I am trying to figure out how this online test worked…Is it a quiz (short answers/multiple choice)? Do you have to type in the answers? How could she cheat? Open book would not help as it would take longer to look up stuff. Is he assuming you have the answers some how?
Their argument is BS. Hit them with facts. Speed does not indicate cheating. If you where going to “cheat” – phone a friend, look up the answer, etc. – it would actually take longer. And real cheaters never get 100% – they always throw in a wrong answer or two for deniability. What kid of professor gives an online test and thinks its legitimate anyway? Good luck.
You D should consider having the tutor come to speak about her level of preparation (or if they don’t allow outside people to speak maybe get a notarized letter of support from the tutor)
Plenty of professors give computerized assessments. Pearson MyLabs Plus is a major player in the college STEM classes. Plenty of professors use tools like Blackboard or Moodle for assessments as well. We don’t have the information needed to make judgements of the professor. For all we know, the test was taken in class under supervision. If the student in question had prior knowledge of the questions, they’d be able to answer quickly. For all we know, the assessment was intended to be open-book or open-notes, but again, needing to use outside resources takes time. Speed could be indicative of cheating if the data doesn’t support the performance. When a student who has previously used 8 minutes and gotten Cs suddenly increases both speed and accuracy, it’s a red flag. It’s not definitive evidence, but does suggest that an explanation is necessary. Even a significant increase in speed is a little suspect.
If the OP’s child is indeed innocent, an alternate explanation for her performance would go a long way to clearing her name. If for example, the professor assumes a minimum of 5 minutes because of the length of the questions and the time it would take to read them, if she’s been learning speed reading or test-taking strategies, that would be an alternate explanation.
“Real cheaters never get 100%” . . . only if they’re good at cheating. Not everyone has the guile to cheat well. Kids who aren’t accustomed to cheating but get desperate are often not good at flying under the radar. My high school class got very good at cheating, I mean formulae on gum wrappers, Morse code pencil tapping -type skill. The people who got caught were the ones who weren’t usually cheaters and were passing notes or whispering.
My daughter is appalled by the amount of cheating she sees among her classmates. 
I’ve told my own kids that one thing no one can take from you unless you give it away is your integrity!
@bopper - I am guessing that it was a multiple choice test and she is suspected of memorizing - ADCCBBABDDCC.
Yes, Tutors, Greek houses, TAs and another group that sometimes takes quizzes or tests are those students who have accommodation and test at a different earlier time than the section. And finally some profs do give the same quiz to different sections so the later sections have time to find out what is on the quiz. The OPs D may survive the hearing but agree that she really needs to be prepared to answer the question why she was able to complete it so fast and so accurately.
It’s possible the student will not be allowed to have anyone accompany her in the hearing. Please do check the school’s rules.
I don’t think it’s necessarily cheating to use old exams as study guides unless that is specifically spelled out ahead of time by the university or professor. Many if not most of my classmates used old P-chem tests as study guides and it was ok with my professor.
^In my view it isn’t cheating because these are resources and the professor knows they are available prior to the exam.
Nowadays cheating often takes the form of looking things up online even to the point of during the exam.
I have no experience with this but I too think you should go with your daughter. She should not be expected to do this by herself.
Definitely not crazy to talk to a lawyer specializing in these situations. That would be a smart move.
No, don’t go with your D. Yes she should be expected to do this herself. Depending on the school it could have negative effects. She’d need to sign a FERPA release if you get involved.
Of course that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t have counsel from you and anyone else that’s appropriate. Read the Student Handbook policies for this area and take advantage of all resources offered.
Time for a candid discussion with the student. It would be better to know the facts going into the process than have them come out later. Depending on the test length and format, it appears the student didn’t even have time to read through the questions. Is this result consistent with her other results in class, or can the tutor explain the difference?
If there’s any chance that something unethical happened, it would be far better to explain that now. I’ve served on these sorts of hearing boards and admission and self awareness can go a long way to lessen the penalty. If the student is innocent and offers a reasonable explanation, then (at least in my experience) the board is often understanding.
There are people who can do the New York Times crossword puzzle faster than I can fill it in with the answer sheet in front of me. Obviously they type faster and use the software better. I once finished a math final before the midway mark - everyone else was still working madly. I kept looking to see if I’d miss some pages or something, but no I hadn’t. So sometimes it is possible to work much faster than average. Good luck to the student - I hope they come to a good resolution.
Yes, presumably there’s a history in this class since at most schools the semester is in the last third. If she took earlier quizzes rapidly if not quite this rapidly, that bodes well combined with a tutor. She may very have known the answers cold, even if she just skimmed the questions. Hopefully she has an explanation that holds water for the adjudicators and good luck to her!
I also think talking with a lawyer is a reasonable step.
One note: even if this all gets settled and they finally believe her, it is traumatizing. My daughter wrote a fine paper on Kafka but was quiet in class. She has ADHD and took a med to write the paper. It was really quite good.
The professor accused her of plagiarism with no proof whatsoever. My daughter handled it herself and the professor withdrew that accusation.
However, my daughter never got over the feeling that this professor looked down on her and my D felt she clearly did not belong there, so she withdrew the following fall.
I would say in retrospect that that accusation altered her life path quite a bit.
So take care with this!!
Any update? Did it work out for your daughter?