Cheating on Exams

[Surely]

I took a final exam tonight, and the guy sitting next to me was cheating like a friggin' bandit.

He had his Blackberry between his legs, and was using it for all of the definitions and charts that we had to regurgitate on the exam (a large portion of it). I'm sure it helped him with all of the multiple choice and T/F questions, as well as for all of the equations we had to memorize for the calculations.

It pisses me off because of the amount of time I spent preparing for the exam.

The girl sitting on the other side of him also noticed after I questioned her about it (at first, she didn't want to admit she saw anything because I think she wants to jump his bones, but after a few questions, she finally admitted that she saw). After talking to her about it, the guy ended up leaving the building through the same door as her, and I noticed them talking, so I hope he's having a nervous night.

I've decided that there's no point in reporting it. The lazy, magazine-reading proctor didn't notice, and there's no proof besides my observation, and well, it's not like me ratting on him will benefit me at all. Besides, "telling on him" isn't my style.

The scary part is that this is a professional course- it's a managerial accounting course. Most of the people in the program already have a Bachelor (I have two ).

My view is that karma will get him. One day, he'll be interviewing for a job..... and I'll be the one interviewing him.

The only thing that I may do is I may call the school anonymously next week and tell them to ensure that their proctors pay closer attention during exams.

Just thought I'd share...... anyone care to comment or share their own stories of cheating?

 

[DavieBoy]

If you don't cheat, then you cheat yourself.

Sorry bro.

I tried my first year of college and it didn't work, then I started cheating and brought up my GPA.

Sorry that I cheated in every class and graduated with some kind of honors for my communication degree.

Actually wrote my thesis on cheating on college campuses. Studies show that students think everyone else is cheating, teachers think no one is cheating. Most studies show somewhere between 5 and 10%.

The problem is that teachers/professors are too scared to actually call out a student for fear of lawsuits and such. I can not tell you how many times a teacher definitely knew I was cheating and didn't have the _____ to say anything.

 

[Surely]

Sorry bro.

I tried my first year of college and it didn't work, then I started cheating and brought up my GPA.

Sorry that I cheated in every class and graduated with some kind of honors for my communication degree.

Actually wrote my thesis on cheating on college campuses. Studies show that students think everyone else is cheating, teachers think no one is cheating. Most studies show somewhere between 5 and 10%.

The problem is that teachers/professors are too scared to actually call out a student for fear of lawsuits and such. I can not tell you how many times a teacher definitely knew I was cheating and didn't have the _____ to say anything.

You should frame this post and put it above your (future) kids' beds so they could be proud of you.

Bro.


Funny, because without cheating at all, I'm doing better than almost everyone in all of my classes. On the midterm in this particular course I got the 2nd highest grade in the class.

I guess not everyone needs to cheat- some of us earn our way through life. Plus, I'll actually know what I'm talking about when I'm working.

 

[NathanCH]

Cliche alert: Really, they're just cheating themselves.

Sounds lame, but it's true. I'm only a first year business student, and I couldn't believe how dumb some of the people in my classes were. I'm guessing they cheated their way to get into university.

 

[jav6454]

I'm going to say this one more time.

Cheating will only come back to bite you in the a$$. Why? Cause lets say you cheated on x-subject of your field. Well, when the time comes to use your knowledge, how are you going to respond to a situation that requires that specific set of knowledge you cheated on? You are not, you are going to look like an idiot and make your boss wonder how did you get hired. Simple.

Cheating is going to bite you in the a$$ later on. It's better to repeat and know, than go once and know squat. After all, knowledge builds upon itself and if you miss a little thing, you won't know the big picture.

 

[Designer Dale]

Hi,

I'm 61 and never got into cheating in school. I was a 2.0 student in high school and managed to work my way up to a 3.8 on my masters in education. My design classes that I have taken over the last year have all been 4.0. I didn't get smarter, I just learned how to study.

I agree that cheating only cheats the cheater and it will come back to haunt him someday. And the sooner the better if you ask me.

