professor accusing me of cheating *help*

[Chau]

here's the situation:

about 2 weeks ago we had a math midterm (abstract modern algebra)...right before it started the professor announced it was gonna be open book and open notes.. a week later we got our midterms returned to us by the TA.. but she didnt have mine she said the professor had it..so i emailed the professor to see if i can get my grade because i wouldnt have time during finals week to go pick it up, but he says he needs to meet with me to talk about it.. so i left my review session for a diff class early to go to his office hours... then he showed me my midterm and another person's midterm, and they looked almost exactly alike except for a few minor things.. i have no idea who the hell that other person is, i don't know anyone in the class and havent talked to anyone in there before... so i dont even know if this person was sitting next to me or not cuz he showed me her name but i didnt know who she was...

so i have no idea wtf to do, how can i prove to the professor that i didn't cheat???

the midterm was 5 problems.. and i got the answers to all those problems from examples from the book and notes/examples that the TA did in class... i could prove that for each problem i can show where i found in the book or my notes the solution on how to compute it and the exact examples i used... because most the prob on the midterm were a lot like the examples in the book and notes so i did it exactly the way they did it.. i told the professor this but he said i still have to explain howcome the two midterms looked the same.... i didnt want to accuse anyone of cheating but i suggested that maybe that person was sitting next to me but i didnt know cuz i dont know who she is....

any suggestions on what i should do?

thanks

 

[amcdonald]

you should have left and immediately come back with your notes... maybe you can draw parallels with them.
Also, look through the other persons previous work, and see if its their writing style.

 

[StageLeft]

i didnt want to accuse anyone of cheating but i suggested that maybe that person was sitting next to me but i didnt know cuz i dont know who she is....

Why not? If you are honestly telling us that you didn't cheat and the similarities are more than just coincedence then yes of course somebody else did cheat. What did the other person say? One of you cheated, wouldn't you say?

 

[bleeb]

You can say that its NOT IMPOSSIBLE to have a similar test. Given the fact that it was open book and EVERYONE else was using the same book, there is the chance that they might have used a very simliar method as you.

Don't be passive about your innocence. Be FIRM and tell them with all your conviction that you didn't CHEAT!

 

[Electric Amish]

So, he's intelligent enough to be a math professor, but not intelligent enough to realize that with an open book test it's very likely two or more people could have very similar answers if they were copied directly from the book.

One reason I dislike many professors.

 

[GoodToGo]

If you guys made the same mistakes, then he was copying from you.

If you guys had the same work method, then you both pretty obviously were just following the book.

Also this might seem a little snoopy but how is the other person doing in class? Sometime desperate situations (like getting a F) can lead to desperate solutions (copying). Also how are you doing in the class?

Good luck in resolving this issue.

 

[Lonyo]

You looked in a book and at your notes for examples?
Maybe the other person did the same? Why do either of you have to have cheated if you could both have looked at the same stuff to get to your answers?

 

[Chau]

i offered to show the professor on the spot my notes and where i found the answers but he just said that he has to talk to the other person first... i have no idea how the other person is doing in the class, but i got 2 points above the average on the midterm so its probably a B or so, and on the previous midterm i got a C, but that one wasn't open book

i'm planning on going to the TA's office hours in a few hours to try to explain to her as well

also on this midterm when he showed me them, the other person got 1 point less than me

 

[StageLeft]

Obviously a person would have to look at both papers to see if the similarities are the result of an open book on the same subject or blatant copying. If it is the latter though, you have to let him know that the other person cheated off you somehow. Maybe they were close to you or got the test after or something.

Or you cheated and are not telling us that for some reason

 

[Chau]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Obviously a person would have to look at both papers to see if the similarities are the result of an open book on the same subject or blatant copying. If it is the latter though, you have to let him know that the other person cheated off you somehow. Maybe they were close to you or got the test after or something.

