Test for Turkey´s ruling ´testocracy´

Allegations of a second exam scandal in less than a year erupted in Turkey over the weekend after a mother in Artvin claimed to be able to solve 80 percent of the university entrance exam’s math questions with a simple code.

The shocking claim that a simple code could provide the answer to many questions on the university placement exam, which determines the fate of about 1.7 million students each year, was met with no clear statement from officials, instead causing more confusion among the public.

“There is no code,” said Professor Ali Demir of the Student Selection and Placement Center, or ÖSYM, which administered the exam.

“This code does not apply to any of the exam booklets given to students,” said Demir during Sunday’s press conference, adding that the booklets used in the exam would all be posted on ÖSYM’s website.

The Higher Education Examination, or YGS, took place on March 27. Shortly after, Ayla Varan, a lawyer and mother in Artvin, claimed that she had cracked a code in the math section that allowed her to answer more than 30 questions correctly, an event she deemed to be more than coincidence.

According to Varan’s theory, which was confirmed by the owner of a local after-school YGS prep-course center before being revealed to the general public, when the five multiple-choice answers in each question are re-ordered from smallest to largest below the questions choices themselves, the choice that remains in the same place is the correct answer.

“The code works on 80 percent of the questions. Our distrust in ÖSYM was proven once again,” Varan told daily Habertürk.

The scandal caused an uproar in the already sensitive matter of the university placement exam, which itself has been a constant subject of criticism for determining the rest of a student’s life in a single exam, causing students to start after-school prep-courses even before high school and spending years of their lives and plenty of their parents’ money to have their fate decided in one sitting.

New cheat-resistant system

Security measures were tightened at the ÖSYM after the Public Personnel Selection Examination, or KPSS, questions were stolen last year. In addition to security cameras in exam rooms, the exam itself underwent a major renovation, with a new system that produced a different booklet for each individual, with variations in the order of questions and the multiple-choice answers.

The copy of the exam given to the press was thus created separately, and is not a copy of an actual exam booklet, stated ÖSYM chief Demir on Sunday. And to further clarify the issue, Demir announced that the individual booklets will be made available on the ÖSYM website.

“Nothing was done to give one exam taker an advantage over another. We want students and parents to have no doubts in the matter. The alleged code does not apply to any of the testing booklets,” said Demir.

“So is there a code in the booklet prepared for the press?” asked one journalist during the press conference.

“The answers in the master booklet are listed from smallest number to largest,” said Demir.

“But I have the master booklet in my hand,” the journalist replied. “It is not listed from smallest to largest as you have stated. The answers are mixed.”

“No one has seen the master booklet,” Demir said. “The one you hold is a variation of the master booklet. When re-ordered, the one that remains is the correct answer. But this should not be seen as a code.”

The press conference on Sunday came after a statement from the ÖSYM on Saturday that the press copy of the exam was not a copy used during the exam and that the booklets would be made available online, which was not deemed enough by the press and the general public. Therefore the press conference by the ÖSYM chief, containing a nearly identical statement, caused even more confusion among the public.

In addition to repeating ÖSYM’s statement from the previous day, Demir also explained the new system.

“An algorithm is used to randomize the master booklet and create 1.7 million unique booklets. Any overlaps are purely coincidence, and we have seen that there are only one or two,” said Demir.

The creator of the Istanbul Technical University National Software Certification Center, Professor Berk Üstündağ, also commented on the new system to the daily Vatan.

“The variations in the booklets are produced using computer software. However, the software can be interfered with using outside codes. If 27 out of 40 questions are solved using this code, the chances of it are one in 7,500 quadrillion. Given that such a possibility is not possible, then that indicates that someone interfered from the outside,” said Üstündağ.

Political figures not convinced

Former ÖSYM head Professor Ünal Yarımağan said the code does not seem like a coincidence.

“The situation is very troubling if the coding was an organized effort,” he said.

“If the claims are true, then it is not only the ÖSYM head that is responsible. It is also the Higher Education Board [YÖK] head and the government that brought him to his position. This is an organized fraud. The prime minister needs to release a statement without getting angry and scolding anyone,” said former Minister of Education Metin Bostancıoğlu.

A poll conducted by the daily Milliyet’s website revealed that the more than 80 percent of respondents did not believe Demir’s statement.

“They have created such a system that the answers do not even have to be handed out to anyone,” said main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who added that he was waiting for an announcement from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, who have yet to comment on the incident.

“Unfortunately, certain powers who have entered the government are using the power of the administration to give favors to their supporters. A code cannot be created without the will from the upper levels,” said Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, group deputy chairman Oktay Vural.

“We saw on [Saturday] that the entire math section of the exam could be solved correctly within 10 minutes,” said CHP deputy leader Engin Altay in a press conference on Sunday.

“The ÖSYM has not only been taken over, but it has been besmirched. The ÖSYM chief, the YÖK head and the minister of education must all resign. The prime minister must apologize to the people. The YGS must be canceled, and those who took the exam must be paid financial and emotional damages,” said Altay.

Students from the youth branch of the CHP also gathered to protest in front of the ÖSYM building on Sunday.