If you're pissed that he seems to be getting the girl, too, just wait until he tries to cheat on her...

Dale

 

[jav6454]

Hi,

...getting the girl, too, just wait until he tries to cheat on her...

Dale

Priceless.

 

[jecapaga]

Sorry bro.

I tried my first year of college and it didn't work, then I started cheating and brought up my GPA.

Sorry that I cheated in every class and graduated with some kind of honors for my communication degree.

Actually wrote my thesis on cheating on college campuses. Studies show that students think everyone else is cheating, teachers think no one is cheating. Most studies show somewhere between 5 and 10%.

The problem is that teachers/professors are too scared to actually call out a student for fear of lawsuits and such. I can not tell you how many times a teacher definitely knew I was cheating and didn't have the _____ to say anything.

Well you're a real quality individual it sounds like. Can we transfer this thought process over to other areas of your life which I'm sure you've already done?

So if you're married, you've cheated on your wife. If you're gainfully employed, you've cheated the company in any way possible. If you're actually putting that false degree to work, then you're paying taxes and certainly cheating on them. If you're in the grocery store and the checker forgets to ring something up, of course you walk out of the store without saying a word. This goes on and on in every area of your life I would bet. I hope you never choose to have kids with your glowing morals.

To the OP. That's a tough bit. I probably wouldn't have said much myself but the idea to tell school officials that they should monitor more tightly is a good idea. He'll get his...

 

[Surely]

Hi,

I'm 61 and never got into cheating in school. I was a 2.0 student in high school and managed to work my way up to a 3.8 on my masters in education. My design classes that I have taken over the last year have all been 4.0. I didn't get smarter, I just learned how to study.

I agree that cheating only cheats the cheater and it will come back to haunt him someday. And the sooner the better if you ask me.

If you're pissed that he seems to be getting the girl, too, just wait until he tries to cheat on her...

Dale

Hahaha......Nope, not pissed about him getting the girl..... I already have a wife.....

I agree though, I have definitely learned how to study as I've gotten older. If I had these study skills when I earned my doctorate, I would have been valedictorian of my class

I've always been a good student though, just not at the level that I'm at right now. It's very satisfying.

 

[jbernie]

The scary part is that this is a professional course- it's a managerial accounting course. Most of the people in the program already have a Bachelor (I have two ).

My view is that karma will get him. One day, he'll be interviewing for a job..... and I'll be the one interviewing him.

It wasn't the ethics exam was it?

I have no concern with you reporting it, it might just confirm their suspicions, maybe they will ask him to re sit the exam in conditions where access to devices is most definately restricted. Certainly I would be concerned about the ethics of the school if they ignore such a complaint, especially when coming from a student who is not underperforming.

But yes, at some point in the future this person will suffer an embarassing situation where everything they have said will not protect them from the lies in their past.

 

[spaceboots06]

thought provocative question

If you live your life cheating and nobody ever finds out, is it something you should be ashamed of?

or

would you feel bad cheating in order to advance your career?

most people would say yes to both. i say no. I myself rarely cheat at anything because I dont want to face the consequences of it.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Hi,

I'm 61 and never got into cheating in school. I was a 2.0 student in high school and managed to work my way up to a 3.8 on my masters in education. My design classes that I have taken over the last year have all been 4.0. I didn't get smarter, I just learned how to study.

I agree that cheating only cheats the cheater and it will come back to haunt him someday. And the sooner the better if you ask me.

If you're pissed that he seems to be getting the girl, too, just wait until he tries to cheat on her...

Dale

I honestly find that hard to believe.

I think one study showed that at some point in school everyone cheated at least once or twice.

