Japanese police sources say a 19-year-old college student has admitted to using a smartphone to cheat on a recent standardized university entrance exam.

The student, who lives in Osaka Prefecture, turned herself in at a police station in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan, on Thursday. She said she saw news about the case and, after consulting her mother, decided to contact the police.

She said she took images of exam questions on her phone that she'd hidden in her sleeve and sent them online. She said she did so by herself. She took the exam at a test site in Osaka.

She explained that she took the test in hope of entering another university.

Police sources say she told investigators that she acted without deliberation because she had failed to achieve good results. The sources say she appears remorseful.

Media reports said someone apparently took the images of world history exam questions and sent them online during the test on January 15, the first day of the two-day nationwide exam.

Tokyo police have found that at least two University of Tokyo students who received the images sent back answers to the sender.

The students told the police they were unaware that the questions were part of the ongoing exam. They also explained that someone asked for the answers via an online site for people looking for private tutors.