Would this be considered cheating?

[rcpratt]

That's not cheating, and if a similar situation were to happen for the 2nd exam I would do the exact same thing.

Lazy prof is lazy.

 

[TecHNooB]

this only happened once to me. i proved it wasn't a fluke on the second exam

 

[Patranus]

No it wasn't. He had no idea the test would be nearly identical and that is irrelevant anyway. He used a resource to study. There are always old tests floating around. If the professors are too fucking lazy to make new tests they should expect this to happen.

Word. The professor was simply too lazy to make a new test.

What if your friend was a tutor? She had knowledge of the 2009 test. Would getting their help via verbal instructions instead of text be cheating?

Now if you put that 2009 test onto some sort of crib note, that would be cheating.

 

[mugs]

Whether or not the professor could prevent it is irrelevant to whether or not it is cheating.

If you had known that you weren't supposed to have access to the 2009 exam, then any school with any kind of standards for academic integrity would consider it to be cheating.

You didn't know you weren't supposed to have access to it though, so I'm not sure that it could be called cheating. The worst punishment you should have to face would be taking a different test.

 

[Ronstang]

Whether or not the professor could prevent it is irrelevant to whether or not it is cheating.

If you had known that you weren't supposed to have access to the 2009 exam, then any school with any kind of standards for academic integrity would consider it to be cheating.

You didn't know you weren't supposed to have access to it though, so I'm not sure that it could be called cheating. The worst punishment you should have to face would be taking a different test.

You guys are too uptight. He SHOULD NOT have to take a different test. The tests from 2009 are out there obviously. It is not like the girl stole it. How could she? Maybe the professor has changed his policy but he can't change what is out there in the public's hands now. If it bothers the prof so much he should have changed this years tests.....but he is obviously too damned lazy. Leros did nothing wrong.

 

[mugs]

You guys are too uptight. He SHOULD NOT have to take a different test. The tests from 2009 are out there obviously. It is not like the girl stole it. How could she? Maybe the professor has changed his policy but he can't change what is out there in the public's hands now. If it bothers the prof so much he should have changed this years tests.....but he is obviously too damned lazy. Leros did nothing wrong.

I gave him an accurate answer to his question, I didn't judge whether what he did was right or wrong. I told him how an academic institution would view it.

All of your contributions to this thread have been worthless. When it comes to academic dishonesty it is never an acceptable defense to say that someone else should have tried harder to prevent you from being dishonest.

 

[Ronstang]

I gave him an accurate answer to his question, I didn't judge whether what he did was right or wrong. I told him how an academic institution would view it.

All of your contributions to this thread have been worthless. When it comes to academic dishonesty it is never an acceptable defense to say that someone else should have tried harder to prevent you from being dishonest.

How would an academic institution even be able to charge him with academic dishonesty? He didn't cheat. The material is out there. It is not banned. Nobody stole it and is distributing it with intent to cheat. The prof did not say using old tests to study was against the rules. The prof is a lazy ass. There are many in our schools. Are you one of those lazy profs?

 

[mugs]

How would an academic institution even be able to charge him with academic dishonesty? He didn't cheat. The material is out there. It is not banned. Nobody stole it and is distributing it with intent to cheat. The prof did not say using old tests to study was against the rules. The prof is a lazy ass. There are many in our schools. Are you one of those lazy profs?

None of that matters. The school would say he should have assumed he wasn't allowed to use old tests unless the professor explicitly gave him permission.

I'm not a college professor.

 

[Bibble]

yes. I understand it wasn't on purpose, but it was cheating.

I wouldn't be too bothered about it, you had no way of knowing that the exam would the same one from your friend.

I agree with Cogman. Also, just because a professor is lazy does not make it not cheating, unfortunately for the OP. If the professor leaves the room during an exam does that mean it's ok to talk with your friends about the answers?

In this instance, I wouldn't be bothered about it either. However, I would refrain from using the any old tests the professor does not give you in the future. In other words, don't ask your friend for the other tests from 2009. You are now aware that it is likely that the 2009 tests will be similar to tests you are about to take, so to study those with this knowledge equates to cheating.

 

[Ronstang]

None of that matters. The school would say he should have assumed he wasn't allowed to use old tests unless the professor explicitly gave him permission.

I'm not a college professor.

OK, so by your reasoning you are not allowed to use anything to study for an exam unless the professor explicitly tells you that you can? You are not too bright are you? The minute a professor gives you back a graded test to keep it becomes a piece of reference material. I would love to see a school try to kick a student out for using old testy to study....and then be sued into oblivion and loose.

 

[newnameman]

It's wasn't cheating for the first test since you had no way of knowing he would reuse the exam, but now that you do know, it would be cheating to keep looking at the old exams.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I would not worry about it, you didn't make a cheat sheet or anything...like a few others have said, it'd be cheating if you knew that the exam would be the exact same. So many classes, one lil goof up like that, I wouldn't care a whole lot.

