Cheating on nursing exams

[MiaNJ]

What would you do if you found out people were cheating on nursing exams? I don't mean just copying during the tests, but I've seen people share questions from the previous semester, since some professors use the exact same tests. They don't return the tests to the students, but they don't realize that when the tests are reviewed next class, some people write down the answers. Even if the professor tells everyone not to write anything, he or she cannot make sure everyone is not writing, esp. on laptops or PDAs, and it's a large class. Also, there is also the element of 'remembering' the questions right after the test. I myself and some friends can remember many questions afterward since we look in our notes for the answers, to see how we may have scored. But we do this for our own purposes and not to recreate the test. So what's to stop certain people from writing down whatever they remember then writing more during the test review. So the following semester they share with their friends.

I am doing well in all my classes since I study hard, but I just think it's not fair that certain students may simply memorize questions and answers and get high scores. It's not even about the scores, but what kind of nurses will they be, if they don't even grasp the material as a whole and are may just memorize questions.

I am not the only one who has seen this happen, but the professors don't realize that even though they don't return the test form to us, that students can either memorize or write down the questions/answers during review.

I know it's not nice to tell on people but do you think it's fair?

[nursetay2006]

I think that no matter what school you attend, there will always be a select few that will cheat to get ahead. It is not our jobs as students to be a monitor. When I was in nursing school, I had barely enough time to worry about myself! I've always been told, what's done in the darkness always come to light! :wink2:

[Agnus]

What would you do if you found out people were cheating on nursing exams? I don't mean just copying during the tests, but I've seen people share questions from the previous semester, since some professors use the exact same tests. They don't return the tests to the students, but they don't realize that when the tests are reviewed next class, some people write down the answers. Even if the professor tells everyone not to write anything, he or she cannot make sure everyone is not writing, esp. on laptops or PDAs, and it's a large class. Also, there is also the element of 'remembering' the questions right after the test. I myself and some friends can remember many questions afterward since we look in our notes for the answers, to see how we may have scored. But we do this for our own purposes and not to recreate the test. So what's to stop certain people from writing down whatever they remember then writing more during the test review. So the following semester they share with their friends.

I am doing well in all my classes since I study hard, but I just think it's not fair that certain students may simply memorize questions and answers and get high scores. It's not even about the scores, but what kind of nurses will they be, if they don't even grasp the material as a whole and are may just memorize questions.

I am not the only one who has seen this happen, but the professors don't realize that even though they don't return the test form to us, that students can either memorize or write down the questions/answers during review.

I know it's not nice to tell on people but do you think it's fair?

I would not under estimate the knowledge of my professor in this respect. This has gone on for eons. It happened when your professor was a student. Some professors are not focused on test; some exjpect students to do this; some want them to (it looks good if the professor has classes that produce high grades); some figure the cream will always rise reguardless; some see this as a learnig tool.

If you did not have this ability to remember you would be incapable of learning anything at all.

Some professors do not want to rewrite test questions every semester (it is a bigger task than you can imagine) If your class mates are remembering a questions and the answer then they actually have learned something. As distasteful as that sounds.

[MiaNJ]

I would not under estimate the knowledge of my professor in this respect. This has gone on for eons. It happened when your professor was a student. Some professors are not focused on test; some exjpect students to do this; some want them to (it looks good if the professor has classes that produce high grades); some figure the cream will always rise reguardless; some see this as a learnig tool.

If you did not have this ability to remember you would be incapable of learning anything at all.

Some professors do not want to rewrite test questions every semester (it is a bigger task than you can imagine) If your class mates are remembering a questions and the answer then they actually have learned something. As distasteful as that sounds.

It's a shame if some professors do realize this happens and let it slide.

You're right, remembering is part of learning, BUT in the field of nursing it's not merely about remembering 'certain' aspects, but more about critical thinking. Just because a person memorizes certain questions and answers does not mean they have a good general knowledge of the subject, IF they were to be asked another question that they didn't memorize - if they never studied the subject, but just specific questions and answers. Especially if the questions are varied,and not a whole set devoted to just one subject or disease. So a student may just 'memorize' those specific question(s) to the disease that they know will be on the test, but not really study more about how to manage the disease. I know not all nurses remember every single thing they studied in school, but if they studied well, they will have more general knowledge than someone who just memorized specific questions.

