An AI-supervised remote exam went so badly that 58,000 students must retake it
Earlier this summer, nearly 160,000 applicants took the entrance exam for UNAM, Mexico's largest university. For the first time, they did it completely remotely, using a "lockdown" browser and AI-powered webcam proctoring software, over several weeks from late May through early June. It was a disaster. When exam results came in, they bore little resemblance to past results, especially at the top. Between 2021 and 2025, 3.5 percent of test takers scored 100 or more on the 120-question UNAM test.
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Nearly 160,000 applicants took Mexico's largest university's entrance exam remotely for the first time this summer, using AI-powered webcam proctoring software and a lockdown browser. The results showed suspiciously high scores, with top performers increasing five-fold compared to previous years, leading experts to conclude that widespread cheating likely occurred. About 58,000 students who would have been admitted based on this year's results must now retake the exam in person with human proctors, since the remote security measures failed to prevent cheating through methods like positioning monitors outside the camera's view or using hidden earphones.
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