<p>I'm a senior in high school and really need some advice. I've been reflecting over my high school career and have really become depressed.</p>
<p>In the middle of my sophomore year, I decided to buy the Algebra II teacher's edition to check my answers. I also bought the Algebra I and Geometry teacher's editions too so I could review math during the summer and also have answers to check my work. (I did not have the Algebra I and Geometry teachers editions while taking the classes.) While in Algebra II, I rarely used the book, and never ever copied answers--I just occasionally checked mine when I was having problems. Furthermore, the homework was graded based on effort. Is this cheating? I'm having trouble seeing through this, and it's really bothering me.</p>
<p>Also, in my sophomore year and still to this day, I usually have somebody proofread my essays before handing them in. I usually disagree or agree with the critique's suggestions and fix my essay as I please. Is this cheating? I feel as though I may have had an unfair advantage...</p>
<p>Last year in chemistry and this year in AP chemistry, I bought the solution's manual so I could occasionally check my answers. Again, the homework was based only on effort. Also, the teacher allowed us to look at the keys in class. With the manual at home, I felt as though I had a teacher helping me. A student in last year's AP chemistry course gave me his exams and quizzes so I could study. When we had our first exam, it was the exact same! This, I feel pretty horrible about.</p>
<p>This year, I'm also in AP Calculus and Physics C. For both AP Calculus and Physics C, I purchased most of the released exams in preparation for the tests and quizzes throughout the year. But, I feel as though I may have an unfair advantage over the rest of the class. Occasionally, I'll recognize a question on the AP Calculus exams from practicing. I also have the solutions manual, and I dont check my answers until I have my homework completed. The instructor also makes the keys available to every student, so we can check our work. Homework is also graded on effort; I just check it before I turn it in so the information is fresh on my mind. For the Physics C final, I had almost seen all of those multiple choice questions. That was bad... Should I continue to study the released exams to prepare (I really think it's a great way to learn and prepare) or should I just study my notes...</p>
<p>Well, I'm finally done. Should I be worried and depressed? I'm a very academically motivated teenager and want to be successful. I'm just feeling that I've cheated throughout my entire high school career -- It's such an awful feeling...</p>
<p>A very common problem in academia is that instructors sometimes don't go out of their way to make up new and different exams from any the students have access to. Often a teacher, college professor, law school professor will give the exact same exam every year and those kids with older friends or sibs have a very unfair advantage. I don't think anything you have done is cheating but I understand why it would make you feel guilty. I'm surprised not more students get the old AP exams.</p>
<p>I think the only one you should be worried about is getting the instructor editions. After all, they are made for teachers. I think you should consult the teacher beforehand if you plan on buying the instructor's edition of the textbook for that class. After all, the instructor may plan to use some of the questions for his/her tests whose answers can only be found in the instructor's edition.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like for the most part what you are doing would be within bounds. Homework is just checked to see if you've done it, and you do the homework before you check answers. The question of having someone look over your essays could be more iffy. That said, I know very few kids whose parents never check their essays. The easiest solution for you is to ask each of your teachers where they draw the line.</p>
<p>Having someone proof read your essays is not cheating. In order to become a better writer, you've got to have someone give you good critiques. Of course, a good critique asks you questions about your ideas in order to elicit better thoughts ("what are the broader issues you could consider at this point in your essay?"), or gives a general suggestion ("you need to have a more focused thesis statement", or, "Your concluding paragraph doesn't wrap up ideas x, y and z quite nicely, something more here needs to be said"), in addition to correcting grammar. However, a critique does not write sentences for you, does not write whole paragraphs, etc. That would be cheating.</p>
