Is Cheating a Lucrative Business for College Students?

[Upisoft]

Second, it is of utmost stupidity in life to confess anything which can't be proven by a investigator.

It is stupid or/and unethical to get willingly in a situation that will require investigation.

 

[DanP]

It is stupid or/and unethical to get willingly in a situation that will require investigation.

unethical , maybe. Stupid ? Frankly, not always.

 

[JaredJames]

If the questions come from a test bank of 700, and the students are aware of this so they then go away and study those 700 questions, I wouldn't call that cheating. They have been told what is likely to come up and have studied accordingly.

The only way it becomes cheating is if they either all of the answer to the potential 700 questions or the specific answers to the test questions into the exam.

My university provides past papers to students to revise from. I can look through those papers and see what types of questions are likely to come up, so from that I know what I need to be studying.
I put most of my effort into studying those style of questions and making sure I can answer them. It is pointless me studying something that has never come up (the lecturers tell us to look over past papers because they are the question styles we're likely to see).

Is it cheating that I learn how to do those types of questions to perfection? No. I'm learning from the materials provided.
If the uni insisted on vastly different questions each year that would stop that revision style, but until then that is the accepted way to revise for exams and even the lecturers will tell you that.
(Through the paper there are a number of questions covering all topics learned through the year - you still have to know what you're doing because there are little changes each time, but it's still a similar question style - generally on a every other year basis).

If the students know what is likely to come up and learn that, that isn't cheating (assuming they don't gain said knowledge via unethical means).

 

[Pengwuino]

One thing I'm wondering is this... 700 questions... for a midterm exam?

A midterm covers what, 4-8 weeks of material? How can you even generate 700 questions for an area of a text that is covered in such a brief time? This isn't a physics text where you can just change a number and situation here and there and have a brand new problem to a student. Then again, you can't even do that.

I'm starting to think the 700 question number being thrown around is realistically far far fewer than that. If you're going to memorize 700 questions, why not just... be honest and study?

 

[Proton Soup]

it's interesting how he changes the bin sizes on the histograms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbzJTTDO9f4

is changing the bin size an external force applied to the data set ?oh, and then he mentions the issue at the end about the textbook companies turning this over to their legal staff. so students that turn themselves in under the amnesty offered may be exposing themselves to civil action? this could get interesting.

 

[Pengwuino]

oh, and then he mentions the issue at the end about the textbook companies turning this over to their legal staff. so students that turn themselves in under the amnesty offered may be exposing themselves to civil action? this could get interesting.

I'm sure a lot of that was just to scare the students. The only real legal action the companies would try to pursue is against the person who originally gained access to the questions.

 

[D H]

Pawn shop owners who accept stolen goods are accessories to the crime. People who buy stolen art are accessories to the crime. The same applies to those students who obtained this stolen information.

 

[DR13]

It is sickening to think that people are actually blaming the teacher for the fact that the students stole the test. If someone broke into your house is it your fault if they steal from you? Should insurance companies just be able to say, "Sorry, we are no going to give you any money because you should have been able to stop the thief." This is rediculous. At my school there are literally no professors or TAs in the room when the tests take place (they are usually in a room close by in case anyone has questions). And guess what: NO ONE CHEATS (which goes against all of the people who make the rediculous claim that everyone cheats). There is a very strict honor code that all students sign before the test. If anyone is found to have cheated there are serious repercussions. But I do not know of anyone that has cheated. It is horrible that some of you are excusing people from cheating. Also, they would be cheating the good kids in the class by ruining the curve. So we are penalizing the kids who didnt cheat!

 

[Proton Soup]

the problem i have is that using test banks only serves to enable cheating. if you are a student that would not cheat under any circumstances, electronically-distributed test banks only make things worse for you. they should either make the banks openly-available to all students, or get rid of them entirely.

 

[lisab]

the problem i have is that using test banks only serves to enable cheating. if you are a student that would not cheat under any circumstances, electronically-distributed test banks only make things worse for you. they should either make the banks openly-available to all students, or get rid of them entirely.

I have to be totally straight with you here...if someone gave me the answers to a test right before I sat for it, and the circumstances were such that no one could *ever* find out that I used them...I just couldn't use them. And I really, truly believe most people are like me (doesn't everyone think that ). I think most people are honorable. So this "enabling the cheating"...I don't buy it. Cheating is cheating; how easy it was is irrelevant.

 

[DanP]

It is sickening to think that people are actually blaming the teacher for the fact that the students stole the test. If someone broke into your house is it your fault if they steal from you? Should insurance companies just be able to say, "Sorry, we are no going to give you any money because you should have been able to stop the thief." This is rediculous. At my school there are literally no professors or TAs in the room when the tests take place (they are usually in a room close by in case anyone has questions). And guess what: NO ONE CHEATS (which goes against all of the people who make the rediculous claim that everyone cheats). There is a very strict honor code that all students sign before the test. If anyone is found to have cheated there are serious repercussions. But I do not know of anyone that has cheated. It is horrible that some of you are excusing people from cheating. Also, they would be cheating the good kids in the class by ruining the curve. So we are penalizing the kids who didnt cheat!

Get over it. None is blaming the teacher for the fact someone stolen information from him.
I blame him for the balless attitude he has, the fact that he hits in all students, innocent or not, and the fact he is not acknowledging that when you are cheated by a huge percentage in a test, this only means one thing: you are incompetent to administer the test and the school procedures are a sorry joke.

 

[DanP]

And I really, truly believe most people are like me (doesn't everyone think that ). I think most people are honorable.

Lisa, don't get me wrong but this is a form of naivety. Most humans will cheat in their lifes, and many won't even think that what they done is cheating. Myabe due to a form of cognitive dissonance. Most humans will lie, in fact I don't know myself any human who didn't lied during their lifes. Id be glad to meet one .

Ppl cheat all the time. In schools, at jobs, in married life, in their civil life (taxes for example), in amateur and professional sports, just about anywhere. You have to be blind not to see it. Just watch carefully.

Ppl aren't good or bad. We are what we are.

 

[Grep]

Most humans will lie, in fact I don't know myself any human who didn't lied during their lifes.

Of course you don't.

They've honestly answered questions such as "Do these jeans make my *** look fat?" with "No, your *** makes your *** look fat." Or answered "What are you thinking?" with "If I wanted you to know, I would have said it out loud."

Needless to say they're no longer with us.

 

[Proton Soup]

I have to be totally straight with you here...if someone gave me the answers to a test right before I sat for it, and the circumstances were such that no one could *ever* find out that I used them...I just couldn't use them. And I really, truly believe most people are like me (doesn't everyone think that ). I think most people are honorable. So this "enabling the cheating"...I don't buy it. Cheating is cheating; how easy it was is irrelevant.

according to the prof, the honesty rate here is about 2/3. but probably, not everyone had the opportunity to study the testbank, so theoretically, the number who would cheat is even higher than 1/3.

 

[D H]

You do realize that the only way to study from the test bank was to have obtained it illegally?

 

[DR13]

Get over it. None is blaming the teacher for the fact someone stolen information from him.

<snip>

when you are cheated by a huge percentage in a test, this only means one thing: you are incompetent to administer the test and the school procedures are a sorry joke.

1. Yes, some people are blaming the teacher (eariler posts)
2. How can you say that the admin is incompetant when the only way the students were able to get the questions were by breaking the law? It is not like he copied the questions out of the back of the students book or accidently posted the test online. He got questions from a place that students should never be able to access. Students broke the law to get the test.

Just out of curiosity, what do you think he should do in this scenario?

 

[Proton Soup]

You do realize that the only way to study from the test bank was to have obtained it illegally?

if you were a member of a national fraternity, how many academic terms would it take for members to reconstruct a test bank ?

 

[DR13]

By the way, I accept that people cheat. I am not naieve to that. However, when cheaters get caught they must be prepared to face the consequences.

 

[Upisoft]

Ppl cheat all the time. In schools, at jobs, in married life, in their civil life (taxes for example), in amateur and professional sports, just about anywhere. You have to be blind not to see it. Just watch carefully.

Ppl aren't good or bad. We are what we are.

It is not a binary system. When you get into the jail (I'm sure your argument that everyone cheats will not affect jury decision) you may actually get some knowledge why some people have longer sentences.

 

[CRGreathouse]

You do realize that the only way to study from the test bank was to have obtained it illegally?

Is that true? Howe do we know?

 

[DanP]

It is not a binary system. When you get into the jail (I'm sure your argument that everyone cheats will not affect jury decision) you may actually get some knowledge why some people have longer sentences.

This is not my argument, this is a simple observation. You should understand that it cannot constitute a defense of any kind, but nonetheless, most humans will gladly cheat given the opportunity.

Second, I don't discuss here the gravity of antisocial behavior and the lengths of appropriate punishments.

 

[Shukie]

What if you didn't cheat and got a low score, but then say you cheated (poorly) so you can retake the test? Technically that would be cheating on your test, so you don't have to feel bad about saying you cheated because you did.

 

[PhDorBust]

Selling test keys could actually be a big business, I know Cornell has one class with 1,100 students - one could easily make a years salary selling a single test key.