Have you ever cheated?

[JustYouWait]

Have you ever cheated in school ? Would you ever cheat if you could get away with it?

Cheating - copying stuff that's not yours - tests, homework, projects and/or other assignments.

Scenario 1:

While taking an exam, your professor left the classroom. You're seated beside a straight-A student. Would you peak to that student's paper? (Note: You can get away with it! You will not get caught!)

Scenario 2:

Your teacher is in the classroom giving a final exam. You are allowed to use your cellphone as a calculator. You are using an iPhone and can access the internet. Would you look into Google to find the answer to a question you do not know?

So, does anyone of you ever cheated in nursing school? at least once or maybe a lot of times? Could you share some of your experiences if you got caught or if you got away with it? Did you feel bad/guilty about it afterward?

I'm just curious, so please don't think that this thread is offensive in anyway. I have to admit that I cheated before. I copied someone's homework, I looked into my seatmates' test paper. I wrote some medical dosages' formula in my desk.

There's also this cliche that goes "When you cheat, you're really cheating yourself." I say this is BS - especially in school. Tuition nowadays is over the top particularly nursing. Not to mention how hard it is to get in into the damn program.

So insights?

[JustYouWait]

If you cheat on all your tests, wouldn't it catch up with you in clinicals though? Dont you have to apply everything you learned in lecture (from tests/quizzes)in clinicals??

Good point. But the situation is not cheating on all your tests. It could be one of these - homework, project, quizzes, exams, etc) And it could also be once or twice. Cheating is cheating. Cheating once makes you no different from other who cheated a million times.

Now, back to my silly created situation-which-I-guess-is-impossible-to-everyone. I'm just setting up a ethical situation if you would or you wouldn't. Imagine yourself in that situation. AND, not any other situation. Like, I said I find this interesting since I recently took ethics class, and we talk about the "Ring of Gyges." If no one knows what it is. It's an invisibility ring mentioned by Plato - that makes a bad action moral or virtuous as long as you're wearing it. Just a lil story. lol

*handed everyone another chill pill.

[thatsthekeyRNC]

I have had opportunities to cheat (getting copies of tests) and I refuse to - even when I 'knew' I would not get caught. I also tend to over cite my papers for fear of someone even thinking I may have plagiarized.

I will never give anyone an opportunity to question my character.

I have worked very hard for my grades without cheating, which enables me to take credit for not only my failures by my successes as well.

I feel the same way about papers! I am so afraid of plagiarizing that I cite pretty much everything, but I've never had an issue with a paper, so I guess it's okay! haha

[knittingmonster]

You want an answer to your scenario? No, I would not peak at someone's test. No I would not use my cell phone. The ONLY time I would do something like that is if the teacher specifically said, "Hey, this is an open-book test" or "Feel free to use your cell phone." I don't care how much stress or pressure I was under. If the situation was really that bad, I'd be up in my instructor's office asking what I could do before the test ever started.

Whether or not I got caught/could get caught is completely irrelevant.

[jrsmrs]

I have had ample opportunity to cheat on exams but I never would. During my physiology midterm, the prof was the only one invigilating a huge lecture theatre with probably 200+ students. The guy left the room for about 2-3 mins to handle some problem (actually it was that he had not made enough copies of exams) after the exam had started. I heard later that several people at the back of the room had their textbooks open under their desks.

At every one of our final exams (3hrs) there is no regulation regarding bathroom privileges- you put your hand up and they let you go. I have often thought how easy it would be to have notes on a piece of paper in your pocket and take a bathroom break to read it over toward the end. Or plant your notes somewhere in the bathroom and do the same thing. I was born with a criminal mind that I never use

But no, I never would. It's a pride issue for me. I work hard to make top marks and I really couldn't be proud of my smarts at all if I didn't earn those marks fairly.

[Carrie_MTC]

No, cheating doesn't get you anywhere in nursing school. If you can't make it through nursing school without cheating, your not going to pass NCLEX. We have already had one student kicked out this year for cheating on homework.

[Coriander, BSN, RN]

I haven't read through all the responses yet, but wanted to give my response.

Hell, no.

Nothing makes me madder than someone who gets the same grade as I do without doing any work other than straining their neck to look at someone else's exam. I've had people try and pull that crap with me, and I have turned them in. I don't bust my a*s to support someone not busting theirs.