<p>Now, having the solution manuals sounds like a responsible way to study, though I agree with someone else above; you should consult the teacher before you buy these manuals. The teacher might consider it cheating otherwise.</p>
<p>The student giving you his tests from last year is definitely a bit sketch. Do not do this in college. Throw out the remaining tests you've got. I don't want to sound cruel, but you never should have purchased or used those in the first place.</p>
<p>We all make mistakes. In high school, the penalties are light; just don't do some of that stuff in college.</p>
<p>IMO: Many of the things you mention fall into the gray area. It sounds to me like you've had guilty feelings about it all along. </p>
<p>But the great thing about life is that if you feel badly about your actions, you can change them. Someone once told me to right a wrong by doing a good thing in a related area. What could you do to make yourself feel better (besides stopping current actions)? Tutor someone for free, or some other education-related thing. Do a little good, to make up for anything you feel you've done wrong.</p>
<p>And you might also want to look at what motivated you to do things that you ended up feeling wrong about, so you can avoid that in the future.</p>
<p>It is definitely NOT cheating to have someone proofread your essays. It's cheating to have someone RE-WRITE them.</p>
<p>It seems that what you did was within bounds. In college, many profs post old exams to give students a sense of the type of questions that will be asked on exams. Some also post a series of exam topics from which a few will be selected for the exam itself. This allows students to review all the materials from the class (not just what was covered after the midterm) and try to synthesize them. Obviously, exams change from year to year. </p>
<p>One question is whether you feel that your strategy has equipped you well for college work or whether you feel you've coasted along thanks to these resources.</p>
<p>I do not believe that studying from last year's exams & quizzes is cheating. I would consider studying from old tests a great way of preparing for exams. We did it all the time in college ... we appreciated the extra practice. However, since you found that the first quiz was a DNC (dead-nuts crib), you really should not use the old stuff anymore in that class. The first time wouldn't be cheating, because you didn't know the teacher gave DNC's. Now that you know, though, it would be wrong to continue. However, I will also add that the teacher should not be giving the same tests every year. I guarantee you that other kids know & cheat on purpose (that doesn't make it right, but I am sure it is happening). At my kids' high schools, the teachers who gave DNC's did not release old tests to students; they collected them after letting kids check them over.</p>
<p>As for the teacher's editions, I don't see a problem. The homework is not graded on whether or not it is correct (just whether or not you did it). Since you did the work & just checked it, you were fine ... you probably learned more by checking with the book than you would have otherwise & it sounds like the point of the homework was to learn. </p>
<p>As for having essays proofread ... I believe that editing is a tool all writers should use. When I worked, a coworker & I always proofread each other's work before finalizing it. Rewriting is not editing, so I am assuming you did not have your essays rewritten.</p>
<p>As for studying from released AP exams ... what is wrong with that? They are released & available to the public. Many teachers encourage students to study from released exams ... the more practice, the better. If you saw old questions on your actual AP exam, would you consider it cheating to have seen them on old exams? Doubtful. If your teacher is giving exams purely based on released, available AP exams, he/she can reasonably expect that students may have seen the questions before.</p>
<p>Good students use the tools available for studying. Yes, there is a fine line where it can become cheating (as in continuing to look at tests from last year's class once you realize the teacher gives DNC's). Most of what you have done seems responsible to me, though.</p>
<p>I agree that what you've done is not unethical. I particularly can't see anything wrong with the following:
[quote]
For both AP Calculus and Physics C, I purchased most of the released exams in preparation for the tests and quizzes throughout the year.
[/quote]
If that's cheating, shouldn't the entire industry of publishing practice tests be illegal? In our school system, reviewing past tests is the recommended way of preparing for AP exams.
[quote]
A student in last year's AP chemistry course gave me his exams and quizzes so I could study.