Or you cheated and are not telling us that for some reason

yeah when he showed me them, they looked too similar to be just gotten from the book because the person looked like they made the same mistakes as me and eveyrhtign was in the same format, like line for line almost... the professor showed me her name but i dont know who she is so i dont know if she was one of the people sitting near by or somehow got the test after??

i definately did not cheat, im not that stupid

 

[lobbyone]

hy Chau, been awhile seen we've trade huh?!

newayz, i think that this "someone" was copying of of you. basically shes the one who cheated. if you can solve the problems urself then i dont see why should ur prof believe that u cheated...i'd say hes lost his b@lls to that cheatin girl.

newayz, goodluck man!

 

[Chau]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
hy Chau, been awhile seen we've trade huh?!

newayz, i think that this "someone" was copying of of you. basically shes the one who cheated. if you can solve the problems urself then i dont see why should ur prof believe that u cheated...i'd say hes lost his b@lls to that cheatin girl.

newayz, goodluck man!

hey yeah havent sold/bought/traded on at in a while..

hopefully the professor/ta will let me prove my case

thanks

 

[RMSistight]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
hy Chau, been awhile seen we've trade huh?!

newayz, i think that this "someone" was copying of of you. basically shes the one who cheated. if you can solve the problems urself then i dont see why should ur prof believe that u cheated...i'd say hes lost his b@lls to that cheatin girl.

newayz, goodluck man!

It would have been smart to steer clear away from anyone that was sitting next to you. I have a tendency to sit alone when it comes to taking a final or major test. No one sits next to, behind, or in front of me.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: RMSistight

Originally posted by: lobbyone
hy Chau, been awhile seen we've trade huh?!

newayz, i think that this "someone" was copying of of you. basically shes the one who cheated. if you can solve the problems urself then i dont see why should ur prof believe that u cheated...i'd say hes lost his b@lls to that cheatin girl.

newayz, goodluck man!

It would have been smart to steer clear away from anyone that was sitting next to you. I have a tendency to sit alone when it comes to taking a final or major test. No one sits next to, behind, or in front of me.

You sit in your own room?

 

[slackerinabox]

Seriously, why do kids who didn't cheat always stand for this B.S.? It's not up to you to PROVE that you didn't cheat (unless you did, of course and were trying to wiggle your way out of this)... Talk to your dean or the head of the department... If you did nothing wrong and you had decent grades throughout the semester the burden of proof is on him... Having similar answers /methods on an open book exam is not proof...

 

[RMSistight]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: RMSistight

Originally posted by: lobbyone
hy Chau, been awhile seen we've trade huh?!

newayz, i think that this "someone" was copying of of you. basically shes the one who cheated. if you can solve the problems urself then i dont see why should ur prof believe that u cheated...i'd say hes lost his b@lls to that cheatin girl.

newayz, goodluck man!

It would have been smart to steer clear away from anyone that was sitting next to you. I have a tendency to sit alone when it comes to taking a final or major test. No one sits next to, behind, or in front of me.

You sit in your own room?

No, but if Chau did what I would have done, he wouldn't be in this predicament...unless the tests are really the same for some reason. You have to understand in school it's all about you and the class. You really don't care about anyone else.

 

[silverpig]

Go over his head and straight to the dean. Don't seem like a whiner about it, but express your concern. If you show the dean that you're a serious student, concerned about your mark, and explain the situation, you can avoid the retard prof.

