A single case of cheating is suspected in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) as the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAE) found that a person had used mobile phone to access a website that contained answers to some questions.

In its investigation findings released yesterday, HKEAE said it had asked the UK-based website to disclose the log-in information. The website has recorded five cases of accessing, one of which was through a mobile phone, during the exam period from Hong Kong.

Some candidates taking the English Language (Syllabus B) test on May 4 had complained to newspapers and posted messages in Internet blogs that some of their fellow examinees went to the toilet and used mobile phones to browse a website, www.stoptextbully.com, for an article reprinted in the English paper. The number of online petitions exceeded 18,000.

HKEAE Secretary General Peter Hill said the mobile phone user had browsed the website for 14 minutes and a second time for 3.5 minutes.

Hill said HKEAE was investigating whether the user was a candidate and had already requested the Internet service provider (ISP) to reveal his identity.

Legal advice will be sought to get a court order to force the ISP to reveal the person's identity if it didn't respond to the authority's request, HKEAE Deputy Secretary General Francis Cheung said. The investigation will be completed by August.

Six candidates were found to have marking irregularities, meaning their performance in the controversial section were much better that other parts, Cheng said.

Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li said evidence showed that Hong Kong students were honest. "Only one suspected cheating (case) out of the 80,000 candidates taking the exam. It proves our students have no integrity problem," he said.

HKEAE has decided not to ask candidates to retake the exam nor to cancel the marks given to students in the controversial section.

Hill said they would consider banning all telecommunications equipment in exam rooms, using technical device to detect such equipment, changing the format of acknowledgement of the sources of materials printed on question papers and amending the exam ordinance to facilitate HKEAE to probe possible cheating cases.

He, however, said printing the name of the website on the question paper was not a mistake and there was no cheating and no students had suffered a disadvantage.

"The current exam practice has been followed for six years and there is nothing wrong (with it). Public sentiment on the use of mobile phones and technological development has changed," Hill said.

But education sector legislator Cheung Man-kwong said the authority should learn from the mistake and apologize to students.

HKCEE candidate Au Cheuk-hang, too, said the HKEAE should be held responsible for what has happened.

Another candidate, Cherrie Lau, said that she was rather satisfied with the HKEAE investigation but wanted the format of its question papers to be changed.