Poll: School - Is This Cheating?

[DracoSuave]

Yes it is, but why does it matter? If there aren't any repercussions (and there won't be because it's the teacher's fault) then it's not bad. I suggest you get off your high horse and join the unscrupulous plebeian masses.

Cause the point of taking a class is to learn, not to get the best marks. If he knows the material well enough that it's not going to bite him in the ass later, he doesn't have to cheat. If he does have to cheat, it'll bite him in the ass when he has to use that knowledge to learn other things with less... exploitable... teachers.

It's not a good idea.

 

[TheTurtleMan]

The question isn't if you think it is cheating, it's would the teacher think this would be cheating. If the answer is yes then it's cheating, although honestly you should just do it even if it is cheating. Chances are you won't be using advanced math skills in the future so it really only affects your ability to score well on tests.

If you think that looking at the test will hinder your ability to learn skills you'll need at a university level, then look at the test and figure out how to do the problems on it, don't just memorize the answers.

 

[Odbarc]

1) Getting caught is cheating. Getting away with it is advancing. It's the human condition. If you cheat now, you'll win throughout life by knowing how to think outside the box, take chances, and generally come out ahead more often because of it.

2) Ask yourself if you really need to learn these things for any JOB (emphasis on job, because only an employer that requires an employee to know certain things cares) whether or not you really need to know this information.

3) If you understand the theory of the formula your supposed to be tested on, that's more important than getting the answers right anyway. Giving the answer the test requires you to understand is all that matters. Hence, tests are graded on a pass/fail method of merely getting enough questions right (50%?) to prove you understand the formula enough where as a complete failure (minus lucky answers) by having less than the sufficient percentage.

4) If your given all the tools available to unlock a perfect score, you'd be proving yourself a fool by failing to utilize a guaranteed perfect score and thus fail your teachers expectations by choosing a route of failure. If you manage to success on your own merits, he won't know that you didn't cheat and merely assume that you did. Either way, you take the easy route and get the same rewards as the risky route of much greater difficulty. It doesn't make sense logically to refuse 'cheating'.

5) The phrase "Cheating only cheats yourself" is nonsense. Cheating is merely understand to take advantage. The people who have advantages in life get ahead far better than those who are suppressed by the rules. Maximize reward, minimize effort. Only in instances where max effort yields maximum reward should you ever try hardest.

 

[Merkavar]

the teacher shouldnt be so lazy to use last years exam again.

no looking at last years exams are not cheating. it is encouraged by every teacher i have ever had. they even give us the exams sometimes.

in highschool, tafe and uni last years exams are an invaluable reource, they give you direction for your studies.

 

[ShadowStar42]

I would say that there isn't enough information to know, it is cheating if doing so is against the rules of the class, if the teacher considers it a valid study technique then it isn't cheating.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Yes, it is cheating - especially if you are getting these exams not from the teacher, but from previous students - that's kinda a clue to it being not what the teacher intends for you to be using as a study method.

Also, it's a horrible idea, because if you're not doing well in the class and suddenly you ace the exam it isn't that hard to put 2 and 2 together and figure out you did something more than "bone up on the material" and you'll be very unhappy with the consequences.

Study the book, study online (Khan Academy is great for math stuff of all kinds) and do your best. That's all.

And I have to add: there is some fault in the teacher for giving the same exams and not collecting them back from the classes that have already taken them - either they should change them or they shouldn't be circulating out there, one or the other. If you're really desiring to be proactive about this situation, you should bring that point to the teacher's attention: that they are tempting students to cheat who wouldn't otherwise - and/or you can go to the administration and tell someone about this issue. Depends on how far under your skin this whole thing is.

 

[Aiedail256]

Your teacher has no sense of integrity

 

[manic_depressive13]

Yes it is, but why does it matter? If there aren't any repercussions (and there won't be because it's the teacher's fault) then it's not bad. I suggest you get off your high horse and join the unscrupulous plebeian masses.

Cause the point of taking a class is to learn, not to get the best marks. If he knows the material well enough that it's not going to bite him in the ass later, he doesn't have to cheat. If he does have to cheat, it'll bite him in the ass when he has to use that knowledge to learn other things with less... exploitable... teachers.

It's not a good idea.

I'm not telling him to cheat in lieu of learning the course material. It's clear from the original post that he has been studying. If he looks at the questions now and works through them himself, albeit ahead of time, what exactly does he lose in terms of acquiring skills? Do you think that doing something under pressure in an environment where you can't ask questions is particularly beneficial to learning? Taking the moral highground and not peeking despite practically every other student having done so is about as foolish as not studying at all and hedging your hopes on it being the same test again this year. There is a perfectly logical way of going about this which maximises both learning opportunities as well as chances of success.

