Incoming Education Minister Kish: "The Education Ministry will change direction" (Photo: Knesset channel)
150,3 students are taking the matriculation exams in mathematics today (Monday) and tomorrow. While some enter the final exam after intensive repetition of ways to solve and review previous questions, others choose a simpler way - receiving real-time answers from test solvers, mainly for a fee, but not only. Black market of matriculation.
A simple search on Telegram turns up several groups for help solving the tests, sometimes with more than ten thousand members. In a partial, fictitious or full name, they are divided into two - the applicants and the bidders. The former send questions during the test, asking for assistance. The two solve the questions for them, usually by private and paid message, sometimes simply by general group message. The average pricing ranges from about NIS <> to a few hundred for those who prove their ability to deliver high results.
For example, when the test began in <> units of study, members of one of the large groups asked to take a photo of the form and send it. "Answers to my questionnaire are cheap," one of them suggested at the time. "Who solves me please urgently," another wrote a few minutes later, along with a photo of a question. Many messages were sent with similar wording. One of the senders took a full photo of the test, along with the request: "Send answers." "I'm scaredly stressed," shared another student.
"My cheapest prices", documentation of correspondence (photo: official website, none)
"Help those who are taking the test now" (Photo: official website, none)
Before long, solutions began to be sent. "Send here, I'm helping," the group member enlisted, and not only did she help the examinees, who themselves passed pictures with their solutions. However, most of the copying is done outside the open groups. Test solvers compete for customers through the same groups, telling about their affordable price and reliability. One spoke of "phenomenal success" and another mentioned the score his solution received at a previous date. The solutions and transactions themselves are done in a private message, under the auspices of anonymity allowed by Telegram.
"Be careful with money, the Education Ministry once planted people on Telegram. You would pay and they would disqualify you," the groups warned, and rightly so. In the past, the ministry and police have already seized copying networks through social networks. Last month, the Southern District Attorney's Office indicted four solution proposers, including two sisters in their 20s. The investigation was opened after the Ministry of Education identified a recurring pattern of answers and errors on hundreds of tests in various subjects. According to the indictment, they obtained the test forms before him, using one of them to work as a supervisor, during which they sent the answers for 50 to 300 shekels. In total, they earned more than NIS <> million from the deals.
The more cautious solvers are not satisfied with the secrecy of the app. "The students come by word of mouth. One child needs to know that you're doing it and he passes the message on," said one northern resident. "They send me questions during the test and I send them back."
"Send replies", documentation of correspondence (photo: official website, none)
"I went to test preparation sites, sat matriculation and practiced."
There were also students who chose to invest in learning instead of apps. Naomi Bar, an 3th grader at Branco Weiss in Kiryat Shmona, took the test today in three units. "I was a little nervous at first, but it went reasonable. I answered what I knew and learned in class and I hope for a good grade," she said. "The exam was overall fair. There were some very confusing questions but I did what I could. There was an atmosphere where everyone went pretty well, not too hard."
The Ministry of Education has already published the solutions for the matriculation exams in mathematics, which students took this morning. According to Ministry data, about 60% of those who take the course are at the level of 3 units of study, about 25% at the level of 4 units of study, and about 15% at the level of 5 units. Inbar Laban, a high school student at ORT Kiryat Bialik, is one of those 15%. "I went to test preparation sites, sat matriculation and practiced, went all the way to 2009," she said. "I hope it will be good. I tried to look at the solutions after the test and most of it was fine. I felt it was at the level I expected, not something excessive."
Laban added: "I have friends who have already gone to register for Session B and know they will. But there are also those who said that Schedule B will only be for improvement, who are quite happy with the answers that have been posted online. You can roughly estimate how much you will get. Today you come out of the exam and see straight answers."
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The Education Ministry said that "the ministry is taking a series of overt and covert measures, some of them in cooperation with and accompanied by the Israel Police, in order to detect copying, ensure the integrity of the exams and bring to the point of filing an indictment of those responsible. Maintaining the integrity of the exams is an educational, moral and civic task of paramount importance, which requires the responsibility of examinees and the entire system."
They added regarding the case in question: "The Ministry is aware of this, but these are only isolated cases, which are usually characterized by centralized responses through groups on social networks, after paying registration for groups. These days, indictments are being filed against those who participated in the offense after the ministry filed a complaint with the police, and students caught using phones, or in possession of phones, have been severely punished."
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