Recent students who took the GMAT are fearful about their academic future due to illegal prep help from Topscore.com.

For those of us who haven't yet given much thought to grad school, the GMAT is another standardized test for students planning to get their MBA. Think of it as the business SAT, the gatekeeper to many graduate business programs.

Topscore.com, a popular test prep site, was recently sued and shut down by GMAC (the guys who own GMAT) due to the site's "live GMAT questions." As the story goes, Topscore hired recent GMAT takers to rack their brains and recall questions from the test. The site then offered this information to members who paid a subscription fee.

With the questions being "live," Topscore subscribers were more likely to come across a familiar sight when they took the actual test. Talk about getting some real help.

But did these students know they were walking a fine line of legality? Most of those interviewed claimed they didn't, that they just wanted to prepare best they could.

Putting myself in their shoes, I wouldn't care if questions came from GMATs taken 5 minutes ago or from a Power Rangers cereal box coupon code as long as it would help me get into the business school I sought most.

So, what gives?

GMAC has already laid the hammer down on Topscore – no surprise there. But the real question is what will happen to the students who accessed, and benefitted from, the hot-off-the-presses questions?

As it stands, GMAC scourged Topscore's databases to find information on all the "guilty" subscribers and is currently weighing its options. But hold the phone… how can GMAC discern which students knowingly accessed illegal information and which just wanted more help?

The punishment for those found guilty can range from canceled scores (and thus, the need to retake the test) to being blacklisted. The latter would, in effect, prevent these students from attending business school.

Tough lessons, but ultimately, for the rest of us, lesson learned.

There are tons of prep schools, books, and Web sites out there to guide you toward a better score on standardized tests. But before you jump in, be sure to check sources, disclaimers and terms of use. At Cramster.com, even though we don't deal with standardized test prep, we do help you prepare for other exams, and we let you know that we take learning seriously. Any skepticism about our intentions can be wiped away by reading our anti-cheating policy.

We frown upon what Topscore did, but the jury's out on whether the students were guilty. Here's to the true story coming out.

So what do you think? How should the GMAT "cheaters" be punished, if at all? How would you resolve this situation?

According to "MSNBC," one-sixth of the 3.2 million students who are enrolled at a higher education institution took least one online class last fall. With gas prices hurting students' wallets, and schools saving money by virtue of needing less space and professors, it's no wonder that more and more students are learning electronically. I'm trying out the new online kick one class at a time this summer and this fall.

Of course, there are plenty of students who probably choose to sign up in order to have a flexible school schedule so they can work or be more involved in other activities. But then again, they may just have wanted to be able to rescue Princess Peach on their Nintendo while pausing to glance at a droning professor on their computer screen.

With so many distractions, what's the trick to learning effectively online? How can you prevent watching the entire "semester" of lectures during the same two-night marathon?

To start, it's impossible to schedule your online learning obligations at the exact same time each week. You've got things that randomly come up, friends who randomly want to hang out, and moments where you randomly just want to watch old Pokémon episodes on YouTube.

So rather than constraining yourself to marking your schedule up with classes and sad smiley faces each week, give yourself limited versatility. This means that you will still tend to your coursework each week, but during different chunks of time.

Each Tuesday (because I personally hate the dreadful association of Mondays with school) you can mark your schedule for what times you will dedicate that week to your online course. Give yourself different chunks of time so you can relax in between. And give yourself more chunks of time than you need, so if randomly your friends decide to reenact the finale of WrestleMania, you can join 'em.

I would also suggest studying on Wednesday or Thursday because those are the times when random things, friends and moments are least likely to happen. And, of course, it's nice to not have to work on the weekends.

If you think you've got it together, what suggestions do you have to keep online students from watching 10 lectures on the night before the final?

1. Learn to be a personal chef. I know groceries have increased in price, but they're still cheaper than going out to eat at your local restaurants, which have increased prices even more. Yeah, you want to go out with your friends, but why not show off your hidden Iron Chef skills and impress those friends a bit? And if you can't cook, you can always show off your mom's Iron Chef skills instead.

2. Take advantage of free summer activities. Rather than spending $8 on a movie, go on a hike in your nearest park, at a beach or on a mountain trail instead. You should have no excuse to do activities that cost a lot just because they're convenient (bowling, clubbing, etc.) An active summer is not only inexpensive and simple, but can also keep you looking good as well.

3. Give Starbucks and Coffee Bean a break. Recent stats show that the average American drinks 2-3 cups of coffee per day. Given that, you probably spend $5-15 a day on coffee. With that money, you can buy yourself more than 3 gallons of gas – enough to drive past 40 Starbucks locations. As an alternative to caffeine, drink more water – sure, it helps hydration, but it also helps you stay awake. Besides, it's summertime. You don't have the "I-need-to-stay-up-late-to-study" excuse anymore.

4. Make gifts rather than buy them. Yes, true love is free and beautiful, but reaching that point is not. Instead of spending $80 on a jacket for your girlfriend, make her something simple that looks cute or write her a letter. These are essentially free and a whole lot more sincere as well. You'd be amazed at what money doesn't buy.

5. Upgrade to a premium membership on Cramster.com. Set yourself up for next year with our lowest offer - $39.95 for 12 months of premium access. Hey, we're only trying to help you out. Or better yet, you can earn more karma points and make us pay for your membership instead. Now that's a beautiful thing.

Go ahead - post your own ways of saving a few extra bucks during the summer. I mean, come on, we're looking for tips, too.