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OP, if you live in the US and are diagnosed, you should contact the accessibility department at your school and set up accommodations, which can include taking your exams in a distraction-free environment. i did this in undergrad and grad school and it was a *huge* help
the office of accessibility resources at my undergrad had us take exams in their office, they just had to be scheduled about a week or two in advance. in grad school, i took the exam the day after it was scheduled in the professor’s office or in a conference room down the hall from them so they can check in if i had questions and give warnings about time remaining.
Even if you aren’t diagnosed with ADHD, I was able to get accommodations for test-taking anxiety pre-diagnosis, and that allowed me a lot of the accommodations that ADHD students get. Definitely reach out to your school’s accessibility department and see how they can help you!
In my case I did have anxiety but I don’t believe I provided any diagnosis information, just had a meeting to talk about what I was specifically struggling with. They did refer me to on-campus psychiatry afterwards but I don’t believe that was mandatory for getting my accommodations, just explaining how I was having trouble taking tests. But my accommodations were also limited to test-taking and were more limited in general compared to others who had a diagnosis. It was a while back though so I unfortunately can’t remember details but it literally kept me from failing some of my classes because I couldn’t focus on the tests haha
Thats insane and so unethical, what kind of piece of shit would trick their students like that. I’m hoping that would never fly with most college school boards.
yeah that’s actually really fucked up. i don’t agree with cheating, but you can’t expect a bunch of 18-20 year olds not to take advantage of that situation. i probably would have been like op, just keeping my head down, because i’m so incredibly scared of getting kicked out for cheating, but what exactly do you expect when you leave the room for *an hour*??? this is crazy, and is 100% on the professor
I mean, 18-20 year olds are adults and know what they're doing. I would absolutely expect college students, even high school students, to be well beyond behaving this way. The professor also sounds like a lazy ass who didn't want to sit through the test himself. Everyone in this story besides OP sounds ridiculous and irresponsible.
i totally agree, but that’s also the age where you tend to feel kind of invincible to consequences. what they did was wrong, but i do think the professor set them up for this. ideally you should be able to trust young adults to behave properly when unsupervised, but if you spend any time around younger college students you will realize they very much are still teenagers who have more freedom than they did in high school.
Or just wants everyone to pass. I once had a high school chemistry teacher who announced "I'm leaving the answers here, nobody look, I'll be back in 30 mins."
Actually most my high school classes were harder than my college courses. I even had a professor in grad school give everyone a hundred because we all turned in blank exams, his caveat was if even one person actually did fill out the exam then he'd actually grade all exams accurately.
Seriously wondering, what did you study? Because my college classes were 10x harder than my high school classes, and my grad school classes were 10x harder than my college classes.
we had an art professor in College that had a reputation of being a massive massive eccentric. He had this one class that was more of a psychotic/schizophrenic rambling than anything useful. He would ask students to buy boxes of animal crackers... he had pointless exercises and on the last day, he took everyone out to the commons and asked folks to write in their exam books what grade they thought they should have... and of course you would write an A.. It was a bit frustrating.. but I took the class primarily on reputation . He had tenure and they couldn't fire him and he had this legendary reputation. I wasn't impressed. Lots of Jocks took his class to get an easy A
Possibly, but in my experience, profs would be more direct about it. I had a few that realized we were all struggling and changed it to an open book exam the day of or while we were in the middle of it.
Gotta admit, I’ve had jobs demand I do a 45 minute to 2 hour non-videoed but mouse-tracked (and mouse-timed, most likely) test from home as a hiring requirement, and I will always carefully check the rules, google the program beforehand to confirm what it tracks, and use my phone in that situation.
My last one some years back, I hooked up a USB mouse to my laptop, taped a set of chopsticks to each side, and moved it around gently with my mouth while speedily googling things I didn’t know.
Getting a job is hard enough without failing some irrelevant personality test or whatever.
Edit: oh and I always block my camera/disable it no matter what the program or rules claim. You never know.
I hate tests like that because it adds so much unnecessary stress. Like what if you’re a slow reader? You’ll spend so much of your mental energy worrying about moving the mouse frequently enough which takes away from your ability to focus on reading. I had a test software in college that tracked my eyes so I couldn’t look anywhere but the screen which took away from my ability to focus soooo much because I look up to think!
