Monday, September 9, 2002		Feature

THE board of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) in which thousands appear every year to pursue higher education in the USA has decided to cancel the computer science test in India due to security breaches.

The board decided to cancel the test in India and China in the 2002-03 testing year after an investigation revealed improper sharing by students of questions from the computer science test, said a GRE statement.

The breach also involved students illegally sharing memorised questions over the Internet.

The GRE is a mandatory test held by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for students who wish to study social sciences or engineering in the US after their graduation.

The board has also decided not to hold the computer science test anywhere in the world in November this year.

According to the ETS, significant numbers of questions from the GRE computer science test have been illegally revealed to applicants in recent months despite students signing an agreement saying they would not share questions.

In 2002, there were 862 computer science test takers in China, including Hong Kong, and 388 in India.

The GRE board is not permanently withdrawing the computer science test in these countries. It is expected that the test will again be offered in these countries in the fall of 2003.

"The GRE board regrets having to take this action which is absolutely not an indictment of all Chinese and Indian students," Carole Beere from GRE board told IANS.

Applicants who registered to take the computer science test in India or China in 2002-03 will be sent a full refund of their test fee.