Online exams

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 9, 2015

What is the school's policy or what does the syllabus say? Some allow it; others don't. I would, however, be careful what sources of information to use- not everything on the internet is reliable or matches with your textbook/lecture notes. I'd also be careful of time- tests where it's open book/open note can be a double edged sword where people spend so much time looking up answers they run out of time to complete the test.

If it's not open book/open note, then yes, it would be an academic integrity issue to use resources or take the test as a group. That's why you'll see proctored exams where it's everybody in a computer lab with an instructor or designee observing.

mrsboots87 · Oct 9, 2015

I would ask the instructor what the intent is. If open book and using friends from class as a resource is on, then there's no problem. But if it's meant to be taken alone, then yes it would be academic dishonesty to use notes or take it with others. If this is not aloud, it would be very suspicious to have multiple students who got the same answers right and wrong.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Oct 9, 2015

If the test is to be completed outside of class time, then it would be expected that the students would have access to books, notes, internet (verify with your instructors). Taking the test independently is intention of the instructors, but there is no way to prevent group effort on the test. I would not be one of the students that answers the questions on the test based solely on the answers of other students. There would be distinguishable pattern of several students getting the exact same questions wrong or the questions may be randomized for each test, so answering A,C,C,B, etc on one test may not match the questions on another. Like the PP said, take home computer tests are usually timed to not allow unlimited time to complete the test. You would have to know the information before taking the test or you will run out of time.

Many of my computer tests in nursing school was during class time. They were set to be available at the beginning of class start and shut off at the end of class. The instructors would take attendance prior to start of the test or during test. This prevents a student to be outside of class and take the test using their notes and book. The test would also shut off if another browser window was opened (to Google answers).

llg, PhD, RN · Oct 9, 2015

As an online instructor -- I hope that a student with such a question would ask me about it.

My answer for MY class would be that I expect each student to do his/her own work. But I expect them to use their books, notes, etc. as needed.

direw0lf, BSN · Oct 10, 2015

Thanks to those who replied. I checked the student handbook and read the policy on cheating and dishonesty. There wasn't anything specific about using material for online tests off site or working in groups. I was afraid to ask the teacher that it would make me seem like I'm looking to cheat or something which isn't true! But I think I'll just ask.

ExpBrittany · Oct 10, 2015

If you have studied the material from class, you should have no problems passing the exam. However, even the most prepared student can have issues. Use your books, notes & google questions on a separate laptop.

-DO NOT take the exam with a group of students.

-DO NOT tell anyone that you used books, notes, etc.

The jealousy, bitterness, desperation that some students display is petty and ridiculous. Some will report you & say you are cheating.

Be careful & good luck!

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Oct 10, 2015

I would ask the instructor what the intent is. If open book and using friends from class as a resource is on, then there's no problem. But if it's meant to be taken alone, then yes it would be academic dishonesty to use notes or take it with others. If this is not aloud, it would be very suspicious to have multiple students who got the same answers right and wrong.

I took microbiology online and the midterm was online. The final would be online if nobody cheated on the midterm. The instructor stated that it was open book, open note but we were to do it independently. This was back in 2003 and I'm sure that tracking is much more savvy now, but even then he sent out an email stating that he had discovered some students that had cheated on the exam (it was timed so I'm sure they had the same wrong answers and submitted it in the same time frame). In the end he had those students removed from the course (not sure what happened to them in the long run) but decided that it wasn't fair to punish the group as a whole so he still gave it online.

I would definitely go by what your schools policies are regarding testing. As another poster had stated, if you are aloud to use the internet during your test, make sure that it's a credible source. Also, make sure that you have a fairly good understanding of the test that if it weren't open book that you would still pass it. These tests are timed and usually have around 50 questions from what I've seen. You won't have too much time to look up the answers but if you know where it is and just want to double check, that's when it's nice to have an open book/note test.

