High school student caught cheating on midterms with smart glasses bought on Karrot

A first-year high school student was caught cheating on midterm exams using smart glasses purchased on Karrot.

According to the Jeju Island Office of Education on Monday, a first-year student identified only as A was caught using smart glasses during grade-counted midterm exams at a high school in early October, Yonhap reported.

On the first day of exams, A wore the smart glasses during a Korean language test. On the second day, A swapped out regular glasses for the smart glasses after the exam had already begun and wore them throughout a social studies test.

The student's usual exam scores had been in the 20s. The scores from the tests taken with the smart glasses exceeded 80.

A had submitted a so-called "dummy phone" to deceive proctors, while secretly hiding a separate phone connected to the smart glasses inside the classroom.

An exam proctor caught the cheating after receiving a tip from another student.

The school gave A a score of zero on the two subjects taken while wearing the smart glasses.

A told school officials the smart glasses had been purchased on Karrot, the Jeju Island Office of Education said.

Separately, amid growing concerns about cheating through smart glasses, the Ministry of Education recently said dedicated agents at venues for the College Scholastic Ability Test, set for Nov. 19, will be fully equipped to detect smart glasses through advance training and education.

On Nov. 2, in response to reporters asking whether dedicated agents could identify various types of smart glasses, the ministry said it planned to train the agents using multiple methods, including hands-on exposure to actual smart glasses, and that it was confident they would develop sufficient capability.

The ministry also said dedicated personnel capable of identifying smart glasses would be stationed in a situation room, where they would verify whether glasses are smart glasses using photos and video footage.

Advance training and education for the dedicated agents will be conducted, with training hours varying by region depending on local conditions, the ministry added.

Earlier, the ministry announced it would assign one dedicated agent to each of the 1,312 exam venues nationwide to identify smart glasses.