Cheating in the university

[magomago]

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me...a big midterm and a HW due for a class. I went to the library to copy my homework since I know i'm not going to get it back (that class had another midterm Tuesday) in time to study.

While I'm sitting here copying the 9 pages of work for the 3 problems assigned, I noticed like 10 people walk into the copy center in the library. They were all the same major.

In their hands: last year's midterm and the homework.

It made me kind of dissapointed. I spent all week slaving to get the HW figured out (my weekend was non existant), where 50% of the time was spent settings things up incorrectly till I finally got it. I also was managing studying time for my midterm in what is probably one oof the hardest classes.

But I see a lot of my work go down the drain and become useless in a few minutes when people get the answers. And not just the answers for the HW, but the answers for last year's midterms. It wouldn't matter if the professor posted all the old midterms to look at, or if the professor changed it every year but professors generally do not change much.

How have you guys handled this? I'm not about to tell the professor because I have to see these people everydae...these people will learn less than 10% of what I know (makes sense since some of the people who alledgedly got As in classes know a lot less than I do when I ask them about something. It is like they are clueless) and THEY will get the A. come time for careers, or jobs, I will be the one left in the dust.
What am I supposed to tell a company "but others cheated!!! I didn't!"...grad school will not beleive "But I have the true desire to learn because unlike others I didn't cheat"

How do you guys in the "real world" handle this? Pretend as if you saw nothing or what? I personally don't want to cheat because I know I will not learn as much as if I do, but at the same time I feel they are gaining an unfair advantage and the only want to even the playing field is to do just this...


Meh hopefully some replies will comes out of this I'll check it in an hour

cliffs:

1. Caught like 10 people copying the midterm solutions from last year (which professor does NOT givve out. not solutions or the test)
2. Also copying tomorrow's HW that is due
3. Feel bummed because they possibly can score artificially high
4. I don't want my future doors to close because of others trying to force them close
5. Should I partake in this to even the board? I don't want to though
6. I hate cliffs, read what i wrote

 

[PurdueRy]

I always just sucked it up and dealt with it. There will always be people trying to cut corners...even out of school. I just kick their ass anyway

 

[Dissipate]

Tell the prof if it bothers you that much.

 

[brxndxn]

In elementary and high school, don't snitch.

In college, snitch.. SNITCH all fvcking day. The way college administrations assrape cheaters will give you such a feeling of satisfaction.

In my 6th year of college, I have witnessed VERY little cheating here at UF. And, the general consensus seems to be that pretty much anyone would snitch if they witnessed cheating. In college, cheating is just too serious - especially in smaller classes where there's very few good grades given out..

 

[aidanjm]

I always try to get hold of previous years exams, just to get a vague idea of what to expect.

 

[desteffy]

I taught a couple university courses as a grad student and I looked for and reported cheaters.

I think they should be reported whenever can be, not only does it stop their inflated grades, but it also sends a message to everyone that cheating ISNT ok. If they get away with it they'll just keep doing it.

EDIT: Depending on what the professor says, looking at old tests may be OK. At my undergrad they actually had professors put their old midterms on file at the tutoring center to "level the playing field" since they did not consider looking at old tests cheating, it was a good way to study and know what to expect.

Talk to the professor though, he should know whats going on.

 

[Powermoloch]

Cheaters will be condemned and sent to the University board or something. A permanent ban to all universities....mauahahahahhahahahhaahahahahah

the risk is TOO high for cheaters, and always...the got the better end of it ( getting their butt kicked )

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
In elementary and high school, don't snitch.

In college, snitch.. SNITCH all fvcking day. The way college administrations assrape cheaters will give you such a feeling of satisfaction.

In my 6th year of college, I have witnessed VERY little cheating here at UF. And, the general consensus seems to be that pretty much anyone would snitch if they witnessed cheating. In college, cheating is just too serious - especially in smaller classes where there's very few good grades given out..

I don't see getting previous exams as cheating. But I think the prof should be aware of it if he thinks these people are getting an unfair advantage.

 

[Skiddex]

i always check similar course urls if i know the course has been taught in the past by the same professor. like if the url is ...../spring2006/cs537midterm1.pdf ill check years past to see if solutions have been posted. i dont consider that cheating. they could have done the same thing. we have an entire engineering frat here on campus that has files of old exams. if you have an exam with a certian professor, you go and pull out other students past exams.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: desteffy
I taught a couple university courses as a grad student and I looked for and reported cheaters.

I think they should be reported whenever can be, not only does it stop their inflated grades, but it also sends a message to everyone that cheating ISNT ok. If they get away with it they'll just keep doing it.

EDIT: Depending on what the professor says, looking at old tests may be OK. At my undergrad they actually had professors put their old midterms on file at the tutoring center to "level the playing field" since they did not consider looking at old tests cheating, it was a good way to study and know what to expect.