Also, your online exam might not be at home. We had online exams for some of my nursing courses. It's online, at a scheduled date and time, at the school with a proctor. It's just like any other test, just a computer instead of a scantron.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 11, 2015

FWIW, any time I had an open book test (live in class or online) I rarely if ever found the materials to be of much use. Generally, a test like that is designed such that you have to KNOW, you have to UNDERSTAND the content being tested in order to answer the test questions correctly; it is not the kind of testing where you simply look up the answer and type it in from a book or online source.

I remember one exam in which we were told preparation could include writing anything we wanted on a 5x7 index card. Anything at all, but it must fit on the card. OK! We all gleefully wrote/printed out the tiniest little notes of formulas, labs, mnemonics, whatever we could think of, and our cards were masterful works of "cheat sheet" art :)

Thing is, for THAT test, I swear I had MAYBE one bit of help from my freaking card; the test was asking for things I had to explain and therefore had to understand, NOT find a quickie tidbit to help me out, or jog my memory. Everyone had the same to report later, as we compared notes (so to speak!). So here we were with the opportunity to 'cheat', and it wasn't useful.

Maybe yours will be different?

sailornurse · Oct 12, 2015

As former faculty I gave exams online. The exams were available for a few hours, you could take them anywhere there was internet connection.

50 multiple choice questions. Timed for 60 minutes. The first time I gave an exam online, a couple of students ran out of time. One student who obviously had been taking it with at least one other student at the same time ( And yes, I can tell the time a test is started/stopped), so this student must not have been reading the questions on her computer screen, just entering answers not realizing the questions were scrambled/in different sequence. So yeah she was cheating.

What I did not tell the students is the exam was set up to select 50 questions out of a pool of say 75 questions, that the computer would randomly select the questions. Also, the answers were also scrambled, so even if you got the same question as someone else, the choices were scrambled. I also set the exam up so you could not go back to change answers. I did say they could use book, notes etc but this just eats up the time. And they complained that the tests were "unfair" since they had different questions. My response: "Do you think NCLEX you will get the same questions as everyone else who takes test same day & time? Of course not.

Gave final exams online also, again computer selected 100 questions at random, selecting 20 questions from each exam of the 5 exams. Scrambled. Answers also scrambled. Best part: computer auto grades & enters score. Student knows immediately how they did.

SO-take the test individually. Don't cheat. Do your own work. Study.

Beth0504 · Oct 12, 2015

I would read the Syllabus for the class and if that doesn't answer your questions then ask your instructor. You can't go wrong by doing that.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 13, 2015

As former faculty I gave exams online. The exams were available for a few hours, you could take them anywhere there was internet connection.
50 multiple choice questions. Timed for 60 minutes. The first time I gave an exam online, a couple of students ran out of time. One student who obviously had been taking it with at least one other student at the same time ( And yes, I can tell the time a test is started/stopped), so this student must not have been reading the questions on her computer screen, just entering answers not realizing the questions were scrambled/in different sequence. So yeah she was cheating.
What I did not tell the students is the exam was set up to select 50 questions out of a pool of say 75 questions, that the computer would randomly select the questions. Also, the answers were also scrambled, so even if you got the same question as someone else, the choices were scrambled. I also set the exam up so you could not go back to change answers. I did say they could use book, notes etc but this just eats up the time. And they complained that the tests were "unfair" since they had different questions. My response: "Do you think NCLEX you will get the same questions as everyone else who takes test same day & time? Of course not.
Gave final exams online also, again computer selected 100 questions at random, selecting 20 questions from each exam of the 5 exams. Scrambled. Answers also scrambled. Best part: computer auto grades & enters score. Student knows immediately how they did.
SO-take the test individually. Don't cheat. Do your own work. Study.

Thank you for writing this out; no doubt countless students will heed your advice and be prepared! Of course there will also be those who don't, but....at least they were warned :)

I never considered that tests could be/would be different from student to student, but it makes sense! As long as the questions are all on the same level and on the same material covered, it doesn't matter what question Suzy got and what question Johnny got. Much like the NCLEX questions are taken from a computer bank of thousands of questions....you get what you get :)

Thanks again, great post.