[/quote]
When you did this, you had no way of knowing that the teacher would give the same exam to this year's students, did you? So I can't see how what you did was unethical up to that point. I do think that, from this point forward, you should not be studying last year's exams, since the teacher may use them again.</p>
<p>As to enjoying an unfair advantage over other students - I don't see how any other student couldn't have exercised as much initiative as you did and obtained similar study tools, many of which are available for free in libraries and online. </p>
<p>I should add that I'm not familiar with teacher's text editions, which you still don't seem to have used unethically. For years my kids had the answers to their math problems in the back of their student texts. Their teachers never gave credit for homework unless the work to obtain each answer was shown. My kids were encouraged to check the answers to see if they had solved the problems correctly.</p>
<p>Sounds as if you have developed excellent study habits. None of this is even close to cheating. You are being graded on your work. You have learned good ways to master the material. Good for you.</p>
<p>If the teacher says that using instructor's manuals is not permitted, then it would be out of bounds. Otherwise no problem.</p>
<p>Old tests are fine. I had a math professor who would release ten years worth of previous exams to the class to help students prepare. Some of his colleagues objected "If someone just learns how to solve all these problems, then they can get an "A" on the exam" He replied "Anyone who can solve all these problems, deserves an "A" in the course"</p>
<p>I agree that you haven't crossed the line - but I think you know you have been close.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you use from now until the end of the year to put away any of your study devices except the materials to prep for AP exams. Those are materials that are printed expressly for that purpose and it is assumed that responsible students (and teachers) will use them.</p>
<p>I think if you wean yourself from your other aids, YOU will feel more confident going off to school next year. You need to know that your success does not depend on these materials otherwise you could become extremely anxious as the time draws nearer for college. </p>
<p>Even if a grade falters a bit, you will have gained so much in terms of your confidence by the end of the year. Even the editing, while certainly a good idea, may have become a crutch - not to producing a good essay, but to lowering your anxiety. </p>
<p>I hate to see you put yourself on some kind of academic highwire. Anxiety and depression go hand in hand so take some steps now to build some real confidence in yourself.</p>
<p>I don't see anything wrong with what you are doing. The goal is to master the material. As long as you feel you have done that, then you will be okay in future courses that depend on that material.</p>
<p>I disagree with some. I would check with your teachers to see how they feel and let them decide. I do not think a graded HS essay should be checked by someone else. The point is you are being graded on <em>your</em> writing, not your parents', tutors, or older siblings. Likewise, I don't think it's okay to rely on past exams unless your teacher is okay with it.</p>
<p>Random answers to an online question...I have my own thoughts about what is or isn't cheating. The important thing to me is that the OP is uncomfortable with it. What I am hearing is that you (the OP) are worried that you have "cheated" in HS and that college will be tough due to this.<br>
College will be a totally different experience. Forget about teachers editions and use the college time to really think for yourself and stretch your brain. Put the past behind you and move on. You will be fine.</p>
<p>You're not cheating at all you're being an opportunist. You're going the extra mile in buying those books to check your answers and studying hard. And if a teacher is stupid enough to let kids take home an exam and then give it to the next class then you deserve to get a 100 on it. Remember cheating is copying someones work with or without their permission. You didn't study for those exams with the intention to use them as a cheat sheet, you used them to study. Don't feel bad about it, i know tons of kids who ACTUALLY cheat and have no moral reaction to it. It's a good thing you have a conscience.</p>
<p>I agree that if teachers allow students to keep copies of old tests, they should not recycle those tests in succeeding years. But, once a student knows that the teacher may do just that, I think the honorable thing is for the student not to use those old tests as study tools any longer.</p>
<p>I hear a lot of people telling you to feel okay about all of this, and I think that's just patting you on the back. I agree that there is nothing way outright wrong about some of your methods, but the whole thing seems kind of squishy to me. I suspect you've felt guilty about this stuff for a long time. Case in point: All of these years, did you ever TELL a teacher or a fellow student about your methods? Or did you mostly keep it secret. </p>
<p>You've been living pretty close to the line, and when you live that close to the line you are bound to step over it sometimes, inadvertantly or not.</p>
<p>Having somebody edit/proofread is fine..buying a completed essay online is cheating.</p>
<p>Buying the teacher's manual and using it to check your own work is fine--if they sold it to you it is not cheating. If the publisher only sells to licensed teachers and you faked a copy of a teaching credential, then yeah I'd say it's cheating. But that's not what happened. </p>
<p>I disagree with all who say it is not OK to use old tests. It is perfectly legitimate. It is cheating to break into the teacher's computer and find out what will be on the forthcoming test--using an old test is no guarantee that you will be prepared for the new test, and in fact I've seen this strategy backfire when people don't really master the material and just assume the only things they will have to know are what has been on old tests. Using an old test to guide preparation is like looking at past trends in data to guide a prediction. Everybody knows the disclaimer "past performance is no guarantee of future results."</p>
<p>I do not agree with frazzled--teachers should not expect students to refrain from using a resource just to protect the teacher from his own laziness. Teachers should assume that old material is out there and design new tests accordingly.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Teachers should assume that old material is out there and design new tests accordingly.
[/quote]
Should but many don't. If the OP asks the teacher if studying from old tests is okay, that might be a heads up to the teacher to stop being so lazy.</p>