What to do when U know others are cheating...(in classes)

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Would you tell if you knew someone was cheating in your nursing program classes?

    • 24
      Yes
    • 7
      No

31 members have participated

Oops. Nevermind.

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Give people enough rope and they usually hang themselves.

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I agree that if people are given enough rope that they, usually, hang themselves. I know that you're mad b/c you study sooo hard, but just think, this is just the beginning. You're gonna encounter tons of people who will cheat....don't focus so much on what they're doing, but what you need to be doing to succeed. I'm sure your focus is best suited in otherplaces.

HOWEVER, if you do decide to make a stand and "tattle", don't tuck your tail in and be scared. I'm not saying that you should broadcast that you were the person who told, but don't follow-up "trying to do the right thing" by saying, "Don't tell them I said it." I've always thought that that was extremely wimpy. I feel that it takes courage to do the right thing....either be courageous or don't! That's how I handle things :)

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I know of 4 people in my A&PII class that are cheating and it makes me so mad! :angryfire I am working my tail off getting the grades I do and they are getting answers from earlier classes for the exams. I know bc one of the people said it out loud like she was proud of it. I knwo she can't be lying bc the other day we handed in an exam we took home for the digestive system and within an hour I was talking to this person about another student who was absent. She asked why this other student was absent and i TOLD HER TAHT THIS OTHER STUDENTS GALLBLADDER (oops caps lock was on) had gallstones. She looked at me and asked "What is a gall bladder?" She then asked whta a gallbladded does!! wow! obviously she is not learing anything.

Anyway, is it an obligation of mine to blow the whistle or should I keep my mouth shut. I would do it without my name mentioned. this girl admitted it in front of about 6 people. she would never knwo who told. I just don't want to be involved if thses people get caught and it is found out taht I knew and did not say anything I want no part of any of this. I knwo in the end they will fail thier NCELX exams but I need to knwo what I should do.

I did not read the entire thread but my take is they are only hurting themselves, they will not be able in any way shape or form to cheat on Board for licensure, so when the time comes and they don't know a liver from a spleen and which one does what they will be the losers'

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Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.

I agree with the philosophy of ...take care of yourself, worry about yourself. It is true, once your in the "real" world you'll realize people "cheat" everywhere! It's not right, but you are responsible for yourself! People like this don't get very far usually anway....

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

Yes, they'll hang themselves eventually. We had a couple of cheaters when I was in LPN school, too. ZThey would ask questions that made it obvious that they didn't read the required material, and they did fail the NCLEX-PN prep test given at the end of the last semester. As far as I know, there's no way to cheat on THAT exam.

Just think of it this way: No matter what they're doing, you're still going to have to study your butt off. You're doing yourself and your future patients a favor by going through the program the right way. Cheaters don't cheat anyone but themselves in the long run. I don't think your prof will get mad at you for telling him/her what's going on. If anything, s/he can revamp the exams to dissuade cheating.

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Specializes in Oncology, Cardiology, ER, L/D.

I say turn them in, like someone else posted, if you know they are cheating and don't do anything about it, you could get in trouble too. Besides, if they are stupid enough to brag about it( :rolleyes: ), then they deserve what they get!

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

You already know in your heart what is the right thing to do. Report them. Do you really want someone like that taking care of your mother?

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I know of 4 people in my A&PII class that are cheating and it makes me so mad! :angryfire I am working my tail off getting the grades I do and they are getting answers from earlier classes for the exams. I know bc one of the people said it out loud like she was proud of it. I knwo she can't be lying bc the other day we handed in an exam we took home for the digestive system and within an hour I was talking to this person about another student who was absent. She asked why this other student was absent and i TOLD HER TAHT THIS OTHER STUDENTS GALLBLADDER (oops caps lock was on) had gallstones. She looked at me and asked "What is a gall bladder?" She then asked whta a gallbladded does!! wow! obviously she is not learing anything.

Anyway, is it an obligation of mine to blow the whistle or should I keep my mouth shut. I would do it without my name mentioned. this girl admitted it in front of about 6 people. she would never knwo who told. I just don't want to be involved if thses people get caught and it is found out taht I knew and did not say anything I want no part of any of this. I knwo in the end they will fail thier NCELX exams but I need to knwo what I should do.

if you can write an annonymous letter detailing how certain students are getting the test questions and answers from earlier classes then i would do it. It is true that their cheating will eventually catch up with them at nclex time but in the mean time they are blowing the curve (if there is one) and they might take another students rightlyfully deserved seat in the nursing program because of their cheated "good" grades. I would make sure the teacher knew what was going on without bringing names or yourself into it. chances are he will quietly change the test for the morning and evening class and the students who are cheating in the evening class will fail the next few tests after having stellar grades previously. The teacher will know then who the likely suspects are.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I wouldn't wait for these people to get enough rope to hang themselves. I wouldn't want them to have a chance of getting ahold of any meds or laying a hand on a pt.

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I think in life there will always be people cheating and playing unfair..however nursing is something that if they don't learn properly could jeapordize someones life. What if you did nothing and then your mom had an accident someday and realized it was the cheater caring for and giving meds to your mom. I would hate to think about how I would feel knowing I could have done something to prevent that.

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If you're a good student and getting good grades, it will pay off for you in the long run. You will be better prepared for clinicals, better prepared for dealing with patients. To say nothing of being better prepared for the NCLEX.

I knew of people cheating in chem class and the instructor didn't really do anything about it. It was amazing to me. We had another that would ALWAYS be absent on test days then wait to get the answers from others discussing the test after the test. Then she'd take it. The instructors eventually got notice of it, and she flunked out.

If you have an instructor you trust, then perhaps you would be able to tell him or her in confidence. This will open the faculty's eyes to the possibility that someone is getting thru school the old-fashioned way and not really earning it.

During my ADN program we had to take the HESI test before we could graduate, and since it was a computer test there wasn't any way to really cheat on it. So if the cheaters haven't been caught before this could eventually do them in; at least prevent them from graduating.

If you're concerned about the cheater singling you out i would let the instructor know in as general terms as possible. I did have one instructor who said "that perpetuating a rumor like that is backstabbing". I would think twice about the the attitude of the instructor and how the news will be received. Instructors are human too (!!!) and can be just as quirky as the rest of us. But as another poster replied, nursing school seems overwhelming now. When I was finished I was a:) completely and profoundly relieved b:) scared to be on my own. I was a good student, did my work, got decent grades. Being on my own made me long for the safety and comfort of school.

Well I got over that pretty quickly! Good luck, keep posting!

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