Jobseekers fret over test policy

• Source: Global Times
• [02:42 December 08 2009]
• Comments

By Xu Shenglan

Many of the jobseekers who sat for this year's national civil service exam criticized the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security for refusing to make public test questions and answers from previous years.

They said not doing so makes the ministry appears indifferent to transparency and not willing to help examinees to prepare for the exam.

The exam, which wrapped up November 29, attracted 1.04 million applicants. The list of qualified applicants will be announced in late December early 2010.

Some exam takers who sought out past exam papers and answers were unsuccessful because the information hasn't been released since the exam began in 1994. This has created business opportunities for some who claim they have access to past papers.

"The lack of transparency with the exam brought us lots of inconvenience during our preparation," said Liu Jinhui, a test taker from China Foreign Affairs University. "The authorities should publish past papers and answers which could give us a guide on how to prepare."

Some candidates turned to education institutions such as Huatu Education and offcn.com for analysis of the past papers though the answers given by the institutions are varied.

The Beijing Morning News reported that applicants who took the exam passed on details of the tests to the education institutions.

The institutions send workers to the test every year. The candidates took special pens with built-it cameras to take pictures of exam papers and then search answers after tests, reported the newspaper.

In a separate development, 12 people were sentenced to jail for between six months and a year in Qingdao, Shandong Province for cheating with pinhole cameras during the provincial civil service exam on March 15. The candidates of the test sent questions with the camera to someone outside who search for the answers, Qilu Evening News reported Sunday.