Sorry this is long - I'm just very disgusted. We were told on day one - if you are caught cheating - you'll be out of the Program. Although I'm 40, I'm obviously very naive, because I couldn't imagine anyone in Nursing School risking everything by cheating - considering what we all had to do to get in.
Our class has lectures in a very small cramped classroom - so when we have to take tests, we go into a large conference room and sit 3 or 4 around big tables. Even though we are a little bit spaced out, it's very distracting to be sitting at a table with people nervously shaking their legs (which shakes the entire table), sighing heavily, moaning in disgust, tapping their pencils, coughing non-stop, (the list goes on). Personally, I wish we could each have a little cubbie to sit at (the type they have in libraries for privacy) - Nursing Exams require a lot of concentration and it's very hard to do that with so much going on around you. Our school doesn't have those type desks, so we make due in this large room.
Last week after a test a fellow student told me she wasn't going to cheat off me again because she only made a 64. I thought she was kidding and told her she must not be good at cheating because I got a high "B". She said - well, the ones I was able to get off your paper were the only ones I got right. Although she's much younger than me, we're in a couple of classes together, talk a lot between classes, have lunch once in a while - so I was totally disgusted with her for not only cheating off my paper, but also putting me in jeopardy. I don't cover my paper (like I said, didn't think anyone would be cheating) - so if an Instructor had seen her looking at my test, to them, it might have looked like I was helping her out.
For our test today I sat at a different table with just one guy. I didn't name names, but mentioned I switched seats because I found out someone was cheating off my paper. He said I should report it to the Instructor. Told him this particular student had a "D" average and might not make it anyways, but I'd think about it after the test.
To make a long story (longer I guess) - After the test today, the Head of the Nursing Dept. came in and said she had quite a few complaints about a few students cheating. She said she'd be talking to the students accused of cheating, but they couldn't kick someone out if an Instructor doesn't see it happening first hand. The student that turned one of the cheating students in today - told me who it was and I was totally shocked. It's an 18 year old who is constantly bragging about her high 90's grades. She's the one who always asks "what did you get, what did you get - the test was so easy, I got a 95". Let's just say - "she's not the sharpest tack in the box", spends most of her time in lecture "doodling" instead of taking notes, claims she never studies much, so most of us had no idea how she was pulling in such great marks.
Apparently, she's been sitting next to the brightest student in class during the tests and copying off her paper - lots of people have seen this happening during the last few tests, got mad and several turned her in today. I try my best to stay focused during tests and never take my eyes off my paper - so I was totally clueless to what was going on. For those of us who spend many, many hours reading, studying, etc. and get B's and C's - it's sickening to think a couple of our classmates have cheated their way to the top of the class. I'm a very trusting person and honestly, it breaks my heart to know some of my classmates would take advantage of those of us who are taking Nursing School and our future career as Nurses deadly serious.
Has this happened in any of your schools and how do you and your Instructors handle it? Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.. Sue
