Wear AI glasses during the CSAT and lose eligibility to take the exam... Criminal penalties planned

\ \ [Financial News] Candidates caught wearing or using smart devices such as AI smart glasses during the 2027 CSAT, which will be held on the 19th, will have that year’s exam invalidated and be disqualified from taking the exam the following year. The Ministry of Education plans to take strict action, including filing complaints and requesting investigations, so that planned and deliberate cheating can lead to criminal penalties.
The Ministry of Education issued guidance on test-taker precautions for the 2027 CSAT on the 9th.

\ \ According to the guidance, smart devices, including AI glasses, will be considered used even if they are merely worn during the exam. The exam for that year will be invalidated and eligibility to take the exam the following year revoked. For planned and deliberate cheating using AI glasses or similar devices, the ministry plans to pursue legal action, including filing complaints and requesting investigations, so that offenders may face criminal penalties under relevant laws in addition to sanctions such as invalidation of the exam. In a previous case involving the organized sending and receiving of answers by mobile phone during the 2005 CSAT, a sentence of eight months in prison, suspended for two years, was handed down.
Bringing smart devices into the exam room or simply possessing them is grounds for invalidating that exam. If a candidate refuses an exam supervisor’s request to check for smart devices such as AI glasses, the exam will be invalidated and the candidate disqualified from taking the exam the following year, subject to review.
The supervisors’ checks are intended to ensure fair administration of the exam, and ordinary glasses have nothing to do with cheating. During the period for handing in prohibited items before the first exam session, candidates must submit all electronic devices, including mobile phones, AI glasses, smartwatches, tablet PCs, Bluetooth earphones and e-cigarettes. Anyone caught possessing a device without handing it in will be treated as having cheated, and that year’s exam will be invalidated. The only watch candidates may bring is an analog watch with no payment or communication functions and no electronic display.
Candidates must attend the pre-exam briefing on November 18, the day before the exam, to receive their admission tickets and check the location of their test site. On the day of the exam, they must bring their admission ticket and a valid photo ID and enter their assigned exam room by 8:10 a.m. Mobile IDs are not accepted.
Candidates must take Korean History in the fourth session. Anyone who does not take it will have the exam invalidated and will not receive a score report. In the subsequent Inquiry section, candidates must take the subjects in the order they selected and may place on their desk and work on only the question booklet for the subject corresponding to that order. Candidates taking two subjects will be treated as having cheated if they revise or write answers for their first-choice subject during the time allotted to their second-choice subject, after the first-choice subject’s session has ended.
Starting this year, the provisional answer sheet provided on the back of the admission ticket must be completed before the end-of-session bell rings in each session. Completing it after the bell has rung but before the answer sheets and question booklets are collected will be treated as cheating.
Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said, “I urge test takers to make sure they read the guidance for candidates before the exam and bring no electronic devices, so that their efforts to date are not wasted because of an unfortunate incident.” He added, “We will spare no effort in supporting them, together with metropolitan and provincial education offices and relevant government agencies, so that test takers can demonstrate their abilities in a stable environment.”
[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter