AI exam proctoring went wrong at Mexico's biggest university, and 58,000 students must sit the test again
Nearly 160,000 applicants took UNAM's entrance exam remotely this year, watched by AI software instead of human invigilators. The results looked nothing like any previous year, and now tens of thousands of students face a retake.
Key points
- Around 160,000 students sat UNAM's entrance exam remotely for the first time in May to June 2025, monitored by AI webcam proctoring software.
- In previous years (2021 to 2025), 3.5 percent of test-takers scored 100 or more out of 120 questions; this year that figure jumped to 16.3 percent.
- The spike in top scores triggered an investigation, and approximately 58,000 students must now retake the exam.
- UNAM is Mexico's largest university, and its entrance exam is one of the most competitive in Latin America.
Mexico's biggest university, UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), tried something bold this summer. It moved its famously competitive entrance exam entirely online, with about 160,000 applicants sitting the test from their own homes between late May and early June 2025.
Instead of human invigilators in an exam hall, the university used AI-powered webcam proctoring software, the kind that watches your face through your laptop camera and flags anything suspicious, combined with a "lockdown" browser that blocks you from opening other tabs or searching the web.
It didn't go well.
What went wrong with the results?
The scores that came back looked nothing like any previous year. Between 2021 and 2025, around 3.5 percent of students scored 100 or more on the 120-question test. This year, 16.3 percent did. That's roughly five times as many top scorers as normal, in a single sitting.
If your child's school suddenly went from two A-grades per class to ten, you'd want to know why.
The jump was big enough that UNAM launched an investigation. As first reported by Ars Technica, the conclusion was damaging: the remote setup hadn't kept the exam secure, and results couldn't be trusted. About 58,000 students now have to sit the test a second time.
What does this mean for the students affected?
For the 58,000 students called back, this is genuinely disruptive, especially for anyone who rearranged work, sorted childcare or travelled to sit the original exam. It's a real cost paid by people who may have done nothing wrong.
It also raises a serious question about whether AI proctoring software is ready to guard a high-stakes test alone. The technology watches for things like looking away from the screen or a second voice in the room. But a 16 percent top-score rate suggests a lot of students found a way around it.
The AI-in-education beat has been busy lately. Our story on a professor who hid secret instructions inside an exam prompt to catch AI cheaters showed a different flavour of the same problem: the gap between what institutions assume the technology can do and what it actually does.
Should other universities worry?
Yes. AI proctoring, software that monitors students remotely during online tests, grew fast after the pandemic pushed exams off campus. Cheaper than renting a hall, easier for students who live far away. Those are real advantages.
The record is mixed, though. The software can flag innocent behaviour as cheating and miss actual cheating that happens off-camera. UNAM's case is an unusually large and public example of what can go wrong. A retake for 58,000 people is a significant cost in money and institutional trust.
For students anywhere facing an AI-proctored exam: read the rules carefully, check your camera angle and lighting beforehand, and keep your phone in another room. Not because the software is always fair, but because a false flag is a headache you don't need.
Common questions
Is AI proctoring used at universities outside Mexico?
Yes. Tools like Respondus and ProctorU are used at universities across the US, UK, Canada and Australia, often for online courses and remote entrance tests.
Does AI proctoring software actually stop cheating?
The evidence is split. Students can obscure notes off-screen or use a second device outside the camera's view. UNAM's results suggest determined students found workarounds at scale.
Can a student appeal an AI proctoring flag?
Policies vary by institution, but most universities allow a human review of flagged footage. If you're ever flagged, ask immediately for a human to review the evidence rather than accepting an automated decision.
