<p>When I was back in high school, I wouldn’t have wanted to tell my parents either if something like this happened, and I was a top student with no issues (all the teachers loved me, and I loved school). I can completely understand OP. That in no way means OP is guilty. I think it’s incredibly unfair to make that statement on the basis he doesn’t want to tell his parents.</p>
<p>You keep asking what the results will be and the commenters keep telling you we don’t have enough information to respond. Maybe you think we should understand you, but we don’t. Try explaining more clearly. </p>
<p>“The student and her friends claimed that I got someone else’s scantron.” </p>
<p>This makes no logical sense as an explanation. Scantrons have to be signed and handed in. The student whose scantron you took would then be missing his/hers and marked as not having taken the test, right?</p>
<p>You say there was a substitute teacher when the test was administered. Was the substitute asleep during the test? If not, can’t s/he speak on your behalf - say that s/he didn’t see you cheating?</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what we commenters think will happen. The school will look at your case and make a decision. Their decision will be based, at least in part, on how you communicate with them. I suggest you start communicating more effectively.</p>
<p>@acollegestudent, it’s not just that the OP seems to be trying to keep this from his/her parents. It’s also very odd-sounding statements like “Throughout HS, it’s more likely and have been likely that other students copy off of me more than I copy off of them”. That’s certainly not the kind of statement my kids would make if they were accused of cheating. That’s a statistical statement, not a denial. Of course family circumstances are different, but it just does seem odd that the OP has come to this board for advice but apparently not to the parents. Does the OP want the parents to learn about this from the school or from him/her? Even if the OP is found innocent, I imagine the school will discuss this incident with the parents. I’d certainly want to hear about it if such accusations were made against my child. False accusations made out of malice, even if dismissed, could signify many other problems that need to be addressed.</p>
<p>Seems to me the OP needs to talk with his parents, and they probably need a lawyer. Not because I like lawyers, but because the OP seems to have such difficulty in expressing himself very well - and that’s not a knock on the OP - he is probably in a state of shock (presuming what we can gather about the situation is true.)</p>
<p>OP, this is what I gathered from your posts. Can you say whether it’s correct?
- a malicious girl has had fun accusing you of various things throughout the year
- she saw there was a substitute and decided it’d be easy to get you in trouble
- she emailed the administrator in charge of your class to say you did not get your answers on that test honestly, but copied them off a prefilled scantron
- she got friends of hers to back her up even though some aren’t even in the class
- no one has any idea of how you could have gotten a prefilled scantron for that test
- the principal called you to his/her office and asked you some questions, then said s/he would investigate further
- the girl and/or her friends are circulating a rumor that you’ll be stripped of your class rank
- you are worrying sick that you’ll be stripped of your class rank
- you want to know whether the principal can strip you of your class rank
- you haven’t discussed this with parents
- you have never been accused of cheating before in an official way (beside being taunted about it) nor found guilty of cheating
- you have a higher class rank and better grades than the students making the accusation, (who thus might be envious?) and who have been mean to you before </p>
<p>Is that a fair summary of the situation?</p>
<p>This could be a cheating case or a bullying case…</p>
<p>Got to wonder what kind of high school the OP attends? Sounds like a Glee or the Mean Girls of the Valley remake. Has the making of a school where the Val struggles to get above 1600 on the SAT.</p>
<p>I guess the OP’s school is not a high performing one and does not enforce strict disciplines on academic honesty violation. Cheating is tolerated to some degree. It’s not entirely the fault of students when they trade answers. This is the kind of school where substituting teachers make easy money.</p>
<p>I doubt that the parents will hire a lawyer to fight for class rank. They are not typical CC parents.</p>
<p>The outcome of the investigation probably will not cause high trauma.</p>
<p>Gook luck to the OP!</p>
<p>It certainly seems to be a school where one could be the top-ranked student and still have a lot of difficulty communicating a set of facts in grammatical English.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you had seen the level of writing I’ve seen during my stint as private academic tutor at my LAC or reviewing essays with friends TAing at elite universities, including some HYPS, this won’t come as much of a surprise. </p>
<p>I’ve also seen worse examples from students of adjunct/grad school friends who teach at local community colleges.</p>
<p>
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<p>Whose? How? If you are #1 in your class, why would someone else’s answers to a multiple choice test be expected to be better than yours? Does a “scantron” have the questions printed on it, or is it just a bubbling sheet like that used on standardized tests?</p>
<p>This ongoing incoherence and/or reluctance to state facts is annoying the hell out of me, I must admit. Good luck. Unless you snap out of it, there is nothing anyone can do to help you.</p>
<p>My take would be that the student is from some mind-bogglingly cut throat Pacific Rim boarding school. But I freely admit I have no idea what type of school is likely to use these scantrons for tests.</p>
<p>cobrat said
</p>
<p>Of course you have. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my high school used these for tests all of the time (rural public high school).</p>
<p>raneck, are they strictly for multiple choice?</p>
<p>^^scantrons can be used for MC or true false (which is basically a MC question). Often in college/HS used to be able to grade papers quickly. Some of my girls classes used it for part of test and then did another part with short answer/essays. Just speeds up grading for teacher. And it is a bubble sheet so no questions would show up.</p>
<p>Yes, scantrons are for multiple choice tests.