I'm thrilled to work in conjunction with others, to do homework together if one of us is having a problem, studying together, reviewing together, but I'm sure as hell not just going to give answers.

This past semester there was a fellow student in one of my online classes who asked if anyone would collaborate on the final study guide with her. I was happy to take half. When I received her half, I just put it away as I'd already reviewed the questions. When I was taking the final online, I couldn't remember one of the questions so I went into her study guide (yes, we were allowed to use guides, notes and our books) and lo and behold, she had sent questions and answers from the exam. I have no idea how she got those, or why she would so blatantly include them. I was sent into panic mode because my grade was now on the line if it got back to our professor that someone was sending out exam questions. I ended up talking to the professor myself.

I've also turned in someone for asking (when the teacher left the room) what an answer was on our final. I get extremely angry and upset when someone feels the need to coast on through while others EARN their grades.

I've had zeroes on assignments because I'd rather be honest than quickly copy someone else's work and hand it in. Why should I benefit? I didn't learn the material copying it anyways.

This is a subject I feel strongly about. I know people say that cheaters will be stopped at the NCLEX, but it still pisses me off to no end. While I appreciate the honesty people have shown (so far) on this thread, I do hope that they have learned something.

When I was in high school, I was kept after an exam because the teacher thought I had been looking at my classmates paper; the girl sat in front of me. I had my glasses off, couldn't see anything at all even right in front of me, but this taught me that I had to be really careful where I was looking when I was thinking too hard. I now sit in the front row so I won't go through that again. I was so embarrassed.

Also, if someone is caught cheating, the person they were cheating off of might be implicated as well. You have to think about that... not only might you get caught, but you might ruin someone else's grade, too.

/rant

[cupcake231]

Why such an infatuation with whether people have cheated or not? Just curious...

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

Never have, never would, never will. I don't want to be friend with one and I would not want to work with a nurse that cheated nor would I want to be taken care of by one. Cheating is lying and lying is ugly and I despise it.

[itsmejuli]

Only a cheater would put up a post about cheating and then get all defensive about the responses.

Hope I never work with you.

[ok2bme]

In pre-reqs..yes..in chemistry I wrote down a few formulas on the inside cover of my calculator. In English I technically plagarized by inadequately citing.

In nursing school..my friends and I would work on assignments together that were supposed to be independent work. Cheat on tests? Never..first of all it is against my ethics. Second of all..logistically it's nearly impossible, our tests are online, the questions are ordered differently and the answer choices are ordered differently. Thirdly..it's too risky. I'd rather fail a test than get busted cheating, get kicked out of school, have academic dishonesty noted on my transcript, basically be blacklisted..

I question whether everyone is being entirely honest on here. Kind of ironic to lie about being academically honest! Some posters are just holier than thou regardless..

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

In pre-reqs..yes..in chemistry I wrote down a few formulas on the inside cover of my calculator. In English I technically plagarized by inadequately citing.

In nursing school..my friends and I would work on assignments together that were supposed to be independent work. Cheat on tests? Never..first of all it is against my ethics. Second of all..logistically it's nearly impossible, our tests are online, the questions are ordered differently and the answer choices are ordered differently. Thirdly..it's too risky. I'd rather fail a test than get busted cheating, get kicked out of school, have academic dishonesty noted on my transcript, basically be blacklisted..

I question whether everyone is being entirely honest on here. Kind of ironic to lie about being academically honest! Some posters are just holier than thou regardless..

Just because someone hasn't cheated doesn't mean they must be lying because others feel guilty about their cheating. I admitted that in my teens in JHS or HS I have copied HW, shoot I even forged my parents signature MANY times. But I grew up. I have never cheated on a test and I wouldn't cheat in NS even if I knew I couldn't get caught.

Have I sped? Youbetcha, almost every time I drive, I didn't realize it was the same comparison like it was mentioned earlier. But had the question been asked if you speed. I would have said yes.

[Coriander, BSN, RN]

*snip*

I question whether everyone is being entirely honest on here. Kind of ironic to lie about being academically honest! Some posters are just holier than thou regardless..

I'm being totally honest... I am entirely too scared of being kicked out of school to consider it. Plus, after the incident in high school I mentioned above, that freaked me out to the point of feeling the way I do. :flwrhrts: