How about a question like this:

"A manufacturer guarantees his crystals to be within .01% of the
marked frequency, when used in the recommended circuit at 20
degrees C. The crystals have a negative temperature coefficient of
50 parts per million per degree C.




Would you put that question in an Amateur Radio test today?

Well, you could. You'd have to pick the correct answer from those
offered in the multiple choice. But you could work "backwards" with
each choice to find the one that fits right.




There are ways to cheat almost any system. Do you know of any
actual cheating under the old system?

Oh, there were jokes to the effect that for an extra fee, you were
guaranteed to pass...

There have been documented
cases of suspected cheating under the VEC system, where the FCC
called in hams who then flunked the retest.

I imagine that some of those recalled may have passed their retests....


Good, glad they were caught. One of the interesting things about
people when they get to be curmudgeons is that they use present day
exposures and punishments as some sort of evidence of corruption as
compared with the good old days, when there was apparently no corruption
because there wasn't any expose's of the wicked.

The FCC probably weighed the downsides of a cheater escaping undetected
and decided that such a cheater would not degrade the quality or safety
of the amateur service that much. Unlike say a cheater "passing" state
medical board exams to become a licensed medical doctor. You just have
to do enough to limit it to a level that doesn't make testing look like
a joke.