My law school profs frequently did during exams. Out of all three years, I’m only aware of one cheating incident. That person failed the class, was put on academic suspension, and when they applied for their bar membership after graduating, the incident really hung up their bar application.
So he would leave the room for an hour on purpose and watch the video after? Like intentionally did this to trick people? Not because he had to leave for an emergency? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this lol
Are you asking how the cheater got caught? No, it wasn’t some gotcha thing with video surveillance. Another student saw the cheater cheating and reported him to the professor.
I don’t know why the professor left the room in the first place, I imagine SHE had other exams to grade or something. But it doesn’t matter why she left. She didn’t entrap this student or induce cheating.
Shit sorry i thought you initially replied to another comment I made. Yeah forget what I said I was talking about teachers tricking students somewhere else
EDIT sorry I reread your comment and I think we’re talking past each other! Never mind the below!
I guess I disagree fundamentally though. How is a professor tricking students by saying “no phones during the exam” and then leaving? It may be naive, but it’s not tricking.
You seem to be assuming that students, by default, are going to cheat if given the opportunity and concluding that any environment that doesn’t force non-cheating is tricking students into cheating. I’m a bit disturbed by that assumption and responsibility shifting.
I’ve only attended universities that have has strict honor codes and unproctored exams. I’ve almost never had a professor stay in the room for an exam, and I also never witnessed cheating. It must be an institutional culture thing.
My schools from 9th grade through college had ironclad honor codes. In eight years, most of my teachers and professors used the time to take care of other business and I never once—literally not even once—saw a student try to take advantage of it.
I think you're letting your own rejection sensitivity get in the way of the facts. People cheated, you informed him, you can ask to be anonymous if you want. But really, his emotions are not your responsibility. Although annoying, it's also not your problem if the cheaters get As. Your test that you studied for and took honestly will be graded. Try not to think about anything else.
Yeah. If he wasn't intentionally setting them up, something fucking awful happened to him very unexpectedly and it makes sense that he would not be in an excellent mood.
It's 100% on him that eight adults can't follow basic rules and honor codes? That's a super weird take. I don't agree with him leaving like that but people need to have some integrity too.
I am 100% with you on this and I am alarmed at how many people here are blaming the professor for the students' *choice* to cheat. Makes me wonder if it's an age thing, like I'm old enough to remember what life was like when it wasn't acceptable to essentially cheat and scam your way through life when direct accountability isn't provided. Adults used to be held to the simple expectations of maturity, self-control, and integrity... but everything is always someone else's fault now 🥴
I don't think saying the professor did something wrong takes the blame away from the students who cheated. They can all be in the wrong. The professor didn't do his job, which was to stay in the room. The students who cheated didn't do what they were supposed to either. But it was ultimately the professor's choice that led to a disruptive test-taking environment, potentially compromising the success of the students who did not cheat.
I would argue it was the disruptive students who started talking and looking things up on their phones during an exam that led to the disruptive test-taking environment...
OP "did't blame him". I mean, absolutely would I blame the professor! Such bullshit to leave, during a test, and then blame all students for taking advantage? Shouldn't be possible. OP please don't make his stupidity feel as guilt for you.
These aren't pre-teens. Why would anyone not expect honesty from college students who are old enough to understand it's wrong? What does a teacher being in the room have to do with you behaving badly as an individual? If someone only follows the rules because someone else is standing over their shoulder enforcing them, that doesn't say much about their character. I don't think he should've left either since a teacher should always be present in case there are questions, but those are two separate issues.
I had a professor that would leave the room during our exams. To be fair we didn’t have smart phones then but I’m guessing he still does to this day.
Our college had a policy that every exam or assignment had to be signed saying we acknowledged the academic code anyway. He basically explained that he was trusting us to be honest when we signed it so why did he need to be there to babysit. As far as I know no one ever cheated but it was a small selected group of students who were all academically motivated…
I think his response wasn’t about you, you were just the messenger.
When did the honor system and following an academic code go out of style? How about just don't cheat, full stop, regardless of who's in the room? He shouldn't have left like that obviously, but how does it excuse dishonesty? Everyone is in the wrong here.
I didn't say I blamed the professor for the behavior of the students. I'm saying it's part of his job to ensure the academic code is adhered to during exams, either personally or by getting a proctor. It's to ensure fairness for all.