I know I cheated a few times here and there but over all I was pretty legit.
One of my class was my chemistry in college class I was retaking. The proofessor was an idoit and banned all calculator that had a keyboard (TI-92 and voyager 200) but would allows TI-89 and other graphers. His reasoning for banning the ones with keyboards is because you could put notes in it. Any one who knows jack about the TI's knows the TI-89 and the TI-92/Voyager 200 use the same OS and can easily put notes in it.
More to the point I was pissed about this since my main calculator was a Voyager 200. So this forced me to pull out my old 86 which happen to have all my notes in it from the year before when it was legit. hell the teacher told us to do it. I was going to go legit but force me to use my old stuff I will say screw you and cheat.

other tricks I know students used was note cards to hide formals on it. End the end everyone cheats at some point in their life. But normally cheating comes back to bit you. But unfortunately to many cheaters get away with in this world. We have our leaders who cheated their asses off to get into power. So it seems to show that cheating does get you ahead.

 

[spaceboots06]

Hi,

I'm 61 and never got into cheating in school. I was a 2.0 student in high school and managed to work my way up to a 3.8 on my masters in education. My design classes that I have taken over the last year have all been 4.0. I didn't get smarter, I just learned how to study.

I agree that cheating only cheats the cheater and it will come back to haunt him someday. And the sooner the better if you ask me.

If you're pissed that he seems to be getting the girl, too, just wait until he tries to cheat on her...

Dale

Some cheaters may not respect themselves or some nearby but they might certainly have the capacity to respect others when it comes to social relationships.

 

[cristo]

I've decided that there's no point in reporting it. The lazy, magazine-reading proctor didn't notice, and there's no proof besides my observation, and well, it's not like me ratting on him will benefit me at all. Besides, "telling on him" isn't my style.

Even if you don't report the student for cheating, you should certainly report the invigilator for simply sitting at the front of the room and not paying any attention to the people sitting the exam. There might as well have been noone sitting at the front!

Whenever I took exams, the invigilators walked around the room to ensure no cheating took place. Nowadays whenever I invigilate exams, I do the same. If I see someone who may be potentially cheating, I walk upto them and either stand next to them for a while, or just go to the back of the room, so the examinee has no idea whether I'm looking at him or not. If an invigilator doesn't do this, then it's really unfair on the rest of the students.

As for the post above that says examiners don't have the balls to eject someone: that certainly isn't true here! I'd like to see someone try to sue the college after being ejected for blatant cheating! Regardless, whether professors are scared or not (wherever that poster was from), it's certainly not beneficial to anyone to condone cheating on a forum that students frequent.

 

[MacDawg]

People cheat... in everything, everyday... not everyone, but "many"
Others, like the proctor are lazy... just going through life

You are only responsible for "you" and the focus should be there
You are gaining knowledge, experience and more
The value is in what you gain

There are times to report others
There are times to let it go
Wisdom will know the difference

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[rhsgolfer33]

You are only responsible for "you" and the focus should be there
You are gaining knowledge, experience and more
The value is in what you gain

Yeah, except that by cheating off of you the cheater also puts you in a bad position. Schools can't prove who was the cheater and who was being cheated off of and in many cases can discipline both of you. I've had others cheat off of me, and it is no fun. Its not cool when a professor has to talk to you and ask you if you knew the person was cheating off of you, if you were cheating, etc.. It puts you under suspicion, even if you weren't the one cheating, and can harm any chance of graduate school and professional recommendations from that professor and others in the department.

 

[northy124]

I cheated in Year 9 on a SATS Test, it was so obvious no one could believe I got away with it lol (maths teacher was a slack).

I am not ashamed to say I did it as well I was stuck :lol:

 

[cristo]

I cheated in Year 9 on a SATS Test, it was so obvious no one could believe I got away with it lol (maths teacher was a slack).

I am not ashamed to say I did it as well I was stuck :lol:

Yea, but year 9 SATS don't count for anything! Cheating in university is a completely different matter.

 

[northy124]

Ah that is were you are wrong, those SATS got me into the good set where I could actually learn Maths and set me up to do accounting so really it means something, I have cheated in College exams as well but that is another story for another time

 

[toolbox]

Cliche alert: Really, they're just cheating themselves.

