The British Council said recently, some impostors "with connections to test organizers" can change IELTS scores and provide questions before the official test date.

The British Council believes that, as the owner and provider of the Aptis ESOL test and co-owner and provider of the IELTS test in Vietnam, this unit has recorded thousands of Aptis ESOL and IELTS candidates achieving high scores, reflecting the true ability of the candidates over the years.

However, there is still a small percentage of candidates who intentionally cheat by finding someone to “take the test for them” or using various cheating methods or becoming victims of scammers who take the candidates’ money and disappear. This fraudulent information is advertised on social networking sites (such as Facebook, Zalo…), on forums or websites, sent to candidates via email or via messaging applications.

“All of the above advertising behaviors and content are fraudulent. The British Council hopes that candidates will always be vigilant when receiving this fraudulent information,” the British Council affirmed.

In cases of cheating, the examination board will cancel the exam results even after receiving the score sheet but if cheating is detected through security measures, we will investigate after the candidate completes the exam.

IELTS and Aptis ESOL exams are strictly confidential through many stages before, during and after the exam to ensure the accuracy and reliability of an international standard foreign language proficiency assessment exam.

Serious cases of cheating may result in the cancellation of test results, a five-year ban for IELTS and one year for Aptis ESOL, and a refusal to be considered for a specified period by global certificate recognition organisations.

In response to the question of what measures the British Council has in place to prevent cheating in the event of a candidate intentionally cheating by finding someone to take the test for them, the organisation said it has advanced management systems to detect cheating or attempts to break security barriers from within and outside the organisation. In addition, testing units also have many security measures in place to support candidates and protect the interests of educational institutions and schools that currently recognise and use the results of the IELTS and Aptis ESOL tests.

These multi-layered security measures implemented by the British Council to enhance exam security include dedicated test venue procedures, and rigorous operational and annual audit procedures for test centres.

“We are also working closely with other agencies around the world, including Immigration and Legal Services, to detect, prevent and take appropriate legal action against fraudulent or deceptive practices in accordance with national laws,” the British Council stressed.

Do Hop