Daily Times

Cheating students are using tiny listening devices bought on Amazon for just £50 during exams.

Pupils can put the wireless earpieces in their ears and link them to a phone or mp3 player to remind themselves of some crucial answers in the exam.

There are a range of devices available on websites such as Amazon and eBay including calculators that can show revision notes on screen.

One such calculator is selling on Amazon for £35.99 under the name ‘cheating calculator’.

Neil Carmichael, chairman of the Commons education select committee, has demanded a “comprehensive solution” from the government.

He told The Sunday Telegraph, “I would say we should be thinking about counter-technology, and random spot checks. This trend threatens to undermine our exam system.”

And cross-bench peer Baroness Wolf went one step further, calling for airport-style metal detectors.

MailOnline has contacted Amazon for comment.

Academic cheating is a significantly common occurrence in high schools and colleges in the United States. Statistically, 70 percent of public high school students admit to serious test cheating. Sixty percent say they have plagiarised papers. Only 50 percent of private school students, however, admit to this. The report was made in June 2005 by Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe for The Centre for Academic Integrity.