# Stupid Cheater Tricks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886 "2005-01-27T06:20:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/201 "2005-06-09T17:32:17Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Maybe he was just brown-nosing. Oh, that had occurred to me. I’m not going to claim to be a master of social nuance, because surely I am not, but I’ve been asked brown-nosey questions, which are either vague, or are designed to show off how smart or clever the querant is. His questions seemed more sincere, and often referred to things outside of class, like things he’d read in the news or seen on _Nova_ or what have you, and seem to involve some actual thought. If he was brown-nosing, he was making an _effort_, anyway. Either way, it was disappointing. I had gotten to like him, and then he turned around and did something totally disrespectful. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/202 "2005-06-09T17:32:39Z")
I’ll figure out this quoting thing someday. However, now I forgot what I was going to say. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/203 "2005-06-09T19:48:09Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > “This particular question was ‘marked wrong’,” is an obvious attempt at cheating > > The bubbles are filled in with #2 pencil, of course. And for this question it was easy to see that a different answer had been erased, and the correct one marked. Of course he _could_ have changed his answer during the exam, and there’s no way to tell by looking at the paper whether it was changed before or after _but_ . . . > [snip] > He obviously did _not_ expect this: I said, “That’s very odd. Let me see what answer the computer recorded for that question,” and pulled out the printed report I get with every batch of exams. [Devil’s Advocate]I have personally experienced Scantron readers that marked correct answers wrong in cases where an erasure wasn’t complete or super-clean[/Devil’s Advocate] I have also had students return scantrons sheets at the end of the period pulling this same stunt. Sometimes it’s a regular test, and they try to erase and rewrite the correct answer in. Unfortunately, the comments I write are in ink, and it certainly seemed odd that I would write in the correct answer on a test that “apparently” already had the correct answer on it. I must be losing it, really… ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/204 "2005-06-09T22:28:35Z")
I plagarised once. As the complete lazy bastard I was then, ehrmm… still am, I didn’t even bother to rewrite it myself. (This was back in the olden days when you wrote stuff by hand, with a pen.) It was an essay on the effects of smoking done by a friend of my sister. All in a neat girly handwriting with nice pictures cut and glued to the essay, all absolutely straight. Not at all like my own sloppy style. What I did was I carefuly removed her signature and notes by the teacher by applying a strip of cello-tape over them, removing the written-on top layer of the paper. Signed it myself and handed it in to the same teacher who had received it two years before. No, I wasn’t found out. There were all new notes from the teacher and a final grading of a 7. While I distinctly recalled removing a 9 with a piece of cello-tape!!! Life is not fair to the non-blonde, non-perky-tits. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/205 "2005-06-10T00:06:44Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > [Devil’s Advocate]I have personally experienced Scantron readers that marked correct answers wrong in cases where an erasure wasn’t complete or super-clean[/Devil’s Advocate] Our system records an asterisk on the report if it sees more than one answer (which usually happens due to an incomplete erasure, but also sometimes because students don’t bring an eraser to the test :rolleyes: and just cross out incorrect answers.) I go through the reports and find all the asterisks, and check the bubble sheets, and correct any the scores where the student had the right answer, before returning the exams. The scanners are actually quite accurate. In five semesters, having corrected the \*s, I have never had a single scanning error brought to my attention. ---
**Author:** ![Diehard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Diehard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diehard)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/206 "2005-06-10T04:27:25Z")
“If you copied from one person its called Plagerism , if you copy from a group its called Research” 😉 When I was doing my final year project for the IS degree, they had a stupid rule which said everybody should come up with unique ideas. Had to spend 4 months checking on a unique idea which hadnt occured to nobody else. Finally when I came up with idea and submitted the project proposal after much deliberations they accepted it. About a week later I found that same research is being done at IBM and Microsoft on a much grander scale…shit! How can you come up with unique ideas…I am not Einstein for hells sake…! Plagerism is a fact of life. Out of the 6 billion ppl on this world , chances are somebody else had done,thought of it b4 me…why not borrow the ideas ? Afterall they published it in a public domain so that somebody can use it. (Am not supporting these term paper outsourcing ppl by any means) ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/207 "2005-06-10T04:32:53Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > [Devil’s Advocate]Sometimes it’s a regular test, and they try to erase and rewrite the correct answer in. Unfortunately, the comments I write are in ink, and it certainly seemed odd that I would write in the correct answer on a test that “apparently” already had the correct answer on it. I must be losing it, really… I had one professor that would go one better than just writing comments. He would:[ul] [li]Write lots of comments - what major points you missed, etc…[/li][li]If you left a question blank, would X out the blank space in pen, so students couldn’t write in an answer after getting the test back, and claim that he “missed” marking that one[/li][li]He would photocopy a random selection of the exams (about 10-20% of the class, or a random page from each person’s test) - that way if someone tried to alter their test after it was graded, there was a significant risk that he had a copy of your test as it was when you originally wrote it[/ul][/li]The prof said that a few people had tried to get away with it over the years, so he eventually implemented all of these precautions, and virtually eliminated cheating, or at least that type of cheating. I also had a prof that used many different versions of the same multiple choice test (questions in a different order, as well as each a, b, c, d selection in a different order on most questions). He put the tests out on the desks before people came in, so then no one sitting ajacent to you would have the exact same test as you. ---
**Author:** ![LilyValy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9a140/32.png) [@LilyValy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyValy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/208 "2005-06-10T05:22:20Z")
The ways I have learned to cheat in college: For Tests Programmable calculators – store formulas, and other info Text messaging – make sure you and your friend sit with a space between you so you receive the same test, or if you don’t have a friend in class text, questions to your friend who will look up the answers for you. Crib sheets – attached to the underside of a baseball cap, in pencil written very lightly on your jeans, under your watch, etc. For Essays Book Simple – a font that resembles arial, that adds length a paper Making the margins smaller also will lengthen a paper If you are too lazy to write the paper at all, pay someone who has the course with a different prof, that way it has never been published online and the chances of getting caught are reduced. Or just pay someone to do it outright. I have seen each and everyone of these used in various courses, and yet I have not seen a since student expelled. Can profs really be that ignorant as to what is going on in their class? ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/209 "2005-06-10T13:16:19Z")
> [@LilyValy](#): > > I have seen each and everyone of these used in various courses, and yet I have not seen a since student expelled. I don’t know how the honor code works at your school, but where I am, it is almost impossible to get a student punished by the administration for cheating. To even get a hearing before our academic integrity board, you have to have a very strong level of proof. E.g. for the text messager, you’d have to grab their phone with the messages still on it, and this, of course, could provoke a physical confrontation and would certainly make the student go apeshit (administratively speaking) if it turned out they weren’t cheating. “I saw him reading something off his cell phone, which is not allowed in exams,” _might_ be sufficient grounds to get you before the board, but the board is 50% students, and they have a repuation for _always_ giving the student the benefit of the doubt. If he says the messages were unrelated to the test, and if the professor can’t _prove_ otherwise, the students on the board will let him off the hook. Even if they decide that the student cheated, the punishment for a first offense wouldn’t be expulsion. And given how hard it is to get a first conviction, they’ll likely sail through the rest of their college career without getting nailed again. > [@](#): > > Can profs really be that ignorant as to what is going on in their class? For me, it’s a matter of balancing security and practicality. Do I inspect every student’s clothing closely to be sure that they haven’t hidden a crib sheet somewhere? Take people’s calculators away and inspect the memory? Or tell them that they can’t use their graphing calculators; they have to go out and buy the model of calculator I approve of? I’ve heard of students going to the restroom so they can text messages someone, or look at a book that they’ve stashed there, or just meet with someone who can answer their questions. So if a student asks if they can use the restroom, do I tell them no, they have to hold it for the rest of the two-hour exam period? It would be impossible to eliminate all cheating, so I just try to take reasonable measures, like making them turn their baseball caps backwards or take them off, and watching carefully for unapproved materials and whispering. But at some level, if a student is determined to cheat, then that’s their immoral choice, and I refuse to beat myself up because they have decided to do the wrong thing and I didn’t take extraordinary measures to catch them. On their own heads be it, you know? I don’t like the fact that they get an unfair advantage over their fellow students, but at the same time, they’re there to get an education; if they decide they’d rather cheat than learn the material, they’re wasting their own time. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/210 "2005-06-10T15:21:21Z")