Talk to the professor though, he should know whats going on.

They let grad students teach courses at your university? WTF?

 

[RichardE]

Report them, cheaters in college/university just make it worse for everyone.

 

[touchmyichi]

damn haxxors

 

[aidanjm]

maybe you should tell the professor what's happening, and ask that he release an exam from the previous year to level the playing field. This will also force the professor to write up a new exam each year (which he should be doing anyway, the lazy bastage).

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: aidanjm
I always try to get hold of previous years exams, just to get a vague idea of what to expect.

We're allowed to, and they give out examples sometimes to us to get an idea of what to expect, but if it's the actual questions repeated and the Prof does not want them to see it then it's likely not so kosher.

But they might get theirs in the end, if they have tests they can't cheat on and they end up failing because they tried to take the easy way out.

 

[HermDogg]

Oh no they didn't learn as much as you? Oh shucks! 'Cuz you learn SO much in college...

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: desteffy
I taught a couple university courses as a grad student and I looked for and reported cheaters.

I think they should be reported whenever can be, not only does it stop their inflated grades, but it also sends a message to everyone that cheating ISNT ok. If they get away with it they'll just keep doing it.

EDIT: Depending on what the professor says, looking at old tests may be OK. At my undergrad they actually had professors put their old midterms on file at the tutoring center to "level the playing field" since they did not consider looking at old tests cheating, it was a good way to study and know what to expect.

Talk to the professor though, he should know whats going on.

They let grad students teach courses at your university? WTF?

Grad students teach about half of the classes here at my university.

 

[UncleWai]

That's not cheating. THe professor should have given everyone a practice midterm so students will know what to expect, also that will eliminate the advantage the students you mentioned get.

 

[Green Man]

Who cares.
When you get out in the real world, no one cares about your grades anyway.
College is only to impress HR who don't know jack about the job anyway.
You'll get hired because of some stupid piece of paper. Since you actually studied you'll soon be running the network for the whole company. Your boss will be a business major and will know less than the retarded HR people, but will get all the credit for everything you do. (He cheated on his exams BTW...and makes 3x what you do).
oh, wait...nevermind

You should be in school to learn, not get good grades. Grades are not that important, and no one really gives a fsck after you get out of school.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: UncleWai
That's not cheating. THe professor should have given everyone a practice midterm so students will know what to expect, also that will eliminate the advantage the students you mentioned get.

It is cheating if the professor doesn't know that there are copies of the exam floating about, and he is re-using the same exam year after year.

Given the situation, I think the OP would be within his rights to request that the professor
1) release a sample exam or an old exam from previous years, and
2) ask the professor to write a new exam for this year.

 

[kaymin]

Cheating is RAMPANT in college. You'd be a fool not to seriously. I'm guessing at least 50% of the students in my comp sci classes cheated on the homework in some fashion. Tests, there's always cheaters sitting next to one another in EVERY test.

It's up to the prof to prevent it. I had this one prof who stepped out of the room for a good ten minutes once. People were breaking out their textbooks.

I mean honestly, if you sit someone next to another so their elbows are touching, how can you not expect cheating.

 

[AbAbber2k]

In college the risk is so much greater than the reward. So you don't get to party for a while, big deal. Would you rather take the chance of getting kicked out of the university? How many other universities do you think will accept you when they know you got kicked out for cheating?

And I think aidanjm has got a point. Maybe don't necessarily snitch on the students... but let the professor know there are tests out there and ask what they're going to do about it.

 

[UncleWai]

Originally posted by: aidanjm

Originally posted by: UncleWai
That's not cheating. THe professor should have given everyone a practice midterm so students will know what to expect, also that will eliminate the advantage the students you mentioned get.

It is cheating if the professor doesn't know that there are copies of the exam floating about, and he is re-using the same exam year after year.

Given the situation, I think the OP would be within his rights to request that the professor
1) release a sample exam or an old exam from previous years, and
2) ask the professor to write a new exam for this year.

That's the professor's fault. If he re-uses exams, he shouldn't return any corrected exams to students. Also, he is lazy if he can't make up a new exam.
Giving a practice midterm is pretty much a standard here, and my professors can always still find new ways to make differcult questions.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: kaymin
Cheating is RAMPANT in college. You'd be a fool not to seriously.

I think you'd be a fool to cheat. Cheating and plagiarism are taken very seriously in academia. Besides, if you are at university, might as well do subjects you are interested in, and work hard enough to get great grades without needing to cheat.

 

[tweakmm]

Mind your damn business.

 

[George P Burdell]

Thats life for ya. Just deal with it.

As long as you're keeping it honest, you'll be able to sleep better at night. In a world full of cheats, ther are very few people who live with integrity. Aspire to be one of them.