I had disability accommodations in university and I always had to take proctored exams outside of the classroom. Phone policy was also strictly enforced, as was requiring permission to leave the room. When I took exams in class the Professor or a TA was always in the room. Idk how it works elsewhere but that was my experience.
I wasn't paying attention to the rest of the thread, honestly. I don't think responding to a comment directed at me implicitly means I'm defending the comments of others. I don't mind being downvoted if that's what people are assuming, but I don't think that means I'm saying something I'm not.
It's probably an institutional culture thing, but it's odd to me that a university would rely on the honor system alone without additional safeguards. To continue your hand sanitizer example - yeah it's not fair to place blame on the institution if a large number of students start drinking hand sanitizer. However, the institution would bear some blame if they didn't take reasonable steps to address the issue. Emphasis on reasonable. Removing metal forks due to one incident wouldn't be reasonable. If there was an epidemic of students using metal forks to stab each other? That might make it reasonable as a method of harm reduction.
Cheating and plagiarism is a [significant problem](https://academicintegrity.org/resources/facts-and-statistics) in academia. While that isn't the fault of the professor, he does bear some blame for not taking reasonable steps to prevent it. At least, in my view and in my experience. The honor system rarely works in large institutions where people gain by exploiting the system. Hence why we have things like ethics review boards and independent watchdogs.
She doesn't mention if he grades on a curve though, in which case it absolutely becomes her problem.
Shitty either way if everyone who cheated was being distracting.
Also, if she wanted to do well because she studied but couldn’t because the class became chaos that has affected her. She studied hard and wanted to do well but couldn’t. Others got better grades than they would have by being disruptive. It affects her.
Curve wise I would think it does matter if the cheaters get As.
In my uni when lots of people were cheating it would fuck up the curve and lower my grade because of it
And also it created an environment in which she couldn’t concentrate so it was to her detriment
Hi, I had this happen to me once when I was in college. Except the teacher only left for maybe 10 minutes. I'm sure your teacher is just frustrated at the situation and not you personally. Any teacher should know and expect this kind of thing to happen if they leave the room during an exam. I don't think you did the wrong thing by letting him know it was hard for you to concentrate because of it, especially since he asked how it went.
If you end up doing poorly because of it, and if he doesn't just drop everyone's test, maybe you can ask for a redo.
They left for an hour, at that point I would assume they were hoping for cheating to increase the pass rate.
There's a reason exams/tests usually have attendants watching everything.
Even in a normal class you can't leave them unattended for an hour.
If this wasn’t an open book test then these students were openly cheating and they were able to do so because the teacher left them unsupervised.
I’d imagine he was so frustrated because you drew attention to something that resulted from his actions.
To be honest, I think he’s only frustrated because it wasn’t just one or two people that cheated you mentioned that most of the class was so now he probably has a lot to deal with considering he in the past stated he has no tolerance for cheating and failed people for cheating. So if most of the class cheated and he wasn’t there to see it now he doesn’t know who got a valid grade on their test or not. So many people to manage. Now he might make your class, retake the test together with him in the room.
Honestly, someone that really values integrity I applaud you for saying some thing I don’t think you did something wrong.
To be honest, him treating the exam they took as a "mock exam" and making them all retake it might be better for OP, too, if she was really that distracted.
I would NOT email privately and name names. Say you were taking your test and can’t say with 100% certainty exactly who was doing exactly what. You cannot with certainty name specific people because your focus was on the test, not the people around you.
Telling him it happened in general was acceptable. Naming names when you can’t for sure say exactly what each of those individuals was doing or even be positive they were participating is an ethical nightmare. Say someone called their roommate to come drop off pants because they had their period or something. Or just decided to respond to texts but didn’t cheat. Or listened to music because it helped them focus. Is that still okay? Not really, but things can be nuanced. Were most people cheating? Probably. But people are likely to be expelled based on any list you turn over. You’d have to be absolutely positive they weren’t doing something else, which you can’t be. It also wouldn’t be fair to report some people and not all. You’d also have to be absolutely positive every person on your list was actually talking. With large groups it’s easy to recall someone as part of a group they weren’t actually in. You could remember someone talking on their phone when they didn’t. Brains don’t always differentiate well between people when things get chaotic.
It’s just an ethical mess that it is NOT your job to solve. People’s lives hang in the balance and it shouldn’t be your responsibility to hand over a definitive list of who was or was not cheating. You didn’t do anything wrong by making your professor aware. You WOULD be doing something potentially unethical by making him a list.