 

[gaidensensei]

Not a cheat imo. You were genuinely studying, and it happened to be by goodness gracious a streak of chance that you were given the material you studied for.

As with some of the other posters in this thread. I say the fault lies truly in professor's inability to update or revise exams. I guess it depends on what kind of a test it was. But assuming it's math or chemistry, its definitely material that deserves revisions.

 

[mugs]

OK, so by your reasoning you are not allowed to use anything to study for an exam unless the professor explicitly tells you that you can? You are not too bright are you? The minute a professor gives you back a graded test to keep it becomes a piece of reference material. I would love to see a school try to kick a student out for using old testy to study....and then be sued into oblivion and loose.

No, that's not what I said.

 

[Patranus]

I agree with Cogman. Also, just because a professor is lazy does not make it not cheating, unfortunately for the OP. If the professor leaves the room during an exam does that mean it's ok to talk with your friends about the answers?

In this instance, I wouldn't be bothered about it either. However, I would refrain from using the any old tests the professor does not give you in the future. In other words, don't ask your friend for the other tests from 2009. You are now aware that it is likely that the 2009 tests will be similar to tests you are about to take, so to study those with this knowledge equates to cheating.

So would you only use office hours/TA for help or would it be "cheating" (in your mind) if you got a 3rd party tutor?

 

[JJChicken]

No it wasn't. He had no idea the test would be nearly identical and that is irrelevant anyway. He used a resource to study. There are always old tests floating around. If the professors are too fucking lazy to make new tests they should expect this to happen.

this

 

[Bibble]

So would you only use office hours/TA for help or would it be "cheating" (in your mind) if you got a 3rd party tutor?

It's getting late so forgive me for being dull, but I don't quite see what you are getting at here. Of course a 3rd party tutor would be okay.

I think the issue here is that no old tests should have been used except for the ones the professor gave. I've taken many tests over the years and I would never assume it was okay to look at the old tests unless the professor gave explicit permission to do so.

 

[Hacp]

Simple question. What if you took an exam in the past, same course, with the same professor. You failed the course before but now you aced the test this semester b/c you saw all the exams he reused! Is that considered cheating?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Is my university the only one that has "Using old exams as reference material" explicitly listed in practically every academic dishonesty section of each class' respective syllabus? I'm not saying that the op is a terrible human being or a filthy cheating scumbag but the ignorance plea doesn't make much sense.

 

[gaidensensei]

Yeah, Hacp but that's like intended cheating. Leros made his OP sound like he actually studied without knowing what was the exact material.

 

[Leros]

Is my university the only one that has "Using old exams as reference material" explicitly listed in practically every academic dishonesty section of each class' respective syllabus? I'm not saying that the op is a terrible human being or a filthy cheating scumbag but the ignorance plea doesn't make much sense.

Nearly every engineering class I've taken has every single old exam available to us for studying. Usually it includes exams from all the old classes, including other professors who taught in the past.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Nearly every engineering class I've taken has every single old exam available to us for studying. It seems to be the norm here.

My classes tend to give out old exams as well, but that doesn't mean that all exams are fair game if the class policy is to not share taken exams with other. But of course, I don't know your class/university policy so it could be fine. If the administration doesn't define it as cheating then I agree with the others that no cheating took place.

That said, my anti-social friendless self has always been envious of those with outside help, no matter how legit.

 

[zerocool84]

Are you always this paranoid in life???

 

[frostedflakes]

How would an academic institution even be able to charge him with academic dishonesty? He didn't cheat. The material is out there. It is not banned. Nobody stole it and is distributing it with intent to cheat. The prof did not say using old tests to study was against the rules. The prof is a lazy ass. There are many in our schools. Are you one of those lazy profs?

There's probably something in the school's honor code or the professor's syllabus about using unauthorized academic resources, which would include old exams he didn't give students access to.

Just saying, that's how the honor council at OP's university would probably look at it.

 

[ReggieDunlap]

In college I took an Accounting class, got a D, then 2 semesters later, took the class again. Wound up with the same professor. I still had all my tests, worksheets, quizzes etc from the previous run through. I kept them cause I knew Id be taking the class again and wanted them for reference to study. The tests were returned to us after we took them. Mid term and Final exams were reviewed in class but we had to give them back to the professor. So, long story short, I aced the second run through of the class because ALL the material was exactly the same. Mid term and Final Exam questions were taken from the tests over the course of the semester.

Everything I had, I had because the professor gave the material back to us.

Did I cheat? I don't think so. Did OP cheat? I don't think so. But he should ask his friend if they kept the 2009 tests on the sly or not? I find it hard to believe they were NOT readily available. If the student was supposed to return the test to the professor, the professor can easily control who has and who hasn't by cross referencing his class list. Jenny never returned her 2009 exam. Guess I'd better talk to her and get it back.

Otherwise, its fair resource material in my opinion.