The Test Fraud Checklist
With test fraud an ever-present threat to businesses and organizations everywhere, the need for thorough and reliable measures to protect against it is becoming increasingly necessary. Despite the consequences of test fraud being well-documented, still it seems that exam integrity and the fines that come with it are a challenge business leaders are concerned about. To help systematically combat this, Questionmark has created the ultimate Test Fraud Checklist. This handy checklist has been designed to help you deter, prevent and detect test fraud—use it to check you’re covering all the steps needed to keep your assessments secure, valid and fair.
What is this comprehensive test fraud checklist for?
The below test fraud checklist is for companies who have employees taking internal, external, or CPD/CPE tests and exams in the workplace. Following these steps will help reduce cheating in tests and exams by employees—and the resultant integrity and compliance issues. Steps are divided into those that deter test fraud, those that prevent it, and those that detect and respond to it.
Deter: Actions to deter employees from considering test fraud
ACTION
RATIONALE
| 1 | Write a policy Define and communicate a formal policy requiring employees to take tests and exams on their own, without unauthorized aids and following testing rules. | Without a clear policy, employees may not realize how seriously their company takes test fraud. The lack of policies in this area has been highlighted in regulator actions. |
| 2 | Incorporate the policy into training Include the requirement to take tests honestly within your integrity and ethics training. | Reinforces that the policy is taken seriously. |
| 3 | Bring managers onside Brief executives and managers on the need for testing integrity and encourage them to communicate this to their teams. | Tone and culture are set at the top. |
| 4 | Publicize security measures Communicate to employees what you are doing to secure tests and the consequences for cheating. Publicize cheating incidents and responses internally. | Deterrence is a powerful security mechanism. Seeing examples of others disciplined for test cheating helps disincentivize the activity. |
| 5 | Remove the need to cheat Provide good learning opportunities for all tests that employees have to take. | Helps people realize they can pass the test without cheating. |
For our full Test Fraud checklist, including how to prevent and detect Test Fraud, hit the download button.
What are the benefits of using this test fraud checklist?
Regulators are always looking for examples of businesses being proactive in tackling issues like test fraud, and by using this checklist, you can easily demonstrate the measures you have put in place to minimize its occurrence. What’s more, this checklist not only enables you to manage the testing of your current employees, but also people at the pre-employment stage, putting in place clear policies and top-down communications on the company’s stance on test fraud before an individual is even hired.
Should I try and prevent all test fraud equally?
While all test fraud is, of course, undesired, the trick to tackling it effectively is understanding that not all test fraud is equally harmful. The diagram shown here can help you quantify risk in a meaningful way, allowing you to place focus on those situations of high probability and high impact, as opposed to the low probability and low impact. Discover more on this subject by reading ‘Investigating Test Fraud and Creating Reliable Assessments’.
What else can I do to manage test fraud within my organization?
Test fraud is the unfortunate result of people having the opportunity, the incentive and the ability to rationalize what they’re doing as ‘not so bad’. While great technology (like online proctoring that can use AI to flag suspicious activity) is a wonderful deterrent, preventing test fraud takes much more than tech-based approaches. From question design, communication on consequences and setting up test takers for success, organizations need a full approach when tackling this area of learning and development.
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For white papers, articles, videos and much more on all things test fraud, check out Questionmark’s Resource Center today, and find out how you can prevent cheating before it starts.
*Disclaimer: this checklist is provided by Questionmark in good faith, but we can’t warrant that following these actions will necessarily stop test fraud. Please note that that educational and certification tests might need slightly different steps than those outlined here. This checklist is copyright of Questionmark Computing Limited 2022 but may be copied for use within organizations providing Questionmark is accredited.