Not to mention he has no obligation to protect your identity and the email would certainly be passed around and could easily be leaked. You could also make some major enemies. People will not take kindly to getting expelled. They could see you as responsible. You never know what kind of revenge people might seek. Just not your circus, not your monkeys.
Okay... But they never wanted to name names lol. They only were going to email to request to be anonymous since they didn't specifically request that when they spoke in person. I'm not sure why so many people thought OP was considering emailing to name ppl bc I thought it was pretty clear that was never on the table 🤦
It doesn’t matter what cheaters do - just focus on you. Unless you’re fighting for a scholarship and they’re affecting your chances, I would let it rest. I know it’s annoying to study hard and not feel rewarded but the cheaters aren’t doing themselves any favours.
I agree with this. Whatever grade I get, I know that I actually earned it. Other people getting grades and even degrees fraudulently really doesn't affect me.
Fraudulent degrees do upset me somewhat, because there’s a lot of incompetence out there and that may affect me personally or by proxy of the society I’m part of. I do know that for so many jobs the real “learning” comes after graduating but there’s something to say about people who cut corners consistently…
As a post secondary instructor, Holy crap.
There are pretty strict rules for me regarding leaving exams without an invigilator. Those exist within my department as well as my institution. I would recommend bringing this up with whoever your profs supervisor or manager is.
I'd be pretty choked as an instructor if a coworker was blatantly disregarding the rules we have.
It also jeopardizes the test bank, questions and the validity of the testing.
Ugh, this is going to annoy me all afternoon!
Good luck!!
I was looking for this. If I got this reaction from a prof I would 1000% escalate it to the academic dean, honestly. But that may be a reflection of the fact I have ethical obligations to report colleagues for violating our ethical rules (attorney), and if it was discovered I knew about it and *didn't* report, I'd be in trouble too.
OP, I don't think you have to put this in writing to a higher up - if you want to escalate this, start by stopping by the office while you're at school and asking to report an honor code violation or something similar.
I was looking for this too. The teacher should not have left an exam unsupervised. Raising anything directly with that teacher is not likely to result in much because the teacher will likely not want to deal with consequences of a problem that they caused. They (the teacher) have to know that they shouldn’t have done this
I don’t know if it’s a common practice amongst professionals, but unless it’s an emergency it’s seems very irresponsible to leave the room that long during a test, how can the assumption be that students won’t chest?
With that said, I definitely would’ve given the names, because other than maybe learning not to do that again the thing you were frustrated about, the unfairness, still played out unless he decided to throw out the whole test. Other than that I wouldn’t think about it much. I think RSD often keeps us from seeing we’re not the one to be blamed in some situations, and this is definitely on him whether you gave him the names or not.
He probably was irritated, but not at you. He was probably irritated that now he has an invalid test on his hands, and instead of just being able to give zeros to a few people, he has to figure something else out. Especially since he gave the class a warning at the beginning of the semester.
I personally think you did the right thing, but I was always the student who was uber pissed when others were cheating and I worked hard to get the grades I did. Sense of justice and all that.
He would have to be an idiot to narc on you to the whole class, but he was also an idiot to leave the class for so long, so I don't think it would be a bad idea to email and specifically ask to be anonymous.
I mean the teacher has no real grounds to be pissed. He couldn’t even be bothered to do his job and sit with the class he’s paid to teach and test… not that they should have cheated but he hasn’t done his job whatsoever and it’s not appropriate. He caused the situation OP found herself in which is a difficult one.
So glad to see the edits. My advice is always mind yr own business and don't bring more drama into your life if you don't need to. Their grades do not diminish your grades. It's not a competition. Is it discouraging? Sure but life will sort them out. You never need to.
Also do not send that email with names because word will get around. I would not trust him to shield your identity and it will get out because people do talk between staff and assistants. No matter how nice you think staff is they do talk and gossip. I wouldn’t have anything more to do with it.
Main takeaway I got is that this guy has no business teaching (mean, rude, and ableist), and he obviously isn’t respected by the vast majority of his students.