That is so true. I agree with you, even when i was at school i used to study my ass off for a exam, then someone would be in there cheating and it would piss me off and there wasn't anything you could do meh

 

[MacDawg]

Yeah, except that by cheating off of you the cheater also puts you in a bad position. Schools can't prove who was the cheater and who was being cheated off of and in many cases can discipline both of you. I've had others cheat off of me, and it is no fun. Its not cool when a professor has to talk to you and ask you if you knew the person was cheating off of you, if you were cheating, etc.. It puts you under suspicion, even if you weren't the one cheating, and can harm any chance of graduate school and professional recommendations from that professor and others in the department.

I agree, but that was not a part of the original scenario from the OP. Yes, that would be an issue to consider and address.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[dubhe]

The final assessment for my Master's was a one on one hour long oral examination where the examiner could question me on anything in the syllabus. More importantly he knew if I knew the subject or not by my confidence in answer. No way to cheat!

 

[Surely]

^^^^^ definitely no way to cheat. I like oral exams. There should be more exams formatted that way.

Ah yes, one more thing to really grind my gears

I believe that the cheater bombed the midterm.

The way that this professor computes the final grade is like this:

If you did better on the midterm than on the final, he computes your final grade by averaging the exams (each is worth 40%) and then adding in whatever you earned of the remaining 20% from assignments and class participation.

If you did better on the final than on the midterm, he doesn't use your midterm grade at all when computing your final grade, and just uses the grade that you got on the final.

Talk about motivation to slack off on the midterm and cheat on the final.....

And no, jbernie, it wasn't the ethics exam..... I'm not taking the ethics course until the fall. I think I'll do okay in that one....

Yes, MacDawg is correct: the cheater wasn't cheating off of my exam.

 

[uberamd]

People who cheat piss me off for a variety of reasons. I just finished my 3rd year at college, and I see cheating ALL the time. The bad part is when those people graduate, get a diploma from the University, get a job, and the employer finds out they don't know anything it makes the University look bad. It discredits the diploma, and the school. It makes the employer think they are giving degrees to anyone who walks in the doors. THAT is why cheating is harmful to everyone at the college, whether you really care about the person cheating at the moment or not.

 

[JasonElise1983]

cheaters...

alright. here we go. so, when i was in jr. high and highschool. i was a mediocre student and blatant cheater. not to excuse it, but i grew up in a very small southern town, where popular kids, athletes and kids with money got a free ride. i was none of those things. actually, i was the opposite of almost all of them. i was that guy you went to jr. high with who wore eyeliner cause he felt like it (this was the 90s... no emo kids now who wear it all the time), and didn't talk to a whole lot of people, but wasn't mean or mad at the world. just different. that was me. and in a small, redneck southern town, it's hard to be that. so studying was never my thing because i had too much other stuff going on, and i always had it harder than the other kids. i mean, i did it to myself, but even the teachers would discriminate. i remember a teacher who wouldn't even talk to me cause he thought i worshiped the devil and that was against his moral principles. fwiw, i did not worship the devil, though i did explain to someone one time when they asked me if i "believed" in the devil, that if they are so up on christianity and religion, then i hope they believe in the devil. anyway, ADD moment over. Anyway, all through jr. high and highschool, i cheated. I mean, passing papers accross an entire classroom cheated. One time a friend of mine rolled the answers up in a pen and let me "borrow" that pen when he got done taking the test. genius! anyway, so i graduated with like a 2.5 GPA. yup! all my cheating and i didn't even do it enough to get good grades. I swear... there's a point coming up. So i get to college, and realize that i don't know how to study, i don't know how to do the work, i don't know a lot of that stuff. I spent 3 years as a freshman. it took me 7 years to get my BA. I had to relearn everything. i mean, i took college algebra 3 times before passing it with a "C". I just didn't know the material. So yes, in my long, ADD Rant filled post, Cheating really only cheats the cheater.

-je


EDIT: two more things. 1) i never cheated in college. i did the work and did it for real. had a 4.0 in my major, but only like a 3.?? overall. 2) i do know someone who i would stake my entire life on, that they have never cheated. I mean like for real life. Like someone could kill me if i was wrong. i'd be more upset to know i was wrong than the fact that i was dying.