To Prevent Cheating ... Gyeongnam Office of Education to Assign 'Dedicated Smart Glasses Staff' at CSAT Test Sites

Amid the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-equipped smart glasses to cheat on various exams, the Gyeongnam Office of Education will assign dedicated smart-glasses staff to test sites for the 2027 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which will be held on November 19.

The provincial education office said on November 9 that it would add one staff member to each headquarters team and assign a total of 104 dedicated smart-glasses staff to 107 CSAT test sites across the province.

Gyeongnam Office of Education. Photo by Lee Seryeong.

Smart glasses are eyewear-shaped devices equipped with features such as a camera, audio, communications, information searches, and AI-generated answers.

They are considered convenient devices that allow users to get directions, take photos or videos, translate foreign languages, and search for information without taking out a smartphone. However, there have been repeated instances of attempts to use them to cheat at test sites.

When a test-taker wearing smart glasses looks at an exam paper, a camera hidden in the frames photographs the questions, and AI finds the answers and displays them on the lenses or delivers them as audio through a miniature speaker.

There have been attempts to cheat using smart glasses at TOEIC test sites. Last month, students were caught wearing smart glasses during essay-based admissions exams at Yonsei University and the University of Seoul, as well as a midterm exam at Hongik University’s College of Business Administration.

The Ministry of Education has designated smart glasses as prohibited items for this year’s CSAT and warned that those caught with them could have their exams invalidated, lose their eligibility to take the test, and face criminal complaints.

In response, the Gyeongnam Office of Education decided to appoint dedicated staff to prevent cheating using smart glasses, ease the burden on teachers serving as proctors and on schools hosting the tests to identify the devices, and establish a professional response system.

Earlier, on November 2 and 3, the office held training on CSAT procedures for staff members at test-site schools and those in charge of test administration, and provided guidance on the Ministry of Education’s response measures for smart glasses.

On November 17, it will hold training for the dedicated staff, show them actual smart glasses, and teach them how to identify the devices and carry out key inspection procedures.

If a proctor spots a device suspected of being smart glasses on the day of the CSAT, the dedicated staff will check it, make a determination, and take action in accordance with the Ministry of Education’s smart-glasses response guidelines.

Proctors will learn how to monitor for cheating through advance video training and a guide distributed on the day of the pre-test briefing.

Jeong Seonhui, director of the Career Education Division, said, "We will protect the fairness of the exam by preventing cheating with smart glasses in advance through guidance for test-takers and training for dedicated staff. We will do our utmost to create a safe test-site environment where the CSAT can be held smoothly, so that neither test-takers wearing glasses nor other test-takers feel undue anxiety or pressure."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.