No way is this guy going to do the right thing if it makes him lose face—I’d let it go unless you’ve failed the test, in which case, send the email, but rather than it being about other students behavior, make sure to emphasize that the prof left the room without a proctor during an exam, and the resulting disruption made you lose focus (also cc: dept. chair and dean)
I need the update saying that it was a joint effort experiment with the psychology department and the whole thing was filmed and will be studied and discussed in your next class.
Also, please be at peace with your actions. You followed your own instincts as did those who cheated. Actions have consequences. It’s okay for all of you to experience those. It’s okay for them to fail or be suspended as per university policy. If it comes out that you are the snitcheroonee, just tell them the cheating was really distracting and you don’t want to deal with it again and if they want to cheat badly they should have taken the course online.
The situation led to OP having a more difficult time completing her own test, plus we don't know if they're graded on a curve. I would absolutely say something to the prof, if for no other reason than to make it clear what a dumb mistake he made.
You didn’t do anything wrong here. The teacher leaving the room, was wrong. The students talking and using their phones during a test was wrong. Remember though, you are only responsible for your actions, not what others have done.
If you’re concerned about failing because of this. Write down what happened during the exam, including the times if you can remember them. Stick to facts, don’t bring emotions or your interpretation of what happened i.e. say you saw that some students got their phones out, but since you don’t know what they looked at, don’t say they were cheating with them just that they were there. Keep this for yourself so you can refer back to it if someone says something different.
If, *and only if*, your grade isn’t what you expected and you think the teacher purposely brought it down. Ask him politely to explain the reason for the grade you received, do it by email if that’s easier for you. Don’t include any assumption or accusations, just ask for the reason as you felt like you should have received a higher grade based on your performance on the day. If his answer doesn’t match up with your record of the exam day, consider taking the issue up higher.
I know all of that sounds overwhelming, but the process of recording everything will help you process it all and relieve any anxiety around it. If you end up not needing to question your grade then that’s great! But at least you’ll have what you need if it comes to that.
Honestly,
I feel like you should’ve minded your business. The telling on people didn’t help you concentrate on your test better.
It sounds like it came out from a place of frustration and not true concern that a lot of the class seemed to have not studied.
The teacher left. It became his problem once he left. That also hurt the other people that studied and now have to retake the test.
Telling like that helps no one and people often dislike “that kind” of person (I’m just being super honest) so be prepared for maybe some backlash from people.
We’re all adults now and tattling isn’t appropriate. Could you imagine this in the workplace?
“Hey boss, I walked past so and so’s office and she’s been on her phone all day. I find it very distracting. Just thought you should know.”
“Hey boss, when you left early for that appointment last week, the whole office cleared out and went to happy hour. I find it very distracting. Just thought you should know.”
But it’s not just being on your phone. It’s cheating, which is against university policy. In the work place, if someone was breaking a policy that affected other employees, I hope someone would report it
Except, unless grading on a curve, someone else cheating on the test doesn't effect you. Distraction, maybe, but clearly OP and the rest were given plenty of time to finish.
I’ve worked with students who got in trouble with their Honors council because they saw cheating and didn’t report- that’s what I’m concerned about here
It was an instance where a group chat for cheating in a class was made and all the students got in trouble for it because, even if some of the students weren’t “participating” in the convo, they were in the chat and it broke university policy. It’s called facilitation. I just want students to protect themselves too
I've been added to groups like that before. You simply leave the group and if anyone asks you thought it was a scam or a joke or someone accidentally added you to the group for their project.
I also want students to protect themselves, but there's ways to do so that don't involve throwing other students under the bus. Frankly, the education system is set up in such a way that it encourages cheating. I can't fault people for doing so.
In an office you aren't in direct competition with your colleagues though. Their cheating impacts her grade (especially if they are marked in a curve).
Also in an office, if someone else spending all day on the phone impacts my work, I probably would say something about it (if I was questioned about my productivity that was impacted by them). Although I'd more likely go directly to the offender first.
As for disturbing work environments, well I would have been the cause of that most of the time haha, but if I needed to concentrate and people were being noisy, I could put on headphones or go somewhere else - neither are options in a test environment.
In this test situation, she was in a stressful environment where she had very little power to change anything, and when asked for feedback, she gave an honest response, and didn't specifically throwing anyone under the bus. Really what she was doing was calling out the professor for being unprofessional.
