UA puts a stop to cheating on math placement exams

CampusTechnology.com has a gem of a story today about the UA's methods for placing freshmen into an appropriate math class.

A year ago, the University of Arizona math department stopped issuing paper tests and switched to an online test.

Turns out, tons of freshmen cheated on the test.

Now, why anyone would cheat on this test to get herself placed into a higher-level, more difficult math class is beyond me. That's just setting yourself up for failure, right?

Yes, and the math department did the analysis to prove it.

Well anyway, the UA math department has solved the problem by layering on an online proctoring service that goes with the online test. They'll have to do another analysis to see whether the fix works.