Cheating In School

[cokie]

just read a long thread about lowering the standards etc. for people with special needs. how about cheaters. i went to school with quite a few people who were not only sharing notes from the previous semester, but also test answers, fully written care plans, magazine reports. i know that this is cheating, that is not my question. my question is, isn't it better for someone to have to work very hard for a 73% and be passed, than to achieve by cheating. please don't get me wrong, i am in no way saying that all the 4.0 people are cheating, but quite a few people in my class SHARED answers. i think that it is wrong, but didn't have many on my side. any one else experience this, and feel that they are quite alone in feeling that this is wrong. i don't want to work on the floor with people who cheated their way through school. i think that these are the truly dangerous people, not my co-workers who occasionally ask me to help them with a drug calculation. take care and have a great week.........

[luvbug]

I do have to afree with most of the replies that I have read on this--people who do cheat in school have a much harder time trying to make it in the nursing profession. I don't know HOW someone could even attempt to pass the boards if they cheated in school. We had two notorious cheaters in our class, and they were the only 2 that failed the boards. so, to the person who said 'people who cheat only cheat themselves,' nothing could be more truthful. And, it is more self-respecting to get the grades without cheating-even if it is less than a 4.0. It motivates you to study MORE :). Have a good day, all.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

cheaters are only cheating themselves.

Can't cheat the state boards......

This is true, but unfortunately, you can take them as many times as you can afford to. I've heard of people failing boards 7, 8, and 9 times and then finally passing. I couldn't help but pray to God those people are never taking care of me.

Yes, I know some people say "oh, I just can't take tests because they make me nervous because so much is riding on the results"

Yeah, well people's lives are riding on their knowledge of that information! Let's put things into perspective here - if you choke on a test because of the pressure, what's going to happen in a code???!!!

[luvbug]

I noticed that I made a spelling error or two in my last post...sorry for that. I am just wondering if different states have different laws/regulations on how many times you can take the boards without having to go back to school. I think when I was getting ready to take them, there was something about if you failed you had to wait 3 months or so, then you could try taking them again. If you failed the second time, you had to do a refresher course or go to school again. Not sure if it was true or if it was a scare tactic, but it worked for me!! I studied like no other before taking them, and passed on time #1. I do think it will be just as hard to take RN boards even though now I know what to expect--

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

I noticed that I made a spelling error or two in my last post...sorry for that. I am just wondering if different states have different laws/regulations on how many times you can take the boards without having to go back to school. I think when I was getting ready to take them, there was something about if you failed you had to wait 3 months or so, then you could try taking them again. If you failed the second time, you had to do a refresher course or go to school again. Not sure if it was true or if it was a scare tactic, but it worked for me!! I studied like no other before taking them, and passed on time #1. I do think it will be just as hard to take RN boards even though now I know what to expect--

I think what apparently can happen sometimes is that the person who fails will apply in a neighboring state as if they had not failed in their own state, they just have their transcripts sent from the school and play it off like they had been on vacation and/or taken a break from everything before taking boards. The person would most likely be in some big trouble if found out, but I guess some boards are busy enough that they figure the odds against that are good enough to not worry about it. I heard about this while on a travel assignment in another state (don't know if they were talking about another traveler or a local nurse). Its been several years ago, so I can't remember the specifics of how they told me it worked (early-onset alzheimers, I guess) I just clearly remember almost missing my chair when I went to sit down as they were telling me about it because I was so shocked!

I don't even know how this works in my own state :imbar - I never had to look into it because I passed on the first try. Our instructors in school never told us what would happen if we failed boards more than once - they just told us that if we failed, we could try again in 3 months (I think? - it's been a while).

[FsPilotMed1]

Hi, currently a nursing student with NO tolerance for cheaters. I've actually had people ask me for answers during the exams...

I'm one of those really mean people who gives out wrong answers to people who ask me....(evil grin). Nobody asked me for any more answers after that, bwahahaha....

Dan

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

Hi, currently a nursing student with NO tolerance for cheaters. I've actually had people ask me for answers during the exams...

I'm one of those really mean people who gives out wrong answers to people who ask me....(evil grin). Nobody asked me for any more answers after that, bwahahaha....

Dan

After reading some of these posts, I just have to ask - WHERE are the nursing professors while people are asking for answers during a test????

