Collegiate Cheating and Tests

Essay by akadhim09High School, 10th gradeA+, March 2007

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In a world where cheating is an academic norm, ethics is hardly a major deterrent in preventing students from cheating. More than 50% of college students admit to collaborating with others on an individual assignment. However, when this collaboration reaches a point of copying on homework or even tests, the extent of cheating is no longer under control. However, it remains true that cheating on homework is often easily detectable, but cheating on tests, especially multiple choice tests, is nearly impossible to pick up without close monitoring of the students. Cheating is mainly caused by excessive emphasis on tests and their importance to universities, so grading systems should be revised so that tests are less important and more stress is placed on daily class work.

In a survey conducted of 3,200 high-achieving students, 88% conceded that cheating was widespread at their high school and 65% professed that it would have been easy to get test answers or questions ahead of time.

This may seem like just another statistic, but it is an significant determinant of just how universal cheating is. However, before highlighting statistics oncheating, it must first be defined in a universal manner. Academic dishonesty can be defined asunpermitted collaboration of any form, usingmaterials in a situation where they are disallowed, or through some other means striving to achieve a grade while using more than only the allotted materials and resources. So, as it is obvious to see a majority of students are cheating, and this is especially damaging incolleges and universities, because the information required for tests is often significant and can heavily impact students from their future jobs if the material has never been learned. It is also true that since businesses tend to value job applicants with degrees from prestigious universities, it will be more and...