Should I report wide-spread cheating in my class?

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I noticed that suddenly the grades in our OB and Peds classes improved drastically...and I also found out why. One of the students in my class got their hands on the test bank and distributed it among most of the students. I refuse to cheat and my grades are fine without it, but I feel hurt that other students are getting 100s on tests they did not study for (and yeah, i'm not getting 100s lol). What should I do? Should I ignore it and feel bad or should I be a snitch? Our class is small - only 14 students - we still have one semester to go and I would really hate to be hated by everyone because of bringing this issue up with the teacher or school. There are a few students like me who study really hard to make good grades. It just does not seem to be fair. And there is always the question - would I want a nurse who cheated on their exams to be taking care of my loved ones? The answer is no.....but I still don't know how to go about this...any advice?

Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.

I wonder how the student was able to get ahold of a test bank. I have to register for the ancillary materials from the publisher, provide my information; finally the dean has to confirm that I am teaching that particular course. As an instructor, I don’t have access to every textbook and materials out there. The other thing is that a test bank is divided into chapters. In other words, there are questions provided for Chapter 20, 23, 27, ect…A person would have to click on each chapter and download the questions. Another thing is that there is a “watermark” left when I access the test bank. In other words, the dean knows as does the textbook representative of when I access those exams. Also, most exams are in a program called TestPrep (or something similar). The software has to be purchased by the publisher. No other software program will work with it. However, there have been times when I have downloaded exams in MS Word.

I can’t figure out how the class was able to get their hands on a test bank. I did have a class cheat once. They were getting answers from the other cohort. When I see a lot of 100’s, it makes me suspicious. So, I changed the wording slightly that caused answers to change. I looked at the questions missed to see if they were the correct responses to the pervious exam. I quickly learned who was getting answers from the other cohort. We have ways of figuring these things out.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

I say report it but on the other hand I still have the scars from the alienation that ensued after I disclosed to a university professor that the majority of the class had used a crib sheet during the final exam in a Computer Ethics class back in 1998. The outlash against me forced me to drop out and I eventually ended up halfway across the world when I should have been graduating with a BSc.

However I STILL feel strongly enough about cheating to disclose it and IF you are up there grade wise you are the person to do it because no one will question your motives. If you were scraping by they might.

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My first thought is I would hate to be in that situation, and get accused of cheating along with the others! Could you fail the course? Get kicked out of the program? This is a really serious situation, and can literally put someone's life on the line.

It definetly needs to be brought to the attention of administration, or whoever neccesary to take action. Even if it can't be annoymous, you dont have much time left with these people.

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Specializes in None.

I was/am in your same situation. However, it is occurring in high school in our nursing program to become a CNA. There are these particular kids that cheat all the time on the test/quizzes. I felt that I had to study and learn the material to get a 100 and they just copy answers down and get a 100, so I told our instructor. It's sad to say but our nursing instructor didn't even mind. She say's "there really cheating?" I was thinking in my mind uh yeah...that's why I came to you. She say's that things would change but...that has not happened yet.

ParkerBeanCurdRN, BSN- being that you are an instructor how would you want a student to present this problem to you? Maybe it could help the OP.

OP-I hope you will do the right thing and tell no matter how you decide to go about it, and good luck to you!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I would report it. I have had the same thing go on throughout my program although it did not do any good when I reported them. Just yesterday I failed 4th semester by 3 questions (6 points) and all the people that have cheated their way through passed and get to go on while I sit here. I have to say that going through the nursing program is the worst thing I have ever been through and would never recommend it to anyone. And NO I am not saying that because I failed...I have been saying it for the entire 6 years that I have been going to school. It does not pay off for you to work hard and be honest.

Good luck to you and if you report be sure to name names!!!

Leesha

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I'm going to get all "old lady" and professo r like here:

Cheating is wrong, and until someone does anything about it, it will become more and more commonplace, and the next generation (perhaps some in your class) will grow up thinking this is the way to get ahead in life. It's happening right now in my backyard with the SAT scandal, and I am thrilled that it has reached the legal implications that it has (and you have idiot lawyers trying to defend these kids).

If you do not report them, and have the attitude that they will get what's coming to them, it may or may not. But what COULD happen is, God forbid, someone like you (or other honest classmates) do not do well, and you decide to report them after the fact, it will only look like you are looking for an excuse (or a diversion). If the faculty does not believe that they are cheating, they may be thinking "she's just jealous of her classmates". And your classmates may come out smelling like a rose.

Unfortunately, it IS very difficult for faculty and admin to prove (I've been sort-of involved in a situation like that). The schools lawyers basically said "we don't have enough evidence", and the investigation stopped there. Said student failed out of the program the following semester. That being said, it's a lot of work. And God forbid you (we) are proven wrong, some feel they don't want to deal with the repurcussions.

I, OTOH would be the first to report a student. So if you came to me, rest assured I'd do something about it. I loathe liars, cheaters and stealers.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Add people who turn up to clinical's drunk to that list too

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Would you want one of those cheaters taking care of your parent? Nope! Report it.

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Do you want someone taking care of your kid who didn't pass the tests by KNOWING anything?

There's your answer.

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report it to director or hold your silence forever...

just don't let cheaters found out about you and keep an eye on your car, you never know what angry ppl can do, it's a savage world.

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Turns out the teacher posted the test bank in our school system - accidentally. Somebody noticed and it was taken down, however, students downloaded it. The teacher or the school did not say anything about using or not using the material our teacher posted. Oh well. This teacher is just finishing up her last semester, she is leaving.

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I'm going to get all "old lady" and professo r like here:

Cheating is wrong, and until someone does anything about it, it will become more and more commonplace, and the next generation (perhaps some in your class) will grow up thinking this is the way to get ahead in life. It's happening right now in my backyard with the SAT scandal, and I am thrilled that it has reached the legal implications that it has (and you have idiot lawyers trying to defend these kids).

If you do not report them, and have the attitude that they will get what's coming to them, it may or may not. But what COULD happen is, God forbid, someone like you (or other honest classmates) do not do well, and you decide to report them after the fact, it will only look like you are looking for an excuse (or a diversion). If the faculty does not believe that they are cheating, they may be thinking "she's just jealous of her classmates". And your classmates may come out smelling like a rose.

Unfortunately, it IS very difficult for faculty and admin to prove (I've been sort-of involved in a situation like that). The schools lawyers basically said "we don't have enough evidence", and the investigation stopped there. Said student failed out of the program the following semester. That being said, it's a lot of work. And God forbid you (we) are proven wrong, some feel they don't want to deal with the repurcussions.

I, OTOH would be the first to report a student. So if you came to me, rest assured I'd do something about it. I loathe liars, cheaters and stealers.

Well, good thing that I'm actually on top of my class even without cheating and have been consistently, so I doubt that anyone would ever think I'm just trying to get back at my fellow classmates because I failed or accuse me of cheating.

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