High level engineering course, we had our 2nd midterm today. Professor allows cheat sheet. This is to save us from memorizing formulas. In high level courses, it’s not about memorization but how you apply the concepts.
In the beginning I had my cheat sheet for the first midterm out along with the cheat sheet for this one. I did not put away the cheat sheet for the first midterm. It was useless for this test anyway because the material covered are different. The TA saw both of my sheet and walked over and took a look and walked away. Didn’t say anything or talk to me. At the end they collected my paper as usual, alone with everyone elses’.
I should be okay right? If they had an issue with it they would talked to me then? I honestly don’t think I cheated either because the other sheet didn’t help at all nor is it expected to help, but I just had it out. I don’t know why I did it, maybe for placebo effect? I’m asking this because later someone who sat next to me told me that I was only supposed to have one cheat sheet.
Only time will tell. The reality is that you broke the rules and have what is probably considered a honor code violation. The professor has no idea what was on the second sheet. Basically it gave you an advantage over your peers even if you didn’t use it. Make sure you keep both sheets and own up to when and if the time comes.
If I was the TA, I would dump this in the professors lap and let him decide. Unless the professor is very lenient, I would think there will be some sort of consequences for doing this.
If I were the professor, I would be upset at you. Why would a student flaunt my rules?? It’s not a complicated request. ONE cheat sheet. You have to learn to follow rules and instructions in the real world.
Cheating is like being pregnant— there are no shades of grey.
If you were allowed on sheet and had two, you broke the rules. It doesn’t matter whether or not that information turned out to be helpful; it was against the rules of the test.
Whether or not you’re penalized, you broke the rules. Your classmate was aware of the rules. You were-- or certainly should have been-- as well.
Besides, if that other sheet was of no use, why on earth was it out?
Ok, I understand what I did is questionable. Lesson learned.
But how much of a trouble do you think I’m in? Shouldn’t the TA confronted me or at least ask to see my sheet? He did neither, and for all he know, I could just have two single sided sheets (which is equivalent to one sheet front and back).
Did not talk to me, or ask to see my sheet. Wouldn’t it be a little too late to talk to me about this later when they have no evidence? To accuse someone of cheating is serious and they would need hard evidence of that. RIght now it’s just their words against mine.
I’m not saying I would lie, in fact, I’m thinking about coming clean voluntarily to the prof right now. The reason I’m asking is I want to know if most likely I should be okay given the fact they didn’t confront or say anything at the time.
The prof would take the TA’s word - that is evidence enough.
Here’s an example of following the rules: My professor in a graduate level class said we could have one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper for reference on an exam. It was a class with MANY formulas. I wrote them all down on two big sheets of paper, then used a copy machine to reduce them to two 8 1/2 x 11 sheets. I copied one sheet on the back of the other. Voila - one sheet of paper, all legal. I even showed it to the prof - he laughed! He couldn’t believe how much information I crammed onto one sheet of paper. So you can do a lot and still follow the rules. But if I’d brought in two 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper, I would have been breaking the rules. Period.
I understand, I broke the rules. Rules are rules. But am I going to fail the class now? I mean, if they are planning to do something like that, shouldn’t they send me an email or at least talk to me before hand?
If you are the professor, are you going to fail me? I had strong performance throughout the semester. Do you think this is less serious than say, using a cheat sheet on a test that is strictly closed book, close notes, no aid of any kind?
The test was this morning and I haven’t heard anything. Should I just expect to see a zero when the tests are graded? That’s usually not how it works is it? You don’t fail someone without talking to them first. And the TA didn’t ask to see my notes either. He should’ve at least talked to me after class and asked to see my notes if he is going to make that kind of serious decision.
How on earth would we know? We don’t know your professor or your school, and we do not know your professor’s policies or the school’s policies.
You really only have two options (which you already know):
You can talk to the professor about what happened. I think you should take heed to the way people reacted to how you presented the situation when explaining the situation in the future. From an outsider's perspective, it sounded like you weren't taking the rules seriously, that you shouldn't be punished even though you know you broke the rules, and that you have a million excuses for what happened. That's why, I think, you got the types of responses that you did. I'm not saying that's how you actually are, but that's just how it sounds. So be careful how you explain things like this in the future.
You can say nothing, and wait to see what happens. Either you'll be punished or you won't. You might get a slap on the wrist, you might fail the test or the course, or you might get nothing.
What you choose to do is up to you. No one can tell you what will happen with either options because we don’t know you, your professor, the TA, or your school. And, you know, we can’t tell the future.
I wouldn’t assume that because the TA didn’t say anything to you that that means nothing will happen. When I was a TA, we would tell the professor when we thought anyone was cheating (including their name and a description of what we saw). The professor would then do whatever they wanted to do. We were told by the school not to stop someone’s exam even if we thought they were cheating because there was always the possibility that they weren’t. Not all TAs or professors or schools will do the same thing, but just because no one said anything during the test doesn’t mean that there won’t be any consequences.
That being said, chill. It’ll be fine. If it’s brought up, explain what happened and deal with the consequences. If it isn’t, then consider yourself lucky and don’t do it again.
Right-- in my school you NEVER stop the test of someone you suspect is cheating. The test is an academic event , and cheating is a disciplinary event.
So, for example, if a kid’s phone falls out of his pocket-- a huge problem for the kid-- you take the phone and let the kid continue the test. What happens next is up to the dean. Perhaps the kid will get a zero. Perhaps they’ll look at the phone and decide that he didn’t get around to cheating, so his academic grade can stand. But there’s still a disciplinary penalty in that case, since there was an irregularity with the process of taking the test.
This is the part that’s going to cause you problems. Even after the TA came over to your desk, you didn’t put the 2nd sheet away. Since s/he took the trouble to actually walk over to your desk to see what was on it, the likelihood is that it will be reported to your professor. If all the other students knew not to have more than one sheet, your professor isn’t going to believe that you didn’t know and s/he won’t care that it didn’t turn out to be useful to you. I think s/he will care that you didn’t put it away after it was clear to you that the TA had seen it.
So there is no way for a professor to know whether you intentionally or accidentally tried to gain an unfair advantage.
There is a world of difference between stupid and dishonest.
As a professor, I would lean on the side of stupid since what you did was so blatant and most likely too stupid to be dishonest.
Nonetheless, in fairness to the other students who were presumably neither stupid nor dishonest, if I were the professor, I would have to dock you significantly.
I think what I would do is
a) Make you write a letter explaining what you did
b) Not count your exam in the statistics.
c) Calculate mean and standard deviation for the class.
d) Grade your exam, determine your curved score.
e) Dock you 1 standard deviation on that exam for having a second cheat sheet. I couldn’t care less if it didn’t help you.
f) Instruct the proctor to watch you like a hawk for the rest of the semester and look for any signs of dishonesty
g) File a warning with the Dean of Students
I would like to point out that in my scheme you would likely fare better the student who showed up an hour late for the exam who was perhaps even stupider, but with no possibility of being dishonest.
Yeah, I was stupid and made a bad mistake. Lesson learned.
But the TA actually collected my paper with everyone else’s at the end and didn’t say anything to me even after the class is over. I was one of the few people who had to finish the test after most have left the room. He didn’t even ask to see my notes as he come over to me to pick up the exam.
It’s been 24 hours and I still don’t hear anything from the TA or the professor.
If they are going to punish me, should I at least hear something beforehand?