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

If the test is the exact same as previous years, then I'd say yes.
If you were to at the questions but not the answers, just to see specifically what you had to revise, then I would say that's OK, but you would be putting yourself at a disadvantage in the long run.

It might be justifiable if you learned all of the stuff on the syllabus anyway, but would you really?

 

[Powereaver]

heck no its not cheating its an old test therefore its defunct its the moderator/teachers fault for doing the EXACT same test

 

[The Lunatic]

Yeah, it is.

But, if it's as important as qualifying for University and there's no realistic way of getting caught, I don't see why not.

Of course, this is after exhausting alternatives.

While it may be an easy way over studying harder, it's going to bite you in the ass if you don't make up for it.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

You know the old line, "You're only cheating yourself".

Sure, it's a bit like cheating, but fudging grades is a victimless crime unless you're bumping the valedictorian off his spot or something.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

History is made of people who's only difference between themselves and others was the degree to which they were willing to bend rules and forge there own path. If you really want me to I can list 10 successful men and women who would use anything at there disposal to achieve there goals. Your not cheating, your just following the examples given to you by history.

 

[Vuliev]

While I agree with everyone saying that the teacher's an idiot for using last year's tests, your classmates are only shooting themselves in the foot by using copies of the test to cheat. Not study--if they properly work through the test beforehand and check their answers, they shouldn't have a problem so long as they don't just copy the answers on test day.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Its cheating, if you ask me, and yes grades are important, but i think if youre cheating to obtain them, then youre entering uni on false pretexts.

 

[Logiclul]

High School: Good high school scores show colleges that they are not getting someone who will drop out one day, cause too much mischief, or fail many classes.

College: A college degree tells jobs that they are getting someone who will show up to work every day and actually work; and that they have a good idea of what they are doing.

If you fit in the high school category already; then cheat. I personally only cheated once, but in all honesty, if you posses those traits, and have a passion to exceed in some career path, fudging the numbers to get into college easier isn't 'bad'. Trust me; if you are smart enough, you're fine to cheat... as odd as that sounds, it's my experience talking.

 

[SilentCom]

If the tests are exactly the same including the order then I would regard it as cheating because then you aren't solving the problems, you're memorizing the answers. The tests are there to test your knowledge and comprehension, not how well you can memorize a series of answers.

 

[Gmans uncle]

Yeah that's defiantly cheating, but hey I've cheated on my fair share of things, sometimes it's necessary, the situation you described seems justified enough.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, only cheat if it's an absolute last resort, at lest ATTEMPT to study for test and TRY to answer the questions on your own before you cheat.

 

[Wintermoot]

it,s cheating also with WiFi you pretty much have Wikipedia at your finger tips.

 

[DracoSuave]

Yes it is, but why does it matter? If there aren't any repercussions (and there won't be because it's the teacher's fault) then it's not bad. I suggest you get off your high horse and join the unscrupulous plebeian masses.

Cause the point of taking a class is to learn, not to get the best marks. If he knows the material well enough that it's not going to bite him in the ass later, he doesn't have to cheat. If he does have to cheat, it'll bite him in the ass when he has to use that knowledge to learn other things with less... exploitable... teachers.

It's not a good idea.

I'm not telling him to cheat in lieu of learning the course material. It's clear from the original post that he has been studying. If he looks at the questions now and works through them himself, albeit ahead of time, what exactly does he lose in terms of acquiring skills? Do you think that doing something under pressure in an environment where you can't ask questions is particularly beneficial to learning? Taking the moral highground and not peeking despite practically every other student having done so is about as foolish as not studying at all and hedging your hopes on it being the same test again this year. There is a perfectly logical way of going about this which maximises both learning opportunities as well as chances of success.

If he's only getting a 78, it's clear that he's not got as much of a grasp on the course material as you claim. It's a mark, such that, cheating has become a recourse that he's tempted to enact out of desperation.

Now the fact is, just because someone can scan a previous copy of the test, doesn't mean that they're ALLOWED to. That can be cheating.

That said, there is the possibility of classroom bias--if you're taking the same lesson from the same teacher, you should be allowed the same advantages and disadvantages in learning as everyone else. You could probably talk to the principal and ask 'Why the disparity? Why is their class allowed to do this and ours not? It's the same class!'