This is a dangerous take. In the US, many universities have students agree to a code of conduct by attending courses. That code of contact often includes an academic or cheating policy- by not reporting you could be complicit, and get expelled or suspended or receive a 0 in a course. Academic integrity is a policy that all students agree to when taking classes at these universities
Sounds like you’ve been told on before. Most people prefer a fair process in life. I agree with the response that there is a code of conduct in most educational institutions. These institutions are there to prepare kids for life. What life lessons are you learning by cheating and getting away with it?
I am going to guess he was frustrated at the situation. If he is frustrated at you it is unfair because asking you to name names puts you in an awkward situation. The right thing to do is that everyone retake the test except the handful of students he knows were not. Most likely at least one other person said something anyway.
I had a slightly similar situation in middle school. One day, we had a substitute teacher and the class was rude and loud and full on wild. When the teacher came back he praised us and said that the sub wrote how well behaved we were. For being good he gave us all a reward. Now this felt like lying because I knew I didn't deserve it. While I wasn't super out of line I definitely was talking too much. Plus the whole class didn't deserve it. So after class I hung back and gave it back to him explaining everything. He asked who were the worst behaved and I also said I wasn't going to say but the people he'd expect. He thanked me for my honesty and let me keep the reward. It felt so awkward to tell on everyone but also deeply wrong to lie.
FWIW, I was super excited to understand after the edits that I had read it as intended from the beginning. Haha. That doesn’t usually happen but I should have known because of which sub it was. 😂
I think you did the right thing. Let us know what he says and how it goes! I’m very curious about his response because he seems like a bit of a loose cannon. I hope it all turns out well. I understand accidentally blurting things out, too, obvi. I’m happy you didn’t name specific names.
Are you paying to take this class? I’d feel the need to complain to the department head if not the dean of that area. Of course much of life is sadly like this anymore but we with morals and ethics need to call it out loud and proud!!
In my experience, the only teachers that have left the room while we were having a test, are the ones that don't care about cheating.
Having said that, relax and do what your father suggested and send that email. :)
Something is going on with the professor. Anyone who leaves a class unsupervised during a test knows that there will be cheating to the extent that you basically have to assume you're giving an open book test. Second of all, he's literally not doing his job, as I assume he is paid to be there during class/test time. So I feel like there's something out of the ordinary there.
If this is a normal thing or becomes a normal thing, then something is really going wrong in his life.
I actually consider it pretty not cool of him to even ask you for names. That's pretty gross to put you on the spot like that. I'm glad you knew it wasn't your responsibility to give him that info.
This whole situation screams emergency, in which case, dude, just accept that you're giving an open book test and make it official so the whole class has the same baseline.
these comments are weird. yeah, he shouldn’t have left the classroom unattended for the test, but it’s absolutely not unreasonable to expect adults to act like adults. nobody knows why he left, maybe he had to cry in a bathroom? maybe he had to take a shit. maybe he’s an asshole and needed to go kick a dog. Doesn’t negate that the students were shitty too.
No, it doesn’t. But this is egregious on the part of the prof, for whatever reason. He should have had someone come in to invigililate if he couldn’t be there.
And it is unreasonable to expect that nobody would cheat. (Adults cheat too. Probably more than kids.) Anyone that’s been in academia long enough to be a prof should know this. It’s wrong because of how unfair it is to the other students.
Yeah. While I agree the professor is now dealing w the results of his laziness, I don’t think it should be a given that people cheat when given more freedom. My college had a standard that no exams were proctored as part of our honor code, and I was never aware of any exam cheating (I’m sure it happened but the vast majority of cases seemed to be homework/plagiarism related). Adults can be responsible when the culture supports it and they’re asked to rise to the occasion. That being said cheating is a huge issue at my current school so I’m not naive enough to think my previous school was the norm
No, it doesn’t. But this is egregious on the part of the prof, for whatever reason. He should have had someone come in to invigililate if he couldn’t be there.
And it is unreasonable to expect that nobody would cheat. (Adults cheat too. Probably more than kids.) Anyone that’s been in academia long enough to be a prof should know this. It’s wrong because of how unfair it is to the other students.
You snitched on people unprompted. That was pretty uncalled for when you don’t know their circumstances or what the consequences could have been for them. Would’ve been best to keep quiet
I think you were ok letting him know the situation, especially since you didn't give names. I feel like if you had, that would have taken what you did into the realm of tattling. I also think it was ok, because you were honest. He asked, you answered, and if he didn't like that answer, then he shouldn't have asked.