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor´s Office launched an investigation in the matter on Sunday.

“We have sent the prosecutor’s office one booklet from each exam center in every province,” said Demir during the press conference, totaling over 89,000 copies sent to the prosecutor.

“We are prepared to answer any questions,” said Demir. “We have no doubts.”

How does the code work?

The 8th question of the exam copy released by the ÖSYM following the exam gives the following choices: “A) 8 B) 9 C) 6 D) 3 E) 4.”

Applying the code, the choices are numbered from smallest to largest: “A) 3 B) 4 C) 6 D) 8 E) 9.”

The correct answer to the question is “C) 6,” which also happens to be the choice that remained in the same spot after the code was applied

Very amatorish! It can be turned into the derangment problem of a 4-member set. So out of 24 possible permutations there are only 9 possible derangments (as given by the example in this link).

Question is "did some of the test-takers know about this during the exam"?

I watched a discussion aboutthis on TV last night. The math questions were time consuming. And if some knew about this, they easily gained an extra half an hour to solve the other questions after having solved the math questions with little effort while others were still struggling with them.

Turkey´s test czar stands code war ground

With allegations flying and calm nowhere in sight, the head of Turkey’s testing authority has made another public statement in a further effort to allay concerns about unfairness and cheating on the latest university placement exam. He cites a lack of experience, poor foresight and new technology as reasons for the confusion and panic among the public

Students protest the top education board in Ankara after a new cheating allegation in a crucial exam. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

A lack of experience and preparation shortcomings are to blame for the confusion surrounding a controversial national exam, but none of these factors affected the test’s integrity, according to the head testing authority.

“There is not a single reason to annul the exam. I advise students to concentrate on the second exam that will take place June 19,” Professor Ali Demir, who heads the Student Selection and Placement Center, or ÖSYM, told Ankara media bureau chiefs Wednesday.

Demir, however, was unable to allay concerns on the trustworthiness of the exam in a repeat press conference called to address a national uproar after it emerged that there was a “code” indicating the correct answers on the university placement exam, or YGS. In all, 1.7 million students took the test at the end of March.

“Due to a lack of experience, we unnecessarily distributed a copy [with the code] to the press in which the right choices were kept in their places while the wrong choices were shuffled,” Demir said. “This happened because we could not envision such a thing, meaning it has been out of our control.”

According to Demir, the copy exam booklet, which was distributed only to the media, was prepared by an IT specialist at Meteksan, a private company that printed all the booklets.

“We will not repeat the same mistakes in the second leg of the exam. We will not give an exam copy to the media,” Demir said, adding that they would increase their efforts to avoid the appearance of patterns. “We will be much more precise next time.”

Despite the acknowledged mistakes, Demir emphasized that students had not been provided the copy sent to the media. “There is no code, there is no order in the key,” he said.

All booklets will be posted on ÖSYM’s website so that students can assure themselves that there was no code, Demir said. “We have already posted 580,000 booklets. We’ll complete the posting this weekend.”

Hi-tech system beset by gremlins

The glitches in ÖSYM’s handling of the exam stemmed from the organization’s attempt to use advanced technology for the first time, the head said.

“This is like using a brand-new, hi-tech car. It could also break down easily,” he said. “We are committed to continuing to prepare private booklets for each test-taker. We believe this is the best way to provide a fair exam by sidelining cheaters.”

ÖSYM to continue investigating claims

Noting that the questions were prepared in a secure environment in which no one was allowed to leak information to the outside, Demir said: “We have already analyzed 1.4 million students’ exams and we have made comparisons with last year’s exam. Nothing unusual was detected. As the copy distributed to the media was not given to the test-takers, I am sure that there is no unfairness in the exam.”

Still, Demir said he had instructed his staff to continue to investigate all claims about the code and added that a judicial investigation has also been launched to look into such claims.

One case has already been opened by the country’s administrative court for the annulment of the exam due to the code claims.

“If the Council of State orders an annulment, then there is nothing to do. We will abide by the law and redo the exam,” Demir said.

Highlighting that ÖSYM is responsible for dozens of other centralized exams and that its recent efforts had prevented some test-takers from cheating, Demir said: “We have put their plans out of action. Those who have been damaged by these [anti-cheating measures] could be behind this controversy.”

Demir said he was planning to write letters to the students and families to explain the whole process, including the preparation period and the claims about the code to allay concerns.

“I am asking students to concentrate on their studies for the second leg of the exam, and I also call on the media to be sensitive in their reporting. Let’s not unsettle our students,” he said.

‘Mod median methodology’

One of the speculations about the university placement exam was the application of the “mod median methodology” in the key, which was reportedly known by many students even before sitting the exam. It was also reported that these words were the most Googled words in Turkey on March 25 and 26, immediately before the sitting of the exam.

Asked about the jump in searches, Demir said he was aware of the piece of news, but added that because of the amount of speculation currently surrounding the exam, he preferred to ignore the issue.

Not : I find  that slogan funny  " BEHZAT Ç. GELSİN " !!

If you go to google trends and see "mod medyan" it skyrockets just before the exams:

Try this link for example.

This means many people knew about this technic when taking the exam.