The new regulations punish not only those who cheat while writing the exam but also those caught "cheating after the exam". This sort of cheating includes demands for teachers to raise test marks through pleas, bribery, and threats.

Students who plagiarize in essays and theses stand to not only fail that course but to possibly lose their entire degree. And in cases where a student finds someone else to write their exam, both parties involved will be expelled from school.

With personal data assistance, calculators with higher memory and modern communication tools, students are better equipped for cheating. The new rules forbid any of these electronic tools in the exam.

However in many ways the new rules, when compared to the old rules, are more humane. For example, with the new rules students can only access their test results through the internet as opposed to the old practice of publicly posting test results.

According to Li Ji'an, dean of Beijing University, the new rules will be implemented starting from the next semester of 2002, to ensure a fairer, more transparent test system.

(China Daily June 28, 2002)