A Manitoba university says an investigation into what it has called a compromised second-year nursing exam in December has determined the questions were obtained and distributed from a “pirated” version of a textbook publisher’s test bank.
A statement Friday from Brandon University says the exam had been prepared based on the test bank, which it says is common practice, and was believed to be secured for faculty use only.
But the school says “today’s technology” means that pirated versions of exams and test banks can be found for sale online, and that the compromised exam and its test bank was purchased on a website specifically devoted to the sale of such materials.
The investigation discovered that some students used the questions to prepare for their exam expecting, and then finding, the questions to be the same.
It notes that other students declined to make use of the test bank.
Students in the class of about four dozen were given the chance to repeat the exam, with a penalty applied, and the school says all students retook the exam and passed.