 

[blahblah99]

You can ask the professor to give you a makeup exam to PROVE to him that you know the material.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
Seriously, why do kids who didn't cheat always stand for this B.S.? It's not up to you to PROVE that you didn't cheap (unless you did, of course and were trying to wiggle your way out of this)... Talk to your dean or the head of the department... If you did nothing wrong and you had decent grades throughout the semester the burden of proof is on him... Having similar answers /methods on an open book exam is not proof...

well for the professor, similar exams with similar mistakes and similar grades is proof enuff. so Chau might just have to prove it to the professor that he wasnt the one cheating. ask him to give u a makeup...and her too. see who does better. thats all i can think of. colleges are really strict with cheating. most even have a "cheating court" type of thing where u have to prove your innocence in front of a panel of faculty

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
Seriously, why do kids who didn't cheat always stand for this B.S.? It's not up to you to PROVE that you didn't cheap (unless you did, of course and were trying to wiggle your way out of this)... Talk to your dean or the head of the department... If you did nothing wrong and you had decent grades throughout the semester the burden of proof is on him... Having similar answers /methods on an open book exam is not proof...

well for the professor, similar exams with similar mistakes and similar grades is proof enuff. so Chau might just have to prove it to the professor that he wasnt the one cheating. ask him to give u a makeup...and her too. see who does better. thats all i can think of. colleges are really strict with cheating. most even have a "cheating court" type of thing where u have to prove your innocence in front of a panel of faculty

But, unless you are at fault, retaking the test is just unfair.. I would call a lawyer if I was put in that situation.. I have 4 finals and countless papers due - I should not have to waste my time retaking a test because some fvcktard thinks that my open book exam is similar to someone else's open book exam....

 

[WinkOsmosis]

In my art history class, they asked me a few weeks after a test if they could have my test back because they thought some girl cheated off of me. I had lost it so I guess she got away. I don't know why they suspected her of cheating and not me.

 

[silverpig]

Cheating in art history?

 

[urameatball]

just tell the prof you're asian which makes you automatically good in math. So if anyone cheated, it's the chick... unless she's asian also, then you may have a problem because asian chicks are smarter in math than asian guys.


...
on a more serious note... people who cheat usually don't have high grades. just ask them to refer to your past grades and her past grades and I'm sure that would provide some evidence as to who cheated. But if her past grades were the same as yours, then it puts you back in square one and it makes her a horrible cheater!

 

[nitsuj3580]

I got accused of cheating as well by my EE professor a couple years ago. Desks are in rows like any other classroom. This professor would give out two different tests alternating each row with the two tests so the person on your left and right had different tests than you. For part A of one problem on the test, we had to diagram a step function (so we're talking mapping 1's and 0's). Well by some random chance of bad luck, I mapped a diagram to the question and I guess it came out almost the exact same way as the answer to the other test. The professor called me into his office (I had no clue why at the time).

"I was just curious how you got this answer to this part of this question"

"oh like this" (as I show him my thought process)

"well that's wrong but it does look exactly like the answer to the other test. can you explain that?" (it was obvious what he was getting at)

WTF dude, I just showed you how I arrived at my answer. Granted it was wrong but that doesn't justify calling me a cheater plus I'm not stupid enough to copy off a completely different test. Took a good hour of being firm and standing up for myself (and holding off my ever growing anger throughout the situation) but eventually, he said he'd "let it go this time and would be paying attention to my next test"

Good luck with your situation. Stand up for yourself!

 

[Chau]

*update*

well i went to the TA"s office hours but then there were too many people there for the review for the final tomorrow that i didnt' get a chacne to ask her privately about my midterm and prove to her that I did my midterm myself and did not copy anyone... i need to e-mail the professsor to try and set up a meeting but im not sure how to word the e-mail so that i dont look too agressive or look guilty.. this is what i have so far, any suggestions? :

Professor ***,

I met with you today regarding the incident of my Midterm #2 and another person?s midterm having the same answers and looking the same. I was wondering if it would be possible to arrange for a meeting to explain my side of the story, as I don?t want to be wrongfully accused. I can prove that I did not copy anyone else?s midterm as I can show to you exactly where in the book and where in my notes I found each answer and why the work I had looked the way it did because the examples I looked at had the exact same format as the way I did the problems.

how can i word the part about "i dont want to be wrongfully accused" because he hasnt exactly accused me of cheating, just kept asking me how i can explain that the two midterms looked the same :\