<p>I go to a small LAC and I am taking organic chemistry. I've been feeling a lot of pressure from my parents lately about my grades, and a few days ago I had a quiz in orgo. I was sitting directly next to another student, and midway through the test I glanced over and accidentally saw one of her answers. It sounded reasonable so, in a moment of haste and panic, I wrote it down. The rest of the quiz was entirely my own work, I found out later that that answer was wrong and an unusual mistake to make, so I think my professor will figure it out. I haven't gotten the quiz back but I've been feeling massive amounts of guilt and regret. I consider myself an honest and moral person, I've never cheated before, and I have no idea what compelled me to do so at that moment. What should I do?</p>
<p>Admit to the mistake. Tell the professor immediately. It won’t be a big deal if you tell him and if anything he’ll think more highly of you for admitting to the mistake. He might take the points away from you, but it’s highly unlikely you’d face anything more severe than that. Think about it. If you were a reasonable professor, and a student confessed to cheating before the student got the grade, then what would you do? Do everything you can to have the student expelled? Or just take the points away and say, “hey, thanks, and don’t do it again and we’re all good?”</p>
<p>Cheating is wrong, and you shouldn’t have done it, but I don’t think you should confess to your professor. If your school has a very strong plagerism policy, you could get into a lot of trouble (academic probation, expulsion), especially over one problem. And this not only involves you, it involves the person you cheated off. You might get them into a lot of trouble.
What I don’t understand is that organic chemistry problems are pretty involved, usually with a lot steps/mechanisms etc. So how could you get an answer from someone sitting next to you with just a small glance?</p>
<p>Forget it and move on.</p>
<p>Just don’t do it again. You don’t need to take the maximum punishment for a glance.</p>
<p>If it sounded reasonable it probably isn’t that unusual of a mistake. Unlikely anything will be thought of it. Don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Lol just move on.</p>
<p>Yeah, just move on. Something like 60% of college students have cheated in some kind of capacity at some point in their lives. It’s not uncommon. I wouldn’t tell the professor. I can practically guarantee you that you weren’t even the only person in that one exam that “took a glimpse.”</p>
<p>I rather doubt that the professor will see the answer and find it to be an “unusual” error. In a class that involves more of a mechanical process, there are tons of errors to make. There are certainly more common mistakes too, but that doesn’t mean that less common mistakes are somehow “suspicious” simply because two people made the same one.</p>
<p>That said, don’t do it again. Chalk it up to a learning experience and move on.</p>
<p>As a teacher, I like IceQube’s answer the best. If the class is small, the professor may very well figure out that it would be highly unusual for both of you to have that same mistake. As a teacher I would appreciate a student coming in and telling me about the cheating just as IceQube suggests. I wouldn’t even report it if a student came and confessed. It would be a first, though. It’s usually me finding the cheating, and it is very frustrating when it happens. That’s why I like IceQube’s answer/suggestion.</p>