By its ok to cheat!? - 20/02/2013 21:52 - United States - Brisbane

Today, I got my results on a recent, important midterm. During the exam, I'd noticed my instructor had accidentally left an answers page in the test packet, so being honest, I didn't look at them. It turns out she did it on purpose to help us pass. I failed. FML
I agree, your life sucks 38 749
You deserved it 15 751

Same thing different taste

Top comments

whats the point of a test if youre given the answers....unless im missing something?

Atchoo 8

I wonder what the dean/principal/program director or other appropriate authority in the school would have to say about those testing methods......

Comments

whats the point of a test if youre given the answers....unless im missing something?

hellobobismyname 24

Maybe they weren't grading based solely on the answers. If it was math, the teacher could be marking the work done. See, even if you had the answers, it wouldn't matter if you didn't know how to do the actual work. It's the only way I know to explain it.. Our math textbooks had answers in the back so we had to show the work we did to get the answers or else it wouldn't count.

Epikouros 31

The point of an American university is to pay huge sums of money for a piece of paper that gives you access to the elite. Unless it's a difficult subject like medicine or physics, learning anything is a by-product.

26- typical European America-hater. Now go renew your gun license so you can buy a super-soaker.

26 isn't too far off. If you haven't been in university,and watched thousands of students drink and party their way to graduation, then you shouldn't thumb him down. Getting a degree (in a non core science, math or engineering) is far too easy. I'm talking about a GOOD state uni. I could rant all day about it, so can someone respond if they thumb down.

I thumbed down because I worked hard and studied my butt off to graduate. You can't take that away from me or anybody because you just finished watching animal house. A lot of drinking happens at college, I'll give you that, but that's not all that happens.

musiciangirl591 16

i agree with you, i changed my major and i'm working my butt off to get to where i need to be (i'm a sophomore, i've switched my major from speech pathology to rehabilitative sciences), i'd rather stay in college for a longer time than take the quick and dirty road :P

wlddog 14

26 is not wrong. I have been to 3 insitutions of higher education, and if most of those people passed, then it meant they were not actually graded on knowledge or education. Colleges now are just another business. They tell you "You cant succeed without us", but how many of their graduates get a job after graduationg? Last I read it was 40%. But even if you don't get a job, they still expect you to pay your school loans, and they dont reinburse you if you fail. Itsthe biggest scam going, besides global warming.

61- so you'd rather a completely publicly-funded college? Tell me more about how A) the nation can afford this and B) it won't just end up like lots of other public schools: shitty.

My public school is one of the best in the nation and kicks most private schools ass when it comes down to it. Just pointing out that not everything publicly run is shitty.

65- hence why I said lots, and not most, or all. Mine kicks ass too. High property taxes FTW.

RedPillSucks 31

Most state schools are pretty good. Also, just because there's lots of partying and drinking doesn't mean that there's not a lot of hard work and studying. Perhaps it's the luck of the draw, but most college education is meaning full. Now I'm not going to argue about whether the high price is worth it. That's a completely different discussion.

61, Last I checked, it's difficult to get a job even after graduating because of the American economy right now. It's pointless for a business to spend thousands of dollars training a new hire when they could just promote from within. Also It depends on the degree you obtain as well, and prior experience with jobs. Also, I've been told that you can defer loan payments until you get a job (not sure how true this is, or what the catch is). And lastly, global warming is not a scam. I'm not an environmentalist, but between the amount of fossil fuels being burned daily and the Earth's natural processes the Earth's climate is changing. Just look at the Ozone over Antarctica. The Earth doesn't burn holes into the Ozone layer last I checked.

I hate a degree in Psychology which I consider a science, but I sure you will argue otherwise. I rarely partied and drank only on special occasions, I studied my butt of eared my degree. How dare you trivialize that.

#1 The bit you're missing is that the OP didn't study hard enough for an exam, then failed it, then complained on FML that they didn't study hard enough

All I know is, we didn't burn fossil fuels during the Ice Age, and the Earth warmed up to escape it. Periods of Heat and Cold

I am attending a state university full time, I am a student ambassador, I hold a 25 hour a week job and pull off a 4.0. How do I have a 4.0? I work my @ss off studying and doing my work. I go to class and don't drink or party. The difference I will be making after I am done with college compared to if I didn't go is considerable: I will be getting a major in computer science with a minor in biology followed by medical or dental school. It's not a scam! McDonald's or be an Oncologist? Hmmm...

I have TWO degrees. One in Math and Science, the other in Human Service Management. Neither of them were easy to obtain. Either you are a genius, or a jerk.

Ok well their comment was deleted... Scratch that

tjv3 10

Exactly! Why have a test if the teacher is going to help the class cheat? This is why kids are not learning things they need to know. This is also one of the reason we are graduating kids who can't hardly read or write. The teacher needs to be fired

MandyMorphine 3

You ask what's the point of giving a test with the answers? My answer: rebellion. I had a HS per calc teacher who was pissed off at the district for forcing him to give us a final exam when he felt it wasn't necessary. So in an act of rebellion, he gave us a practice exam the day before which we went over in class and he gave us all the answers. The exam was open book, and therefore we got to use our practice exam. The exam was EXACTLY the same as the practice one. He literally gave us all the answers to the test as a '**** you' to the school. He was such an awesome teacher! Hes in a band (drummer) rode a motorcycle, had a ponytail, I think was a stoner... But he was a genius at math.

80-Wel I sea thay didunt teech yu how 2 spel..

