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Web Sites That Help Students Cheat Are Flourishing

by Warren Riddle on May 18, 2009 at 04:14 PM


From using other people's notes to consulting previous exams, students have always explored methods of supplementing their studious endeavors. Technology and the Internet just make it easier to find such materials, and in some circumstances, to blatantly cheat.

According to the New York Times, Web sites such as Cramster and Course Hero are flourishing because they provide immediate access to research papers and exams, as well as giving the solutions to practice questions from actual university text books. This has created a divide among professors who consider it to be cheating and those who believe the sites can be used by teachers to provide valuable supplemental information.



Eons ago, in the days before the Intertubes, there were companies that paid devoted college students, those who actually attended every class, for detailed daily notes. They then sold those transcripts to students who were maybe not so dedicated (not that we would ever condone such behavior). Fraternities and sororities have also developed reputations over the years for cataloging old exams for future use, so the techniques definitely aren't new. They just attract more attention because of their easy access and growing presence. If that means professors have to adapt and change their assignments and exams every semester, well, that's why they get summers off, right? [From: The New York Times]


Top Hi-Tech Cheating Methods

    1. YouTube Cheating How-To
    In recent months, more and more students have taken to YouTube to show fellow connivers how to effectively cheat on exams. Some of their tactics are so complicated, though, we wonder if it wouldn't just be easier to actually teach the subject matter.

    2. Facebook Study Group
    About a year ago, Chris Avenir -- a Freshman at Ryerson University in Toronto -- started a Facebook group with the purpose of studying for a chemistry course. When his professor found out, though, Avenir was threatened with expulsion. Although allowed to remain in school, Avenir did have his grade docked and had to take down the page.

    Andrew Wallace/Toronto Star

    3. iPods: Not Just for Music
    When iPods first hit the scene, academic con artists jumped for joy. However, it wasn't long until teachers and professors realized that the students were listening to lectures instead of tunes and looking at notes instead of pictures. Many high schools and colleges have banned these and other MP3 players from the classroom.

    4. Chinese Cheaters Make Us Look Lazy, Cheap
    During the 2007 administration of China's annual college entrance exam, which enables less than 60% of its 10 million takers admission to college, one examinee was found with a wireless microphone. Outside, in a parked mini-bus, three accomplices used a computer to find answers to the student's whispered questions and a microphone to relay them. The student had paid them $1,500.

    Getty Images

    5. High School Hackers
    Last summer, Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh, both 18, were charged with breaking into their Orange County, California high school in order to steal test papers and change grades. When Khan's teachers found that the ordinarily C-student suddenly had a transcript full of A's, they contacted the authorities. The ringleader, Khan faces up to 38 years in prison.

    Orange County Sheriff's Department


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Tags: cheating, school, students, top

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