptive testing is still an experimental technology.
During the initial months of the computerized Graduate Management Admission Test, more than a thousand test-takers faced a "black screen of death" when their terminals froze before scores could be recorded.
Two years ago, a computer glitch on the GMAT damaged thousands of business school applicants' scores.
Computer-based testing centers have also proved costly. ETS recently announced that it will shut down nearly half of its overseas test administration centers in the next year, reintroducing the paper-based exam in those areas.
Testing officials recognize that computer-based testing isn't feasible in remote areas such as Africa, where connectivity is questionable and power reliability is scarce.
"We're not really retreating from computer testing," Yopp said. "We're being pragmatic and sensitive to access needs. Internet connectivity is not universal. If we rely only on the Internet, than we won't reach all the people."
Still, Yopp believes that computer-based testing will eventually replace paper-based exams.
ETS is targeting Internet-based testing in the next couple of years. Internet-based testing could alleviate costs for administering tests in large volumes.
"If it's on the Internet, we won't have large fixed costs as we have with the test centers," he said.
But security, access concerns and bandwidth constraints must be addressed before standardized tests will be offered on the Internet.
"I can't imagine how (Internet-based testing) wouldn't create more security problems," Schaeffer said. "As long as there are high stakes tests, there are going to be ways that technology can be breached."
In the meantime, ETS stresses that admissions officers shouldn't put such a heavy emphasis on standardized test scores.
"Admissions officers should never rely on a single standardized test score to make a decision," Yopp said. "They should always use other sources of information."