> [@Diehard](#): > > “If you copied from one person its called Plagerism , if you copy from a group its called Research” > > 😉 > > When I was doing my final year project for the IS degree, they had a stupid rule which said everybody should come up with unique ideas. Had to spend 4 months checking on a unique idea which hadnt occured to nobody else. Finally when I came up with idea and submitted the project proposal after much deliberations they accepted it. About a week later I found that same research is being done at IBM and Microsoft on a much grander scale…shit! > > How can you come up with unique ideas…I am not Einstein for hells sake…! Plagerism is a fact of life. Out of the 6 billion ppl on this world , chances are somebody else had done,thought of it b4 me…why not borrow the ideas ? Afterall they published it in a public domain so that somebody can use it. > > (Am not supporting these term paper outsourcing ppl by any means) **Diehard** , I’m not sure you’re clear on the concept of plag **ia** rism. If you do research on something that someone else has worked on, but you do your own work, that is not plagiarism. If you write a paper and reference someone else’s work, and give them credit for it, that is not plagiarism. If you take work that someone else has done, and pass it off as your own, **that** is plagiarism. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/211 "2005-06-10T16:40:03Z")
One of my summer-school profs has a requirement that we give her our cell phones during the exam. Since this is a senior- and grad-level course, we all have legitimate reasons to keep them on, so by her having the phone in her possession, she eliminates cheating. And, should our phone ring, it’s not a big deal to answer it. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/212 "2005-06-10T16:46:36Z")
I wouldn’t want to do this in a class that had more than, say, a dozen students. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would erupt if one of the phones “walked away”? ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/213 "2005-06-10T16:58:40Z")
When I was in law school, before the final our profs took the following cheater-preventative steps: Removed any electrical device from your person. You checked your purses, backpacks, etc. at the front of the room with the proctor. You were not permitted to take a seat if you had with you anything other than writing utensils and any _permitted_ aids. Blue books were provided. Sealed blue books. There were a minimum of 4 versions for every final. These varied not in content but rather in organization. Same questions, different orders and/or different answer orders for multiple choice. If you were in the “using a laptop” contingent, the school thoughtfully provided a laptop for you. One of the laptops the library owned and loaned out to students. It was provided at random, and carefully stripped by an IT personage before the exam. You could not leave the room without handing the disk with your exam on it to the proctor, who printed it immediately. If your disk got corrupted, everyone was very sad, but you failed. It was a clearly specified risk of using a laptop instead of a pen and paper. Still we had at least one fella who attempted to cheat. The prof he tried it on was the single biggest hard ass at the school. This is the prof who evicted not one, not two, but eleven students from his classes (for the class period - not the term) for possessing a cell phone that rang during class. His rules for the final were that you were permitted to use any notes or outlines you, personally, prepared by hand. Actually not a bad deal at all. If you were prepared to handwrite out the entire text and case books you were welcome to bring that to class. No printouts allowed (unless you followed his rigorous procedure for preventing cheatage). Some nimrod brought a bound book. Which announced in bright yellow letters that it was an “Immanuel’s Guide To Contracts Law! Everything a Student Needs To Pass!”. Still shrink wrapped. The professor sat at the front of the room, watched him unwrap it and start to use it to answer questsions. After 5 minutes, the prof stops the testing and announces loudly to the room “Mr. X, what is that you’re using as a testing aid?” Mr. X looks the prof in the eye and says it’s his class notes. :rolleyes: The prof leans over and picks up the shrink wrap from the floor where Mr. X has deposited it and says “Please rise, Mr. X.” then turns to the class and announces “Mr. X has just failed this course. In compensation for your time being wasted in this fashion, I will extend the length allowed for this exam by 10 minutes. Resume, please.” Mr. X is marched out the door. Protesting his innocence loudly. At an assembly later that day (which all of us were required to attend - including Mr. X) it was announced Mr. X was expelled and his behavior reported to each and every state bar association along with his social security number. ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/214 "2005-06-10T18:32:38Z")