My math textbook has answers in the back so I can solve the problem, check if I'm right, then if I'm not, go back and figure out what I did wrong. It helps me to learn, but I've never seen it before on a test.

wlddog 14

75 The very idea that we actually have the power to effect the temperature of the planet is so far beyond our grasp its insane. Volcanoes are constantly going off and each one equals a million years worth of car smog and greenhouse gases. Yet somehow we are surviving. They also told us when I was in school that the world would be without its rainforrest by the year 2,000. Yet somehow they survived. When has an environmental scientist EVER been right? i have lived through too many dooms day predictions to believe global warming. Expectably when it was brought to the Supreme Court and was found to be one of the biggest scams of the day. Even experts from NASA were fired for forgery of evidence. It was a scam that Al Gore was a tool for, and i will take a while before people accept the scam for what it was. Guess what makes O3 (Ozone) Lightening. Guess what makes Lightening... Heated water rises into the air and makes static electricity. Guess what happens if the world gets warmer from greenhouse gases... We get more storms, thus reflecting light back into space and repairing Ozone with lightening. The oceans are the worlds radiator. Tadaaaaaa. We live.

TcheQ 12

because some tests are complete bullshit and don't actually assess the extent of your knowledge. It would be like trying to test epidemiology and biostatistics in Excel/R using pen and paper.

Atchoo 8

I wonder what the dean/principal/program director or other appropriate authority in the school would have to say about those testing methods......

I say they wouldn't know or care. It's up to the teacher how tests are given. Participation grade, completion grade, whatever. I know teachers that leave and let people take it on their own. However it may be, it's the teachers choice.

One of my sisters teaches and she has to deal with the No Child Left Behind Act. I'm in no way justifying the teacher's method of testing. I'm only aware of how hard it is to teach 5 different types of children about the same subject (by types, I mean by their learning capabilities, if they are smart, mentally handicapped, etc...) and making sure every child passes and moves on to the next grade level.

jisaac09 25

After the professor gets tenure it wouldn't really matter. Still it isn't like it really matters, the point of higher education isn't to give you all the answers. The point is to give you enough knowledge to find the answers when you need them.

That just ain't right! Glad to hear you are honest though OP!

iTsbSkuLLy 8

Maybe it's just me but I would have used those answers even if it was a mistake . But I respect your honesty OP.

If OP was honest, he/she would have told the teacher about the answer sheet.

honesty is overrated when your future depends on it! that crap is almost life and death

It doesnt help to cheat for certain things. Would you go to a doctor knowing he never really paid attention in medical school and cheated on all his tests and had almost as much knowledge as you for certain health issues. You put your trust in certain people like doctors. Personally I'm happy OP was honest. Now he/she can go and relearn what they failed on. So in the future when they do get their degree, they'll know what they're doing.

iTsbSkuLLy 8

I agree 17 but when your trying to be a skydiver or something like that most assignments and test seem pointless .

Although I agree with 17, there are a few classes that you have to take with certain studies that are rather pointless. I know a girl who wants to become a stewardess, she had to take a maths test and it wasn't just a simple one. I agree that one shouldn't cheat, but I can see that when you have to make a test that seems pointless and you can cheat that one test you would do it.

musiciangirl591 16

yeah... if they catch you, all that money is wasted on an almost education... if you do get away with it, its more or less of a false education...

RedPillSucks 31

Well, if you know you want to be a stewardess or a skydiver, then don't major in pure math, particle physics, and bio-medical engineering. Pick the major that suites you. I know lots of people that take classes just because they want to learn stuff, and that's fine, I did that myself. But there's no reason to cheat your way through college. Cheating is not going to prepare you for anything else in life except more cheating.

This takes open note to a whole new meaning.

It's better to know that you honestly failed than falsely passed, OP.

yea no, he probably wasted a ton of money if this was his final or something

oj101 33

You know it's bad when you try to "pass"- especially when a teacher resorts to cheating. Just over 50% isn't very good. Why can't people aim high and try to maintain at least 80%? I'm an international student, and I find the SATs shockingly easy compared to where I'm at. It's like slightly more advanced 10th grade stuff in the UK, you do less subjects and the boundaries are low.

Nikkitaria 9

At first I agreed with you, then it just looked like you were showing off.

I'm from the UK as well and I'm reasonably certain that we have the same clever/dumb ratio as most other developed countries; but way to go for over achieving.

Just the other day, I had a teacher give us a take-home test and demand that we not use the book on it, and only give ourselves a half an hour. So I, being the good, honest student that I am, did exactly as the Professor required. The day we had to turn them in, several of the students were in the lounge comparing their answers to the books, and to each other. I got a 75. They all got 100s. So what did I take away from this? Use the book, or in your case, the answer key.

#11 if I were in your shoes, I would have took the test and then checked the answers. This way I would have learned what I obviously didn't know without getting a bad grade. Same with being in your situation op...

stewpididiot 11

You would have 'took' the test ? Yer KILLIN me. My Niece always says " It got 'tooken' from me....drives me nuts !! Btw, she's 24...*sigh*

wolfman10187 5

In that particular case "took" was grammatically correct to use. Just as using "taken" would be grammatically correct as well.

I had a professor who had take home tests like this. The difference was that the students and the college took our honor code very very seriously and we were all encouraged to speak up if we saw someone cheating. That's really the only way to keep everyone honest. The policy was if you knew someone did something they shouldn't have you would go to the person first and ask them to turn themselves in and if they didn't do that after a certain amount of time you would go to the student government yourself. I thought it was a good system.

That's not a bad system, although it breaks down in most situations. My work has a "I got your back" safety program that has the same principal, and its a great idea, unfortunately even when personal safety is the issue, people tend to be afraid to narc, as they think of it.

its not cheating its using resources or taking opportunitys . think about it

Unfortunately, I don't think that's what was being tested.