I saw one post that referenced two people talking in their native language and letting it slide because nobody could prove they were cheating b/c they didn't understand...excuse me???? Talking during a test was cheating at my school. I don't care if you were telling the person next to you that you had to pee and were speaking an ancient Aramic dialect that could never be translated - if you talked during a test, you got a ZERO. Period, the end, no considerations, no rebuttals, no arguments, nada! If it would get you thrown out of the SATs, it would get you thrown out of the nursing exams. I can't believe schools just allow blatant cheating!! I would have thought EVERY post-secondary institution would have the same guidelines. It's more than a little scary that they don't.

Another poster mentioned bad PR for the school - again...excuse me????

Is it good for a school to have a reputation for allowing cheating? I would think it would be a better reputation for the school to have a zero tolerance policy! I wouldn't want to hire a graduate of "Cheater U" to take care of patients on my unit!!

[Asiancutie]

i don't really mingle with a lot of people in college so i do not have an opportunity to cheat but if someone is handing me the answer to a test, i will probably take it. teachers need to change their exams every semester. this will help students to take studying seriously.

[KacyLynnRN]

I don't think it is cheating to use old notes...I think it can be a helpful learning tool...now, using the old notes and not coming to class...that's something else. In school, I will meet with several people and check answers if we have homework, etc. but never on a test! When I was in LPN school, (at a small private school's diploma program) there were 3 girls who cheated on a test...several of us saw them opening up a book, looking at note cards, and whispering to each other during the test...we told the teacher and the next day, she gave a big lecture to the whole class about how cheating wouldn't be tolerated, yet nothing happened to the cheaters!! :angryfire

I'm in an LPN to RN program now at Indiana University, and they would NEVER, EVER tolerate anything like that...even suspected cheating and your butt is out of the university. I think a lot of it depends on where you go to school.

[WayneRN]

When I was going to school for my ADN, we had one instructor that was a gass! She taught our A&P classes. She told everyone in the class that we could use one double sided 8 & 1/2" X 11" cheat sheet for each test. We could write anything that we wanted to on the sheet, copy from the book, diagram anatomy, lecture notes, whatever. We could write as small as we wanted in order to fit as much information on the page as possible. And we could refer to this cheat sheet during the test.

Well...

She was wise like a fox. By the time we took the trouble to look everything up, read it to determine if it was important or not, made our notes on what was important and transposed it in very small print to our cheat sheet--We knew the information so well that very rarely did you ever catch anyone even referencing their well-prepared cheat sheet! What brilliance!

WayneV

[jasonn]

i didnt notice any traditional cheating at nursing school, but another sort of cheating was wide spread... For example, we were supposed to attend an AA meeting and write about it using all the blah blah happy nurse stuff about the theraputic value of these meeting etc. Well, lots of people jsut made it all up. To be honest, it didnt bother me because lots of these people had jobs, kids and school to deal with.

[Jo Dirt]

Also...what about when the cheaters take the NCLEX??

Maybe they can cheat their way through school or fool a teacher, but I'll tell ya'...when it comes to taking Boards, it ain't gonna happen. You are fingerprinted, videotaped during the exam, along with actively being watched by an observer. You take NOTHING into the exam room except your brains. If you have to go to the restroom during the exam, you are accompanied by an examiner!

Cheaters won't make it far...

I know of a horribly trashy woman who cheated her way through a diploma RN program. She failed the NCLEX twice and took it a third time and passed.

It really makes me sick. Since I didn't go to school with her I couldn't turn her in, but if I see any cheating going on I don't care who knows I'm going to make a big stink.

By the way regnurse in 99, it looks like you are a dog lover. So am I. I just lost one of the most special dogs I ever had yesterday. She was only about 8 months old but she stole our hearts from the moment we saw her as an 8 week old pup. Coco was a Pit Bull/Labrador mix. I miss her so much I break down in tears just talking about it. I can't even look out on the porch where she used to stay, waiting for one of us to come out so she could give us big sloppy puppy kisses...

[Agatha]

When I took Anatomy, we had 3-4 guys who were pre-med -- big hot shots, ultra long noses to look down on the rest of us, from affluent families, and CHEATS!!!

One asked me what I used -- he's thinking I've got old exams to study or something. Me, such a naive thing back then, I show him my notes & note cards. He thought there must be something else ... but no, I told him I just did my best to memorize every single thing. He didn't believe it was possible.

A grad student, friend of mine, was assistant teacher in the Lab, and she let it slip that they were trying to catch them.

To boot, toward the end of dissection, THEY STOLE OUR MINK!! My partner & I were dumbfounded, but to our advantage, we had to do a whole nother one, more learning for us. What advantage does having your own mink at home give you???

Anatomy has got to be one of the early pre-med classes. If they cheated there, maybe they didn't make it.