15 Hungarian students reportedly used AI on English graduation exam
Fifteen students at a Budapest vocational school reportedly used AI to write their essays on a Hungarian graduation exam in English, receiving passing grades and certificates despite poor oral exam performance. School officials and government regulators investigated but concluded the suspected cheating could not be definitively proven after the fact, leaving the certificates legally irrevocable under current rules.
What happened
Exam chair Judit Kolozs reportedly identified that 15 students at a Budapest vocational school used AI to write their essays on the English-language writing component of the graduation exam in May 2025. Kolozs noticed the discrepancy when students performed poorly on the oral exam despite submitting high-quality written essays with native-level language and sentence structures.
When confronted, the students denied using AI, claiming they had been nervous during the oral exam. Kolozs reported the issue to the school board, the regional government office, and the Education Office.
Reported impact
The students received passing grades and graduation certificates despite the suspected cheating. Kolozs noted that a significant regulatory gap exists: even when fraud is discovered during the oral exam, exam results cannot be retroactively invalidated.
Index analysis
The Interior Ministry stated that the exam chair did not formally note or object to the suspected fraud during the examination. An investigation by the Ministry and Education Office concluded that AI use could not be definitively proven retroactively, making the certificates legally irrevocable. The exam chair cited the marking teacher's failure to flag the suspicious essays as a significant oversight, since teachers know their students' typical writing styles.
Governance controls
Students are required to surrender their phones before written exams, but the exam chair suggested students may have circumvented this by using alternative phones or smartwatches. The Interior Ministry indicated that responsibility for exam integrity lies with the school director and exam chair, who authenticate certificates with their signatures.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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