Norway Tests Laptop-based Cheat-proof Exams

Huh, sounds good, but exactly what cheating are they preventing? It sounds like they are only trying to prevent cheating that itself derives from the use of a computer in the first place. If the test were still pen and paper (with nothing else allowed on the desk) it would be just as good.

yeah, how exactly does this stop anyone from looking over the shoulder of the smart kid in the classroom, especially now that his/her answers are propped up on a screen for all to see? or having another mobile device in hand to search for answers?

they are trying to replace vigilance with laziness. good luck to them.

So you load a hack during the "off" time of the week and run it during test days to get past the software. Don't think some kid will not be able to do this. If he/she does they should give them a passing grade for the pwnage.

In my days we used to cheat with out calculator. Store formulas and text.
You could also place a paper outside of the reach of the camera, and glance at it between every picture taken.
Stick some chewing gum in the cam,
or just paste the cheat paper ON the monitor. No cam's going to see that!

Stupid idea, Norway. No wonder Norway isn't famous and rich. If the laptops use regular hardware and aren't hardwired to prevent cheating and are in the hands of students 24/7, any student could hack it if they had the time.

Exactly. It's not that hard to do something like this. In our school(county: FCPS) we have testing done on PC, but you can't close or exit the app (or launch other apps), but you can Alt+Tab it if you have another program opened before launching the software lolz.

You do realize that Norway has a higher standard of living the USA? In fact they are #1 or #2 in the World on every webpage I can find.

In the great words of Bioshock:

"Sure, the boys in Norway's lab can make it cheat-proof. But that don't mean we ain't gonna cheat on it"

^because keyloggers and screenshots cannot be hacked (maybe by booting into a linux distro instead)

Please.

There is always a way around this stuff, you just need to have the know how

Even in the advent of the computer. Handwriting is still a very important skill to have. Without those years students have excessively making use of handwriting, their quality might even be to an unlegible level.

The American Education system isn't lousy because of funding. Its lousy because of its 16 decade old curriculum. However, no career politician has the balls to change it.

Logging into a different os? thats dum, thats like dual booting windows, so that you can take the test without that on there. you probably have to use what they give you........and log into something to validate your system

Im not expert at this thing, i was just giving a possible example. There are always ways to get around security on computers, it just the nature of things

I was more thinking log into linux to change whatever files you need to on your hard drive that my be protected under windows, etc.

oh ok, i get what you mean. If they really want to be smart, they will have your system have to check a server to make sure they are the exact files they want.

Screw that.
Keep all crucial programs on USB drive and/or a online database, and then just reformat the damned thing.

I'd love a free laptop though.
But I'd think a tablet PC would be better for a student. I've been trying to persuade my calculus teacher that for a while. My school pays $600 for a simple microphone (ha), so I'm sure a cheap tablet would be alright.

Give them a false feedback for a key logger or screen shot. ^_^
"Hey, why are you doing a history test during mathematics?"

You know how slow that would make these systems? Not to mention they will be pretty cheap hardware in the first place. So it would slow everything to a crawl if the complete contents of the hard drive were being constantly probed.

Not to mention VMware could easily overcome that. I just open up all my information in the Host OS, then virtualize the test. BAM, no screenshots, and no footprint.

This is much needed, but not for high school students - they should do it on pen and paper.

What this should be instead used for is in universities for programming students. Having to code a program on paper in three hours under intense pressure really REALLY hurts, and small mistakes like lack of semicolon at the end of the line can count as marks off - those things should rather be just small mistakes, not count for marks.

Trust me, I know this as well as any other computer science student.

I heard they are using "All In One Keylogger".
(Just a rumor)

CTRL + ALT + DELETE........Processes.....iSPY
End Process
End Process Tree
Debug
-----------------
Set Priority >
Set Affinity

Show me a cheat proof exam and I'll show you my time machine.

I think it's funny in that if someone has anything negative to say about anyone else, it must be an American saying it lol. The Finnish, Dutch, Danes, Lithuanians, Polish, and Swedish can't say ANYTHING negative about their neighbors at all.

Must I owned your ass with a history lesson on the horrible things done in Europe BY Europeans? Holocaust just for one. Lots of values and honor there. Oh and can't forget the common sense that was surrounding the Holocaust.

I just had to owned his arrogant ass.

icebain: "The Finnish, Dutch, Danes, Lithuanians, Polish, and Swedish can't say ANYTHING negative about their neighbors at all." Maybe they would say negative things, but they know that Norway is rich and as famous as a neighbour can be.
Only someone that lives in a very rich country far from Europe can write a sentence like that (I would say USA, Canada or Japan). Now just pick the most populated, with the worst reputation and where people speak english (I know is not 100% sure method but it can give a good guess).
Talking about historical bad things sure Europe is worst with thousands of years more of history. But lol I think history here is a bit out of the context.

Listen, I do go around spreading ignorance about Europeans, maybe I was taught with better values and honor when I was young, but I have the common sense to know not to bad mouth other cultures that I very obviously don't have any real experience with.