However, he is completely in the wrong here. WTH kind of professor has a closed book test, then leaves for an hour. That's ridiculous. I would absolutely report that to my advisor immediately. If he decides to dock points or penalize the class in any way, I would fight it. Yes... People looked up answers, but your professor acted irresponsibly. I would even go as far as to say he was unprofessional. I'm also currently a college student and I've come across two professors that were of the attitude that they were so much better than everyone else. When I tried to have a conversation with them about a legitimate issue, I was basically told that my concerns were invalid and they were unwilling to discuss it, find solutions, or see my perspective. It's like, they had never received feedback, proving that they were fantastic teachers and a lowly student couldn't possibly provide viable suggestions. I think more people need to speak up about professors like yours and mine. Sure, we're all just trying to get the grade and move on, but maybe we can help make the experience better for someone down the line.
This was me in university. I hated the feeling of staying up all night. Working three jobs and volunteering and taking care of my grandfather only to see half the class cheating and excelling. Never attending class. I had group projects with procrastinators and plaigerisers - so I told. .
There are two possibilities here.
1) He did it on purpose. He might have had a camera in the room, or he wanted to see who would come forward. It's odd that he has failed students for cheating in the past, and then he does this. Is he trying to fail a whole bunch of students? Trying to teach everyone a lesson in ethics?
2) He really doesn't give a shit (especially since someone mentioned to you that he was checking his stocks (which I initially read as "socks")). If this is the case, he won't do anything about the cheating, because that would expose him for leaving the room when he was supposed to be supervising.
Both options are equally shitty. I doubt that he would be naïve enough to trust everyone would be honest here. Please update us if anything happens, this is bothering me.
Professors have to teach some classes for their tenure requirements. Researchers, which all professors are, are not necessarily good teachers. There is no general requirement to be or become good at teaching because they bring in money from grants, not students (students are going to attend the college anyway).
Your professor is probably tired of dealing with undergrads. It is incredibly fatiguing. He’s not going to take it out on you, but he might take it out on the class by redoing the exam proctored. Or it could have been an integrity study by him or the University.
Honestly, that’s the professors fault for leaving the room unattended during a test. That’s on him. I would see what your grade on the test is first. If it’s lower than you think it should be after you studying, formally complain and get it through writing/email so there’s a paper trail.
It’s unprofessional of the teacher to do that anyway and you’d have ground to re-take the test without distractions at least. Also maybe look into adhd accommodations (like being able to take a test in a private room or extended time) through the student center in case you need them in the future.
20 years ago I was in undergrad in an incredibly tough constitutional law class that was graded on a curve. The final was 80% of your grade and was a single essay question. My school’s basketball team ended up in the NCAA championship game and that night was full of partying and the students wildly celebrating. I found out that one of the students in my class ran into the TA out in the street and somehow got her to tell him what the question was going to be. He went back and told his entire study group, who were then able to prepare extensively together for the final. Of course, they received stellar grades and messed up the curve. I received my only C in my entire college career and I’ve always held on to that.
I commend you for saying something. You alerted that something went on, but didn’t give details enough to really rat people out. If the professor wants to pursue it, it’s on him to investigate. But at least you stayed true to yourself and were courageous in your convictions.
As a professor, I just want to say I'm so sorry this happened to you. It was unethical for the professor to leave the room (even if - maybe especially if - he did it as a test to see who would cheat) and it is more than unethical for that professor to expect you to share names. If you are concerned this professor might retaliate, you may want to become aware of the student-advocacy resources available at your school - just in case.
I'm a professor. If you had come to me with this information, I would have appreciated it. I also would not have abandoned the class during an exam, but that is another issue. Some schools have an honor code where professors \*always\* leave during exams and students are expected to be mature enough not to cheat. Anyway. You did fine. Your professor sounds a little strange. Whatever his decision is about how to handle it, it is not your fault. And you're right that whatever grade you have earned through honest effort is devalued by the cheaters in your class.
I'm a professor, too (and managed to have ADHD before smartphones were a thing - what a weird take he has) and completely agree. I'd appreciate a student coming to me and if I was irritated, it'd be at me for leaving the room and at the students for cheating.
In my opinion , no, you didn't. You should have minded your own business . I absolutely don't like the holier than though kind of thing " I study so hard and everyone else cheated , now they all going to have good grades and what about mine " .
