I'm in my last semester of pre-reqs, starting nursing school in the fall. I have noticed a bit of casual cheating (who knew this was a thing!?). Last week, a couple students next to me, while taking a test in A&P II were blatantly cheating. How do I know? Well, this teacher gives color coded tests, such that you should never be next to anyone with the same version of the test as yourself. HOWEVER, the questions are all the same, just jumbled around. Long story short, they were talking and comparing tests in detail, also, our teacher made a printing error and had to manually write some questions (for only one version of the test) on the board. One of the alleged cheaters turned in her test, before the professor even finished writing the questions on the board! (I was shocked.) He was flustered because of his error and didn't notice what was going on with these girls.
My dilemma... what is my responsibility (if any)with this blatant cheating and with casual cheating that I see almost daily (with others)? I'm a person of strong character and have very black and white views on this for myself and my kids. I also spend hours studying for a test only to get within 5 points of these "cheaters".
These girls, specifically, are pre-nursing. If they somehow make it in, how would you deal with this in the program? It could really screw up someone's care down the line and frankly it scares me to have to share patients with someone like this.
My petty concern, is that they will retaliate. They already don't seem to be the nicest of people and would hate to end up with a keyed car or something. If I don't do something, they could end up hurting someone down the line with these poor habits.
Gah! Help. Have you ever been in a similar situation? At what point is enough, enough?
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
I don't see any "eliminating the competition" or "worrying about the competition" undertones. What I see is people who are angered by the unfairness--people who cheat and don't get caught are getting grades they haven't worked to get. They have an unfair advantage over those who are working to get good grades.
I guess if it were me, I'd just send an email or something to the prof stating that you've observed what appears to be cheating. If the prof asks for more info, just state exactly what you saw or heard. Don't embellish or connect the dots.
Agree. I had an amazing Anatomy teacher who went out of her way to help students. I had to take my final in one of her other classes, and I was blown away by the blatant cheating. It was a big class and teacher was doing other things (in the room) but never saw or heard them. I know these students may never get into Nursing School if they could not grasp basic Anatomy, but I really felt for this teacher. I sent her an Email and kept it to the facts. She was grateful.
I also have seen some blatant cheating. Every time there was a test in my biology class, one group of students would always go sit at the top of the lecture hall to help each other. Our instructor was confined to a wheelchair and partially deaf, so he was oblivious to what was happening. I didn't say anything. More recently, two girls were bragging about googling our whole chemistry test. This time I decided not to just sit back. I called and explained what the girls had said. He said that since he didn't see it, he was unable to do anything. However, he was much more proactive in following tests in walking around to ensure integrity.
I tend to see nursing school as a different circumstance. One wonders if the people they meet on the job who are dishonest about taking care of patients also cheated their way through nursing school. By the time they get to the job, dishonesty is ingrained, and who suffers?
While taking prereqs I noticed a few cheaters too and I always said something. Here I am working, with two kids and I am busing my ass to get my A to get into the nursing program. I'll be damned if they are going to get in before I do because they are good at cheating.
Also, I want to add this: If these people get into the program because they did cheat, how the hell are they even going to make it through clinical? And if they do somehow make it through clinical and end up being a nurse one day, how are they going to treat patients if they think the spleen is located in the left butt cheek? Ok I realize that is a bit of an exaggeration, but if a nursing student cheats, the patients suffer and can possibly become injured or die. Not ok. I wouldn't want a cheating nurse to be in charge of caring for my relatives.
If someone is going to cheat on an exam instead of putting effort into studying, I'd bet that it wouldn't be the last questionable thing they would be willing to do.
There was a student in my program that wrote notes on her arm before an exam and even tried to ask my friend for answers during the test. My friend was torn over whether she should report it or not, but she didn't want to get pulled down with this girl. So she reported it and got some backlash from the cheater. Ultimately, I think my friend did the right thing letting the instructor know.
The next semester, the cheater was caught falsely documenting care. So you could say that she would have hung herself anyway, but I think that it's important that her previous offense was noted.
It's ultimately the professor's job to catch cheating but many don't want to rock the boat in that the administration sometimes see the very existence of cheating to reflect poorly on the department or school or profs don't want to fail too many students especially if they are adjunct and can be out of a job quickly so having a good pass rate means you are a good prof and will get asked back.
As stated the 100x before already, just go about your business.
Besides, if they're cheating in PRE REQS of all classes, suffice to say IF they somehow managed to pass the entrance exam into a Nursing program, it won't be long before they get weeded out throughout the actual course work.
Eyes front and focus on the path ahead of you. Come back when you're witnessing someone trying to cover up a med error, then we'll talk
Keep yourself distanced from them for sure. If you want to be the 'Town Sheriff' be careful of crossing the line to kiss-ass.
I'd say let them cheat and don't worry about it. This is probably at the root of their personality and one day, they'll get theirs. "Every dog has their day". Just hope so and do your best, use the situations to feel proud of yourself for doing honest work!
My school has an honor code that says that if we see cheating and do not report it then we are just as guilty as the cheaters. Would you turn a blind eye if your coworker was doing something unethical?
I get what everyone is saying about "they won't pass the NCLEX", statistics says that they will pass, and they don't have the personal integrity in school, they sure aren't going to have it in a clinical setting.
In my perfect world Karma will get them in the end, but you just never know. I would say something.
My school has an honor code that says that if we see cheating and do not report it then we are just as guilty as the cheaters. Would you turn a blind eye if your coworker was doing something unethical?
I get what everyone is saying about "they won't pass the NCLEX", statistics says that they will pass, and they don't have the personal integrity in school, they sure aren't going to have it in a clinical setting.
In my perfect world Karma will get them in the end, but you just never know. I would say something.
DisneyNurseGal is right. Especially if you have a code in school, I guess it should be a given.
Even if I decided to turn a blind eye in school, I definitely wouldn't in the workplace, peoples lives are at stake - but perhaps, getting them caught before and filtered out of the Nursing/Healthcare world completely is the best bet.
Whispera, MSN, RN
3,458 Posts
I don't see any "eliminating the competition" or "worrying about the competition" undertones. What I see is people who are angered by the unfairness--people who cheat and don't get caught are getting grades they haven't worked to get. They have an unfair advantage over those who are working to get good grades.