<p>Hi, I'm currently a junior and I can't sleep because of something my friend told me yesterday. We're both studious students with big dreams, but she ends up beating me in practically everything. Anyway, she told me that last year in her AP Physics class, the girl who's currently 2nd in her senior class cheated on the midterm by hiding the answers in her scarf and using them during the test. What's worse is, it wasn't just her, almost all of the top students were in on it. When I heard about it, I was shocked, and I still am. I had that girl in my AP Psych class and I knew that she was revered for taking 6 AP classes and doing so well in them. But I didn't expect her to cheat her way to the top. </p>
<p>Later I went to the guidance counselor and asked her what my rank is right now. I guess she wasn't supposed to tell me because the official rankings don't come out until the end of the 1st semester of junior year, but she made an exception for me and told me I was 17/500. Needless to say, I was crushed and still am. I'm terrified because even though I'm following in the girl's footsteps and taking 6 APs this year, I might not make it to the top if there really are cheaters all around me. My ranking should rise significantly, because I'm taking more AP classes than anyone else just to make it into the Top 10 and hopefully get into Princeton, but what if I can't just because of 2 Bs I got in honors classes in freshman year and because I don't cheat? I'm also scared of getting Bs in AP Calc and AP Chem, especially AP Calc, because I only know it's going to get harder.</p>
<p>But my question is, is it common for the top students to cheat? My friend is known as the smartest person in our class, and she never cheats (though her dad is an engineer and her cousins go to MIT, and her sister's really smart so she does get some help). She does everything on her own merit, and I do the same, but I just don't match up to her. And I never want to resort to cheating, but with the competition...I don't know.</p>
<p>Super long question, but I'd like your two cents on the issue :]</p>
<p>I find it more common for the top students to help someone cheat, because it’s their friend(s) or something like that. Every student is different, some actually keep their integrity, others just want the easy way out. To answer your question, some top students do cheat.
And your class rank is fine, you’re at the top 5% </p>
<p>Is there any way you can anonymously suggest to a counselor or staff member that academic dishonesty has been taking place? I’m only a high school senior, but I can assure you, cheating is a much bigger deal than the majority of cheaters are likely to admit. Also, if the “top schools” you are interested in attending are so prone to accepting cheaters to their campus, are those really the sorts of learning, social and living environment you want to situate yourself in for four years? </p>
<p>Everyone who cheats (lies) will get caught eventually, and as long as you stick to working honestly and productively, you’ll come out above all of them in the ways that matter. </p>
<p>I have a thing about collecting pennies, so instead of two cents, have a nickel. </p>
<p>No, I don’t believe top kids cheat as a whole. You need to mind your own business about reporting them…it may be just a rumor. You can be wrong and does it affect you and your future? Unless it is directly impacting you, keep it to yourself. If it is a kid that has got into a top 10 school I hardly think they cheated for all their HS career to gaon that ranking. </p>
<p>I’d say it varies by school and depends on how competitive the atmosphere is. However, in my school (which is a fairly competitive public school, but nothing to be proud of), everybody in the top 10 has cheated at one point (except me :D). I’ve even had cash offers to help people cheat (all of which I’ve refused). I like to think I see the worst of it. In spite of that, I still think that the ranks in my class are based on merit mostly; cheaters still cheat for a reason</p>
<p>Top ten in my school definitely don’t cheat, but stress/sleep deprivation is defenitely rampant. I’m ranked 7/370, and have gotten there without cheating (so far). The top three kids in our class are three guys who are just natural geniuses, they hardly study and just ace tests; I’ve sat next to them in classes and they don’t cheat :). In my school, cheating gets more popular as student rank goes down, kids have asked me to do essays/HW for them multiple times. I think cheating becomes a problem for top students when either they 1.) focus waaaay too much on their GPA or 2.) have pressure from outside sources (ie. parents). </p>
<p>If your teacher curves a test, and the cheater earns a high score, your test score will be lower as a result.
If they are cheating for good grades and taking up space in the top 10-15 of your class, you are being pushed down as a result.
