Test Banks = Academic Dishonesty???

[Haleiwa]

Test bank (Lewis and Lemone)circulating among a select few, at a junior college in So California over the past few semesters I am aware of - 2011-2014.

Users have bragged and said that significant number of questions have appeared on all tests so far in each semester.

In all semesters they have in fact received higher than passing scores!

The Dean was made aware of the test bank and it was not addressed!

So it must be okay?

What do you think?

Of course, "they still have to "pass" the NCLEX...good luck?

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Something similar has been discussed many many times on here…in my mind, if the test bank is available to all students, how can this be cheating? If someone stole the questions and passed them to his/her friends--definitely cheating. If someone happens to have the NCLEX book that is used for questions…well, that is good luck on that person's part.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Is it a student issue or teacher issue test bank?

[anh06005, MSN, APRN, NP]

I think the instructors shouldn't get their questions all from the same source. That's just laziness to me and they should realize the students may notice the questions are all coming from a single book. With my quizzes I have noticed SOME questions are word for word from a practice question book I have. But it's only maybe 2-3 so doesn't really give me any real advantage...

If it's been brought to the attention of the school and isn't being addressed I'm not sure how reputable that program is. The students aren't getting what they need if they can take a few practice questions and pass the exams without LEARNING the material but, instead, recognizing which answer is correct.

So I don't think it's necessary academically dishonest but an issue with the instructors.

[caliotter3]

You can not really blame the students entirely for a situation where they take advantage when their instructors take the lazy way out. Collections of appropriate questions could be compiled from anywhere; there has to be more specificity for one to claim that there is academic dishonesty in play.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

If it's a student test bank & the teacher is too lazy to make up his/her own questions then it's not the students fault. It's something completely different if they got their hands on a teacher copy of the test bank though.

[elkpark]

You can not really blame the students entirely for a situation where they take advantage when their instructors take the lazy way out. Collections of appropriate questions could be compiled from anywhere; there has to be more specificity for one to claim that there is academic dishonesty in play.

It's not a matter of instructors "taking the lazy way out." Good test question construction is a skill, one that many (most?) nursing instructors don't possess. The textbook publishers provide test banks with the instructor-version of the textbooks specifically so that instructors have access to well-constructed, valid, NCLEX-style questions for testing purposes on that material covered in that textbook, written by academics who are trained and experienced specifically in test construction. Many schools of nursing require that instructors use the textbook test banks, and don't allow instructors to make up their own questions or use other sources -- because those questions have not been "vetted" and may be problematic.

[caliotter3]

But there has to be something that proves the collection of test questions comes directly from the instructor test bank. Without that validation, you can not say that the students took a copy of an instructor test bank. When a program insists that instructors use a specific test bank, then it is their responsibility to keep that test bank from compromise.

[nowim clean]

When I was in nursing school I studied by taking test and figuring out why it was right and why the others were wrong. I used several books Saunders nclex review prentice hall rational and review and ati, I would do 100 questions a day and yes I saw most questions on my exams during my practice. No I do not feel it was dishonest it was available to all students who wanted to buy the books and take the tests. I also passed nclex 1st time so I must have learned something from my studies.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

If the instructors are using questions out of NCLEX books that are easily accessible to you, then it is not cheating. If you have access to a publisher's test bank for the book that is intended for only instructors have access to, then it is cheating.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

I think it's cheating if the students are purchasing test banks that are intended for instructors' use only. Questions that are presented by the publisher intended for students only, however, isn't cheating. Especially those readily available on the CD or publisher's website that comes with the text book. My Mental Health instructor uses a few of the questions that are on the student CD that comes with the text book. If you've done all the questions for each chapter, it's easy to recognize the questions, especially since they aren't changed in any way. It's impossible to memorize all the questions on the CD, so by reviewing the questions & rationales, you're still learning the material. Same with NCLEX prep books. I've had instructors use 1 or 2 questions from the "Success" series that were easily recognizable if you had studied from it.

It's when students use purchased instructor test banks that I have a problem. It's definitely cheating, in my opinion. Can someone memorize the entire test bank? Probably not. But it would give enough of an advantage to help them pass, which I don't think is right.

[Spangle Brown]

If they call it cheating, then it is cheating and not allowed.

But to me, it should be considered one of many study guides to answer questions dealing with real situations, with verifiable answers. The more of those a student does, the more they learn. In the end, it still does not mean the student knows what questions will be asked on the test. I would think cheating would be when a student studies only the test questions and memorizes those. But what I am understanding, that is not the best way to pass the nclex. Might work for the class, but not for the long haul.