A. Assault rifles are illegal for civilian purchase and use.
B. A background check is performed before every gun purchase, and the list of criteria that would make you ineligible is rather large.
C. Many states and cities have further restrictions (wait periods for purchase, gun bans in cities, and permit and licensing restrictions).

In the 2 decades I have lives in the USA, I have never seen people I know solve an issue with firearms. Hell, I don't even know anyone that owns a firearm. It's not a commonplace thing in most of the USA.



What? Because they have honor and values, they weren't able to cheat? That speaks more to being inept, than to being honorable. I'd be honorable if I could very easily cheat, but decided not to.

You're the idiot that makes all Europeans look bad, because you wave some flag as if you're some sort of representative, then spew ignorance. If we'd just stop with all the bullshit flag waving and lumping each other into homogeneous groups, we'd all get along better.

Glad you can judge everyone by the actions of a few. Good thing we got this whole stereotype out of the way..

Do you even know what that means?



Yeah, because I couldn't use VMware, and have all the answers in the host OS. Oh wait.



Yet somehow, I made valid arguments, and you made a bunch of ignorant insults.



Yeah, if you average everything out, but this is a large country, and there are some pretty messed up places. There are some pretty messed up areas in Europe aswell. Most of our states are larger than your countries, with populations about the same. Hell, New York City has 5 times the population of Norway.



Lol, you're comparing a country with 5 million people, where >99.9% of the population is of Norwegian or Sami decent, to a country with a population of >300 million, and more ethnic groups and religions than any other country in the world.

wow.....maybe move this to an America vs. The World Thread???

you're both idiots.

anyway. cheating happens, and any means will be eventually bypassed. hackers defeated WGA in 24 hours. So it doesn't matter.

by the way, i'm an american, and i really don't care for America at the moment. too much stupidity. the only thing i really love about Europe is their music. Bands like Motorhead and Finntroll rock mah socks!

lawls...

Why are people spending so much time trying to hack, crack and otherwise
bypass the system created to make sure these people learn anything at all...

They are at school to learn shit.
all i can say is : Take away the damn computers and go back to pen and paper.

And by the way. As a native norwegian i can say that norway isn't all that great and shiny. We might have alot of money.. ut the public will never se it =)
And Norway does not by far have the best school system. There is a bunch of eastern european lands that have way higher ratings infact.

PS : let's stay on topic... don't wander off into my country vs your contry (like i just did). That stuff can be handled in a different thread.

peace out

The discussion on this topic is unfortunate. The article has not provided all of you with enough information to seriously debate the issue. Firstly, the method being tested in the north of Norway is just one of many. As a matter of fact, it will never be implemented, because it uses a method (similer to wiretapping) which is illegal in Norway. Most of you are not familiar with the testing system in Norway and the new rules governing it. The system dictates that all high school pupils must have computers and use them in school - and because the country is rich - it subsidizes the purchase of such and the programs installed on them. The reason is not because these are better that pen and pencil - which are still used, even on tests - but because the government wants to make sure that the population is computer literate. Norwegian exams (and the school system as a whole) are in many cases radically different from those in the USA. This does not make either system better or worse - the systems are too different to be compared except in a few areas - but the type of exams that we are talking about in Norway are not like SAT tests or multiple choice answer tests like those common in the USA. Most of the exams here are essay based. As for the rules, it will surprise most Americans to know that the written exams are, as of now, "open book" exams - all material, including textbooks, all allowed (which is why "cheating" in the sense that most Americans would think of - namely crib notes - don't come into play). Only two things are not allowed: use of the internet and direct communication with other people. The internet can simply be shut off through the master firewall box which all schools have to connect to, and communication is shut off by a) closing all ports on the firewall box b) removing cell phones from the exam room and c) placing four or five mean looking proctors to patrol the aisles while all this is going on. Furthermore, all examination papers are handed in electronically and run through the Dutch Ephorus system, which scans for plagiarism. This is not a perfect system, and, if you ask me, I personally don't know why the internet is off limits, when everything else is allowed - but hey, I'm not a bureaucrat. It's anyone's guess as to their reasoning....

That sounds nice... as long as nobody is sitting next to you.

A point of clarification then: with the new type of digital exams which are downloaded randomly from the exam site that you log on to, the likelihood of the person sitting next to you getting the same exam is not very great. Furthermore, even if, as under the old system, you did get the same set of questions, the likelihood that you would answer exactly the same questions as your neighbor (you choose one out of serveral) is also not very great. And even then, because the essay that you write has to be many typewritten pages long, that would put a severe strain on your neighbors eyeballs, if he were to be busy copying your answer. And even if he had Superman's eyeballs, his test would show up positive on the Euphorus plagiarism control site, which would disqualify him (and unfortunately, possibly also you). Anyway, an open book exam means that you and your neighbor are going to be too busy paging through your referance material to bother with each other...