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?

Why one university thinks Facebook study groups are grounds for expulsion.

College students' transition into the Web 2.0 world has been seamless. Professors' and school administrators' transition has been anything but.

Chris Avenir, a freshman at Ryerson University in Toronto has been a hot topic of conversation recently after school officials determined that his Facebook study group was in violation of the school's academic policies.

Avenir is now facing 147 cases of academic misconduct - the number of students in the online study group.

The worst-case scenario is expulsion. The best case is an F in his chemistry class.

Doesn't seem fair to a kid who simply found a way to recreate live study sessions – an activity as frequent as attending class – over the Internet.

It raises questions over how well professors and school administrations actually understand the new face of the Web. Facebook is now home to over 100 legitimate educational applications that function as anything from schedule builders to study group facilitators.

What was so wrong about Avenir's actions?

It's not like his classmates and he had access to test answers. Just as students do every day on Cramster, Avenir was fostering a collaborative environment designed to better grasp the concepts at hand.

Perhaps professors fear change. Perhaps the Web 2.0 world is just too new to accept as a valid classroom resource.

Whatever the case, Avenir's unfortunate situation should serve as a wake-up call to universities around the world that the Web is here to stay, and it's better to embrace it lest an entire student body view the policies of those above them as antiquated and non-progressive.

At Cramster, it is our goal to weave professors into our web, to prove that the Internet is a resource, not a danger.

Here's to hoping you and your classmates can find a way to ease your professors' fears.

What's your take on Avenir's predicament? Was the punishment warranted? What would you do if you were in his shoes?