I know that I have learned alot more about certain diseases and nursing care, just by studying them, not because they were on the test.

They may have learned 'something' but I don't think learning nursing by remote memory of questions and answers truly will make a good nurse.

[ukstudent]

What bothers me the most is that when I commented about how some

students are cheating, to my family and other friends outside the school, they seemed to imply that my school was too lax and probably easy to pass anway. Some said that maybe the instructors realize students will share questions and answers, but want their school to have high averages since they get funding from the govt. Or else they would change their tests every semester. I don't know if there is any truth to this, but it bothers me that people would think this way, since I don't want them to think it's so easy to be a nurse and my study efforts are meaningless.

I can understand that the lack of respect from your family and friends about how hard nursing school is getting to you. However, even if your school kicked out everyone that had been cheating your family and friends would still not understand nursing school and it's difficulty level. Only people that have gone through nursing school will understand. You are trying to get validation from people that can't give it to you. Please remeber that schools seem to have a way of weeding out students as they go through the system. Each semester gets harder and schools want a high NCLEX pass rate that can't be achieved if a larger or even medium amount of the students are cheating.

[Jules A, MSN]

I know what you mean, in my class there seemed to be a small group of students that could get away with anything and it was almost as if the instructors were afraid to say something. The good news is that my grades and my close friends grades were better than the ones that cheated anyway. Even if they pass the boards they will not be in a position to advance like I hope to be because once in the real world they will be held accountable for their actions and being lazy will take its toll. I hope.

[cabkrun]

I suggest not worrying about what other people are doing. If they are cheating, it doesn't really matter too much. The only test that matters is the NCLEX, and they can't cheat on it. Really they are only doing a disservice to theirselves. I know it isn't fair.. but remember karma.

The instructors should really vary their questions from semester to semester to prevent this type of thing. Ours did, and people still found a way to cheat. The thing is, the one that cheated a lot still hasn't passed NCLEX, and that was over a year ago.

Sorry, I disagree. I surely wouldn't want someone taking care of me that cheated all the way thru nursing school. It's like the recent NYT article about Phillipine Nurses cheating on their exams in order to come over to the US as nurses, and people dismissing it by saying "well, they still have to pass the exam over in the US". There are a ton of prep courses out there that you can take and prepare for to pass NCLEX. Someone might cheat all the way thru school, then spend a good amount of effort to study and pass NCLEX. Not the same kind of nurse IMO. It does a huge disservice to the profession, and it's a lazy instructor that doesn't change the exams. On the flip side, people cheat ... no matter what profession, but it doesn't mean it's right, and KARMA doesn't always prevail.

[MiaNJ]

I know what you mean, in my class there seemed to be a small group of students that could get away with anything and it was almost as if the instructors were afraid to say something. The good news is that my grades and my close friends grades were better than the ones that cheated anyway. Even if they pass the boards they will not be in a position to advance like I hope to be because once in the real world they will be held accountable for their actions and being lazy will take its toll. I hope. [/quote

I hope so too. When I say all this cheating bothers me, some people seem to think I'm either envious of the cheaters' high grades or I wish I could also get access to the questions ahead of time, or I'm jealous that I had to study. But none of that is true, since I do get good grades and don't need to cheat, and I also want to study since I want to learn all I can. How would I feel good about a high grade that I didn't put much effort into getting? It's not the same to memorize questions and answers, than to read almost an entire book and understand more nursing process.

I think it's sad that some don't understand the real ethical dilemma here, and what it could mean to nursing profession in general.

If students can find it easy to cheat, and more start to do it, even at other schools since I read and heard it happens elsewhere also, even out of the country (check out the Phillipine nursing student cheating scandal), then eventually the general public will to think that most nurses are not competent professionals, since there are so many incidents of students cheating. If a person likes to cheat in school, what makes them not want to cut corners at work?