Cheaters give teachers bad information on what they are teaching well or not. Perhaps many kids cheat on any given test but possibly they did not really understand the material. The teacher would get the impression from the good test scores that he taught the material effectively. By allowing cheaters to continue what they are doing, teachers gain incorrect information on what they are teaching well or not and cannot make necessary changes for future years.</p>
<p>However, do not base these accusations on a rumor. Unless you have direct confirmation and substantial evidence that such cheating has been occurring, keep it to yourself. Honest students like you do not deserve to be “ranked” lower than dishonest kids that do not study hard and work hard to earn their grades. Unfortunately, if you don’t have the evidence, not much can be done. It would be hard to try to accuse the “smartest” kids in your class of dishonesty and lying without evidence!</p>
<p>However, based on context of your post, do you believe most of the cheating is going on in the class graduating before you? If so, I don’t believe that would directly affect you.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of your responses! I’ve decided to ignore the cheating incident and instead focus on improving my own class rank while still working honestly. I hope it goes up significantly by the end of this semester! :)</p>
<p>I think this thread is pretty much over, but just a side note - I’ve never seen anyone cheat at my school (HYPSM). That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen (Harvard in particular seems to have had some cheating scandals), and I’ve heard some people talk about other students that cheated in high school, but I think in general, people don’t get very far if they cheat. And while I definitely think you should somehow report the students in your class who are cheating, they will eventually suffer - e.g. if they end up at HYPSM and can’t keep up with everyone else. </p>
<p>Anyways, to sum it up: most top students don’t cheat, and you’ll thank yourself in the long run for being honest. Good luck with junior year! :)</p>
<p>Well kids in the top of my class sometimes copy each others homework, but never do they cheat on tests or quizzes. I’m #10/480 in my class and I know all of the kids who are higher ranked than me and none of us have ever cheated on anything in our lives. At least as far as I know. However, if cheating to you is checking to see if we got the same answer on a homework assignment then I don’t know.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, kids at my school do this. In fact, there was a situation last year with a person who is tied for valedictorian. It involved this person memorizing answers to the final exam which she got ahead of time. When taken up with administration, they deemed that it wasn’t cheating and blamed the teacher. It was so horrible. I can’t stand the fact that this person is in a place to earn valedictorian, since I know I’m a much more honest person and more involved in school, but still ranked number five. The system makes me angry, and some of the people ahead of me make me angry. It’s ridiculous what people with incredible minds will do for a number/rank for grades…</p>
<p>Exactly! And ranking doesn’t determine summer jobs or how smart you are. The smartest person in the whole school could be ranked last because of interests, laziness, etc. </p>
<p>I think cheating is an inevitability with the current system of college admissions that looks like a frenzy to impress colleges rather than an attempt at genuine learning. Just remember college and school isn’t the end-all. </p>
Sometimes. I don’t think it’s very common for any single individual to cheat on many or most assignments, but I think a lot of people cheat occasionally, maybe without even realizing it. For example, collaborating on homework is usually not considered cheating (a lot of my college professors even encourage it), but there’s a fine line between working with someone and copying from them.
Just being smart isn’t the end-all-be-all of anything either. If they’re ranked last because of laziness, they’re probably not putting their intelligence to good use (though there are exceptions) and I don’t see why anyone should care how smart they are. </p>
<p>At my school, the girl who is #1 in the class cheats. We all know it. She can’t handle not being perfect and has fallen prey to the whole craze of “I need to get into the best college possible so I can brag”. Plus, these cheaters truly don’t ever succeed. They get to college, get caught, and don’t know what to do.
As for the rest of the top 10, most of them have taken advantage of the unweighted GPA system at my school. Every non-AP class is graded on a 0-100 scale, so a class like molecular biology has the same weight as crafts.
I’m 10th in my class and would be much higher if a good chunk of the kids above me didn’t take easy peasy classes like crafts, while I’ve been completing the pltw engineering courses.
Also, what I’ve learned is, colleges don’t truly care about your ranking unless they want to brag that all of their students were in the top 10% of their class or something. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, at my school the top 10%, not as a majority cheat, but a few certain students here and there. Honestly it’s such a bad habit to acquire and even harder one to break. Their so sly about it too and when they get a better grade than you, you feel like you’ve been back-stabbed or cheated yourself…
But I think that most students in the top 10% are smart enough not to cheat and copy of others.</p>