"Only Those Who Studied Hard Were Made Fools"... Tax Accountant Exam Candidates 'Disheartened' as Top Scorer Confesses to Cheating

"Was that person the only one?"
Distrust in professional qualification exams continues

After this year's top scorer on the tax accountant exam confessed to cheating with a miniature camera and artificial intelligence (AI), other candidates expressed anxiety and disillusionment.

Smart glasses placed on an exam paper. The photo is not directly related to the article. Photo by Yonhap News Agency.

On November 15, Candidate A, this year's top scorer on the tax accountant exam, appeared on a lawyer's YouTube channel and admitted, "I cheated in both the first and second rounds using electronic devices and generative AI," adding, "I wrote down everything I did in a confession and submitted it to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency."

After Candidate A admitted to cheating, posts expressing disillusionment began appearing that day on an online community for people preparing for the tax accountant exam. Posts included comments such as, "I studied for two years and passed the first round of the tax accountant exam for the first time this year, but someone else got a perfect score with AI. It's so disheartening"; "It's really futile that the Human Resources Development Service of Korea didn't notice the cheating at all"; and "Someone else might also have used AI to get just over the passing line without drawing attention and be working as a tax accountant. I hope they get punished someday."

There were also suspicions that, in addition to the top scorer who turned himself in, there may have been other people who cheated. A post on another online community for tax accountant exam candidates read, "Should we check whether additional successful candidates used AI? Now everything seems suspicious."

The mood was similar in online communities for candidates taking other professional qualification exams, not just the tax accountant exam. Posts on an online community for people preparing for the certified judicial scrivener exam included comments such as, "Most of those who passed the second round probably studied diligently and competed fairly, but I can't be sure there wasn't a 'troublemaker' among them"; "So few people are selected for final qualification that it's really mind-boggling if someone passed by cheating and beat out people who studied hard"; and "I can't help thinking that only those who studied while sick were fools."

Candidates are even more disheartened because the fact that Candidate A sat in the center of the front row during the second-round exam exposes a major weakness in monitoring for cheating. The Human Resources Development Service of Korea said that its checks for electronic and communication devices were carried out properly, but it did not identify any signs of cheating until Candidate A confessed.

Some have argued that measures to prevent AI-assisted cheating should be put in place, even if that means postponing the College Scholastic Ability Test. The argument is that a monitoring system that relies on detecting cheating with the naked eye, along with a response focused on punishment after the fact, cannot ensure a fair exam. As of 4 p.m. that day, a total of 40 posts calling for measures to address AI-assisted cheating had been posted on the website of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. One complainant urged the authorities to "consider postponing the exam until effective measures to prevent cheating are fully in place." However, some say a similar method would be difficult to use on the CSAT, unlike the tax accountant exam, because smartphones are strictly prohibited in the exam room.

On November 16, the government is expected to hold a vice-ministerial meeting involving the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and other relevant ministries, chaired by Prime Minister Han Seongsuk, to further discuss measures to address cheating involving AI.

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