> [@Aangelica](#): > > Some nimrod brought a bound book. Which announced in bright yellow letters that it was an “Immanuel’s Guide To Contracts Law! Everything a Student Needs To Pass!”. Still shrink wrapped. > > The professor sat at the front of the room, watched him unwrap it and start to use it to answer questsions. After 5 minutes, the prof stops the testing and announces loudly to the room “Mr. X, what is that you’re using as a testing aid?” So the Prof. saw him bring it in and allowed him to begin using them, the student wasn’t hiding his actions, and the Prof.'s response was to wait 5 minutes and publicly embarrass and then fail him, have him > [@](#): > > expelled and his behavior reported to each and every state bar association along with his social security number. Sounds like a friggin’ ares-hole to me, the Prof. not the student. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/215 "2005-06-10T18:56:56Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > So the Prof. saw him bring it in and allowed him to begin using them, the student wasn’t hiding his actions, and the Prof.'s response was to wait 5 minutes and publicly embarrass and then fail him, have him expelled and his behavior reported to each and every state bar association along with his social security number. Sounds like a friggin’ ares-hole to me, the Prof. not the student. I think he did the right thing, though I would have warned the student when I saw him coming in with the book, before he started using it. I think that, if the penalty for cheating were more like this most of the time, there’d be a lot less of it. And that would be a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/216 "2005-06-10T19:06:51Z")
If this were high school, or maybe even college, I’d agree with **monkeyfist** ; but this is frickin’ law school, with a known zero-tolerance policy toward cheating. Assuming the rules were clearly spelled out, I don’t feel the least bit sorry for that nitwit. (And aren’t law school prof _supposed_ to be arseholes? Didn’t anyone see _The Paper Chase_?) ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/217 "2005-06-10T19:13:24Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > I wouldn’t want to do this in a class that had more than, say, a dozen students. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would erupt if one of the phones “walked away”? This is a seminar class of about 11 students. I don’t think she’d do this during a regular semester. The only reason she’s doing this is because some of us have kids or jobs that need to get a hold of us. Robin ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/218 "2005-06-10T20:48:39Z")
> [@monkeyfist](#): > > So the Prof. saw him bring it in and allowed him to begin using them, the student wasn’t hiding his actions, and the Prof.'s response was to wait 5 minutes and publicly embarrass and then fail him, have him Sounds like a friggin’ ares-hole to me, the Prof. not the student. Or, maybe, the Professor wanted to catch him in the act so he had incontrovertible proof of the cheating. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/219 "2005-06-10T21:13:47Z")
> [@JerH](#): > > Or, maybe, the Professor wanted to catch him in the act so he had incontrovertible proof of the cheating. Of course. I can’t see how bringing a book with you to class on the day of the test, but not opening it during the test, could be cheating. Does anyone else think Mr X was incredibly stupid to use a book that he had never opened as his only notes for the test, relying completely on the guarantee on the cover that it contained all the information he would need to pass? I mean, if you’re going to cheat, at least don’t cheat in such a dumbass way. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886/220 "2005-06-10T21:22:18Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > **Diehard** , I’m not sure you’re clear on the concept of plag **ia** rism. > If you do research on something that someone else has worked on, but you do your own work, that is not plagiarism. If you write a paper and reference someone else’s work, and give them credit for it, that is not plagiarism. Another take on this from the great mathematician and social critic Tom Lehrer (from the immortal _Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky_):\* Plagiarize, Let no one else’s work evade your eyes, Remember why the good lord made your eyes, So don’t shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize - Only be sure always to call it please ’research’. … I am never forget the day my first book is published. Every chapter I stole from somewhere else. Index I copy from old Vladivostok telephone directory. This book was sensational! Pravda - well, pravda - pravda said: (russian double-talk) It stinks. But izvestia! izvestia said: (russian double-talk) It stinks. Metro-goldwyn-moskva buys movie rights for six million rubles, Changing title to ’The Eternal Triangle’, With Brigitte Bardot playing part of hypotenuse. And who deserves the credit? And who deserves the blame? Nicolai ivanovich lobachevsky is his name. Hi! \* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-cheater-tricks/286886.md?page=12)