100 yuan for answer of English test sold online

The Ministry of Education is looking into a reported leaking of test answers during the national entrance examination for postgraduate students, which ended on Monday.

The ministry issued a statement on its website on Monday, saying answers to an English test had reportedly been circulating online and, if found to be true, would seriously damage the credibility of the exam and bring severe penalties to those responsible.

More than 1.65 million people took the exam from Jan 7 to 9.

The whistle-blower, Liu Ruoqing, 23, a first-year PhD candidate in physics at Tsinghua University, posted evidence on Jan 7 on Weibo.com. The post went viral and reached the attention of school authorities and the Ministry of Education.

Liu's girlfriend, who asked to remain anonymous, took the test for the master of law program at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

On Jan 6, she read messages in an online chat group that offered answers to the English test, for 100 yuan ($15.84), that was scheduled for the next day.

She told Liu and figured it must be a scam. However, she later found questions from the English test she had taken are nearly the same as a posting on the online chat group half an hour before the test.

The sender of the leaked messages is now offline and the chat group has closed.

On Jan 7, Liu started posting screenshots of the messages from his girlfriend on his micro blog. That blog account is verified to be registered to Liu, president of the micro blog association at Tsinghua University.

Many netizens responded they had received similar messages online or on their mobile phones.

The screenshot of a text message was widely circulated. The message spread answers and essay questions from the English test. It was labeled "exam tips from Qihang", an education group headquartered in Guangdong province that helps students prepare for the exam.

The operator at Qihang's headquarters in Guangzhou declined to be interviewed and denied any relation to the alleged leak.

Liu said Guangdong public security authorities had replied on the agency micro blog that they had started an investigation.

Guo Yong, director of student affairs office at Tsinghua University, said the office had received evidence collected by Liu and reported the case to school authorities.

Although the alleged leak has not been confirmed, Tsinghua University feels obligated to inform the Ministry of Education of the case, Guo said.

Fang Zhouzi, a Chinese blogger known for exposing academic fraud, made an online appeal to collect evidence of the leak.

Fang said he had received a host of online images from people who had heard or seen messages about test answers but were not involved in the dealings.

Unless someone involved comes forward and talks about it, there is no credible evidence, Fang said, because screenshots can be photoshopped, and the time shown on the images can be adjusted.

Chen Liqun, of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, heard reports of a leak right after she left an exam at Nanchang No 12 Middle School.

"It's not surprising that there are people selling answers before tests, so I didn't take this one seriously. But if its true, it's unfair to others who took the test and who have worked hard and don't cheat to get a high score," she said.

Shen Yazhen, another test taker from Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, was disappointed when she learned of the news from online discussions.

"So far, it remains a rumor, and I hope the authorities will soon find out the truth and officially disclose it to the public," she said.

Luo Wangshu contributed to this story.