UNAM orders new admissions test after online exam cheating scandal
UNAM ordered admitted students back to the exam hall after its first online admissions test was tainted by alleged AI cheating, leaked answers and a black market for responses.
UNAM required every student who passed its online undergraduate admissions exam to take a new in-person test after investigators found signs of cheating that included artificial intelligence, leaked answers and a black market for responses. The order hit the 2026-2027 admissions cycle, the first time Mexico’s largest public university moved the exam online instead of holding it in person.
The university suspended new undergraduate enrollment on July 25 and set up a technical commission to review the results and decide whether to validate them or rerun the process. Late-July accounts put the scale of the problem at different levels, with one analysis saying nearly half of test takers may have cheated, another placing about 158,000 exams under scrutiny, a third saying 160,000 aspirants were affected by problems in digital proctoring, and one estimate putting suspected cheating at 75,000 students.
Rejected applicants and parents protested at UNAM’s Rectorate Tower and on the Ciudad Universitaria campus, demanding that the exam be repeated in person. UNAM’s provisional response was a new in-person control exam for those who had passed the first round, a move that would force legitimately admitted students to prove themselves again while leaving failed applicants still waiting for a clean admissions process.
The scandal has also sharpened the argument over remote proctoring and AI in education. Experts cited in coverage warned that online monitoring can generate both false positives and false negatives, and one commentator said blaming AI alone can hide deeper flaws in UNAM’s decision to move the admissions test online and spend heavily on monitoring it.
The internal fallout deepened on August 1, when Patricia Dávila left her post as UNAM secretary general. Rector Leonardo Lomelí, who became rector in 2023, has been leading the response as the university confronts one of its biggest crises in years and tries to restore confidence in the admissions system that has long served as a gateway to Mexico’s flagship public university.
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