My nursing school is one of the most prestigous and difficult courses out there. Yet for all their tough talk and standards they are extremely soft on cheating students.
A teacher once, while answering a friend of mine during a test, whispered to her "what am I going to do about this?! they are cheating"--- They (admin) know! The problem is that this cheating group in question is of ONE ethnicity and I think the head of the program/ school directors are worried about how it would look if they bring them up in front of the disciplinary board...
Cheating is annoying on many levels: Dishonest student nurses, dangerous student nurses and it's BLOODY DISTRACTING during a test etc' etc'.
A bunch of us talked it over and found two ways of dealing with the cheating (albeit they can't be 100% effective) while staying relatively anonymous about it:
1. a loud short SHHHH while staring at your own paper--- wakes the proctor up and shuts the cheaters up. this is only done once during the test though- as not to disrupt the rest of the class.
2. Sitting at the back of the class and in the corners- leaving the cheaters "hot seats" right under the proctor's nose.
If anyone has any other idea's, please let me know, because the proctors never use their "Suspect cheating" stamp (they are entitled to use, it doesn't disqualify the test- just makes it a high priority test) and we are going insane---as it's obvious that the administration is uninterested in stirring up trouble.
"Mind your own business" was last year's mantra... we're fed up.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I would be annoyed by the whispering if that is what's going on regardless of what people were saying to each other. Coughing and paper rattling sometimes you are forced to deal with -- I don't see how anyone would be offended if you limited the complaint to that.
I don't think ear plugs are the answer. I'm not one to ignore cheating and I would be insanely mad if my instructor admitted knowing about it and didn't do anything.
I wish that I had an alternative for you. Good luck finding a solution.
I wasn't addressing the cheating, but rather the OP said they were distracted easily and the earplugs would solve that.
One of my instructors caught three or four students cheating during a test and all he did was to make them retake the test. Big deal. That wasn't even a slap on the hand. They got more time to study, which really was a reward.
If the professors know and aren't doing anything, I think it's a waste of time on your part to get terribly involved. If they are being distracting during an exam I would get up and ask the proctor to intervene or provide me a quiet place to test - hoping this would make a difference.
In one of my prereqs there was a group of 5 or so students who were thought to be serious cheaters. On all assignments and exams. During the final the professor made them all change seats - moving one of them next to me. Don't you know during the exam (which I was laying on to keep from prying eyes), the girl next to me jabbed me and asked me "what did you put here?" pointing her test at me!!! I felt like I was in a nightmare. I shushed her loudly and turned as far in my seat as I could. RIDICULOUS!! I swear if I have to deal with that crap every in NS, I am going to go off on someone.
Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.
First, let me say that I do not support cheating or any other form of dishonesty. I hope that an instructor chimes in on this discussion board for valuable feedback. Here is what I think. People are so “sue” crazy today. That is why many employees get away with crap because the Human Resource department is nervous about firing someone in fear that a lawsuit will happen. I think the same is true with schools. If the instructor accuses a student of cheating, the student can sue. If in court there is no evidence that the student cheated, the instructor and school are held liable. Schools are not going to risk their reputation for the sake of “catching” a cheater. There may be reasons the administrators aren’t taking action. It may not be that they don’t care. It may be that there isn’t enough proof.
You are in a tough position. I am not sure what I would do, if anything. Remember that if you accuse someone of cheating without proof, it’s deformation of character.
I saw one time, in my gen ed not NS, a teacher walk up behind a student, look over his shoulder say loudly hmmmmm, I wonder what you have on the floor. Took the test up ripped it in half and said that the kid didnt need to come into class anymore. I wish more teachers were like that
I'm not sure how they cheat or how packed the room is during exams, but for us a clique group sits together and pass notes, whisper throughout the exam, and help eachother. Thankfully our room is packed seating for exams, so we show up early and make sure that the students are one to two seats or more apart from eachother. Yes they get angry, but we tell them to just take the test and talk later.
Eventually they will get busted, and/or realize that they can't cheat their way through life. Annonymous notes to the instructors or even the dean can work as well. I'd just make sure that they are cheating, because if not you may he able to just ask them to keep quiet during the exam.
lsk40
149 Posts
I would'nt care Im too worried about myself they will get theirs come nclex time