From what I’ve read they shared copies of the test answers.
Its a failure of leadership in development of the testing and qualification system in addition to leadership of the people involved.
They’ve developed a system where anything less then a perfect score and perfect performance ratings is a career ending event.
What you are referring to is what we called “bold print”. Everyone in the AF who was certified in Emergency Action procedures involving control and execution of nuclear assets used to have to memorize certain phrases and be able to quote them verbatim if asked. I had the pleasure of being a certified EA controller for about 15 years, and eventually wrote and trained dozens of other controllers. Although I had to memorize the bold print items and train others to do so I never thought that rote memory was a good method of training someone. Eventually the practice was ended. As far as testing goes, the Nuc Surety test we were required to take was a nightmare for us all. Even though it was usually on a few questions you really had to get all the answers correct or risk being decertified and even cause the entire unit to fail inspection. I enter inherited a SAC Command Post who had a controller miss 3 questions during an ORI (operational readiness inspection) and as Superintendent of the CP it fell on me to make sure it did not happen again. It did not and we got an “Excellent” on the next ORI. I am glad I was not the one who failed the test because they were stigmatized by it. However, at least they failed the test honestly and did not cheat in order to pass it. While I understand why they cheated I just can’t condone cheating instead of putting in the time and effort to pass honestly. However, when I look at today’s leadership, especially the party in the White House, I can understand the corruption of the culture that was inherent in our armed forces, but now sorely lacking.
Oh, and yes, I was probably “anal” then like all SAC trained killers.