Of course there will always be good honest nurses, but people can start to form stereotypes.

When I got into nursing, I read that it's the most trusted profession, and it would be sad to see this reputation dwindle as time goes on. I don't mean because of what is happening in my class, but since it happens elsewhere, things can start to get worse, and students cheat more, etc. etc. Then more gossip about nursing students get started, how many are lazy, etc. The good students who get high grades from studying, will suffer since people will not be able to know who are the cheaters, if everyone gets very high grades, since some are cheating.

[BarbieBrains]

Cheating does affect everyone. It seems likely that some students in our class cheated on an exam and the entire class suffered from the bad feelings and association when it came to light. There were some students who had a great improvement on the same exam because they had studied extremely hard -- and they fell under suspicion (it was sad). I was personally hurt because I stood up to the instructor and vouched for all my classmates, only to find out later that it is likely that people did cheat. Now I no longer trust or have faith in the honesty of my classmates.

I think the original poster has a legitimate reason to be concerned about students cheating in her class. There was a recent cheating incident at my college during the summer semester. Even though eventually most of the cheaters have been identified (including the ringleader), initially every single student in our entire class was placed under academic probation because the nursing administration couldn't differentiate the honest students from those who were dishonest. As stated, cheating in nursing school has a way of affecting everybody in the classroom. It may not happen now, but sooner or later it will cause major problems.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

I think that schools need to take a zero tolerance approach to cheating. Integrity is a core value of Nursing and I don't want to risk either my career or patients safety by working with a liar and a cheat.

[MiaNJ]

I think the original poster has a legitimate reason to be concerned about students cheating in her class. There was a recent cheating incident at my college during the summer semester. Even though eventually most of the cheaters have been identified (including the ringleader), initially every single student in our entire class was placed under academic probation because the nursing administration couldn't differentiate the honest students from those who were dishonest. As stated, cheating in nursing school has a way of affecting everybody in the classroom. It may not happen now, but sooner or later it will cause major problems.

That's so sad, what happened to your class. It's simply not fair. When people say look the other way or 'don't be concerned about cheating' and 'worry about yourself', they don't realize that cheating can and will eventually affect everyone in some way.

[MiaNJ]

I think that schools need to take a zero tolerance approach to cheating. Integrity is a core value of Nursing and I don't want to risk either my career or patients safety by working with a liar and a cheat.

That's my point exactly. Even if professors don't actually see the students cheat, I'm certain they do realize that students can remember questions and provide them to their friends. If the prof. does it so they can look good when most students score high, then it's a shame.

Even those nurses who did well in school and studied hard, may eventually lose credibility if people will start to wonder if they cheated all along in school, if they continue to hear rumors about how nursing students cheat in schools. It happened in the Phillipines recently (was in the news), where some students were caught cheating on their licensing exam and then All students were punished and had to take the test over again. Even if they do pass, they can eventually be viewed in a bad light and people will not be as trusting of nurses in general.

I agree that nursing is about Integrity, and if people start to find out how easy students can cheat in nursing school, they may also wonder if they can cheat on the NCLEX, which may be possible according to the article below. It's not about nursing specifically, but it's pointed out that it can happen in any health care licensing exam.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03215/208353.stm

[Agnus]

They may have learned 'something' but I don't think learning nursing by remote memory of questions and answers truly will make a good nurse.

I did not say it was right. But I doubt that porfessors believe this does not happen.

And as far as memorizing questions. You are very correct in saying that it takes more than that to learn nursing. It also takes more than that to pass the NELEX. IF all you did to get through school was to memorize test questions you would not have what it takes to pass the NCLEX. There is not way you will get those questions and the answers to memorize. These questions are based on critical thinking. That is why occasionally a student will say the NCLEX was a surprise and the questions "were not anything I learned in school." Actually they were what you leanred in school but to answer one question you have to draw on knowledge from several different sources, and aspects of what you learned, and be able to apply it.

The NCLEX will be the telling. And the cream will indeed rise.