They’re similar to the bubble sheets you see for standardized tests. Questions don’t appear on it.
And even someone ranked #1 could be weaker at something and copy off an
already filled in scantron sheet, ie., the “correct” scantron that indicates what’s
correct or not for the grading.
How OP could have gotten his hands/her hands on such a sheet is mysterious
and the accusers will have to prove that s/he did.
OP is shouting “injustice” in desperation and trying to prove s/he couldn’t have done it and thus isn’t answering questions or constructing argumentative paragraphs. Moral outrage + schools that use multiple choice for tests rather than essays = a student who’s not a very good at explaining his problem, but I’ve seen much worse. I tried to summarize things in #45, if you understood differently make your own summary for posters who are trying to follow along (I’m not certain I understand properly, hence my question to OP).
I can totally imagine the kind of schools where petty kids would bother the geeky valedictorian, can’t you? Especially if the valedictorian’s performance makes them look bad…
However if all they have is an unsubstantiated belief the OP had a previous scantron answer sheet (“because how could s/he have gotten so many right otherwise?”) and witnesses who for some of them weren’t even in the classroom, it won’t go far. But the sting wil stay, which is why a “cheating accusation” is great if you want to stain someone - it may not be proved but people will always be suspicious. #2 or 35 will say “yeah but s/he didn’t ‘really’ deserve it, <em>I</em> would have gotten the same grades if I had done the same”. :s
That’s why I said “is it a cheating case or a bullying case?”</p>
<p>Almost exclusively. On very, very rare occasions I have seen scantron sheets with sections for writing.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t knock multiple choice tests too hard. I go to a school where the AP US History classes use scantron MC tests (day 1) and essays (day 2) for examination grades. Most people averaged around a B on the MC tests with maybe 15% C grades and 15% A. I think over half of AP US students still got a 5 on the AP test.</p>
<p>I would talk to your parents or a trusted adult. It seems odd that you wouldn’t talk to your parents about something so serious unless there have been problems in the past that would cause your parents not to believe you.</p>
<p>It comes down to this: either you cheated and will pay for it, or you didn’t and those who falsely accused you will have to deal with the consequences.</p>
<p>If people keep accusing you of cheating, either you do cheat, or there is something very wrong with the culture of your high school and the administration should put a stop to it now.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d be spending all of my energy either fighting the false accusation, or apologizing for cheating and mending my ways. It’s not too late to start over.</p>
<p>I strongly advise not writing posts on your phone. It would really help get better responses.</p>
<p>I told my parents about it last night. I didn’t tell them earlier because I was afraid of how they’ll react. It’s normal to be afraid of your parents. They were totally understanding about it. They will talk to the principal. Also, some of you guys don’t know what’s a scantron. It’s a “bubble sheet”. I know for a fact that I didn’t even get an A on the test. I probably got a B or a C. . It would be stupid to cheat on a test and not get an A on it. </p>
<p>I guess I’ll find out what would happen tmrw. </p>
<p>This wouldn’t have been a big deal if I weren’t #1 of my class. And at my school being #1 doesn’t even mean you’re the Valedictorian. Last year’s valedictorian was #7.</p>