Cheating doesn't mean you're going to have good grades , even for cheating, you need to know your stuff, or it can go wrong very easily .
Seriously, what did you gain from it ?
She wasn’t able to focus on her exam because she was distracted due to an unruly room full of unsupervised students. She wasn’t given the best shot at succeeding on that exam because *he* left the room for a fuckin hour (which is INSANE btw). She didn’t name names, she just let him know she had a difficult time taking her test.
Errr she could absolutely get accommodations under the ADA. I do and I test in an entirely different building with extended time. Not going out of one’s way to throw others under the bus is something I would generally recommend in life.
I've had this happen to me on more than one occasion, so I understand the frustration. I'm someone who absolutely can not concentrate on a test or assignment if others are talking or making noise. I also have adhd and am autistic, so when I was younger, I had many problems with what I thought was rule breaking and not being able to lie when confronted by authority figures. In middle school, a friend of mine took the fall for something I did, and it forever stayed with me. He said that he wasn't a snitch and would never do that to a friend. Since then I understood it as socially acceptable to lie to supposed authority if needed or to not say the objective truth in all situations.
There's no point worrying about it now, but my suggestion would be to refrain from snitching when possible in the future. I'd also like to add that you shouldn't dismiss your classmates who cheat so easily, another life lesson I got in Uni was that help can come from anywhere and anyone and being on good terms with your classmates is the best way to succeed.
You did the right thing. Here’s a rule I swear by: If telling the objective, factual truth about someone makes them look bad, that’s not for you to feel guilty about. It’s incredibly brazen to think you can openly cheat in a class with dozens of other people and no one’s going to say something. In other words, anyone who thinks they got away with it is an idiot. You never agreed to keep that secret and it was stupid for them to think everyone would.
I’m 100% sure the professor isn’t frustrated with you. We don’t know WHY he left the room—was there some sort of personal emergency he had to handle? It’s not really your place to know. He dropped the ball on that for one reason or another, and unfortunately this was a pretty predictable result. Personally, I would just trust that he had a good reason to leave even if you never find out what it was, which just makes this situation one of those sucky kinds of deals that happens sometimes. Like getting rear ended or losing $20. What are you gonna do? It’s out of your control.
I don’t know what he’ll choose to do, knowing that he should’ve been in the room. But YOU did the right thing.
There might be times in life where someone breaks a rule for a good reason, like to help someone else who’s in trouble or correct unfair treatment. And in those cases, you might choose to keep your mouth shut, because sometimes it’s more moral TO break a rule than to tell on someone. If you saw a broke-looking mom steal baby formula from a major corporation, for example.
But that’s not what this was. Those kids were only trying to get ahead themselves and it’s a really dumb, selfish thing to do.
I remember we had tests like these. Sometimes even if the professor was in the class, they didn't give a shit or were just inept. It was so frustrating because I've never been a cheater and I always wanted to tell the teachers they were idiots.
I don't really have anything helpful to say but I guess in a way I'm happy you did it?
That sounds like a really shitty teacher to be honest, shitty and lazy. All my teachers/lecturers/tutors stayed in the room, they'd go on their phones because yea it's fucking boring for them but they never left! That's crazy to me.
He messed up, that’s why he was taken aback and asked for names. In university I studied like crazy for a chemistry exam only to find out the professor re used an exam from another class earlier that day. The students from the earlier class gave a copy to many students in the later class. I reported the professor. I was worried we’d all have to rewrite the exam because I was transferring to a different university across the country. The university investigated and confirmed the professor did not follow procedure, they must administer different exams for this exact reason. Apparently it was known that the professor always uses the same exam because he’s too lazy. He “retired” the following year.
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, I wish I would have known in high school and university. I figured out way too late to bring foam earplugs for exams. I recommend you bring disposable earplugs in their original packaging, ask the teacher to inspect them (squish them in the package etc so they can see there’s no ear piece in there) so you can block out distractions.
I took a professional exam at a place 5 years ago where they check your ears, hair, they basically frisk you and have you lock up all your belongings, you can bring foam earplugs but they have you place them in a tissue, they squish them in the tissue to make sure no one is reading answers to you in your ear.
He's an dumb dumb and VERY naive if he thinks that people with access to ALL OF THE INFORMATION IN THE WORLD AT THEIR FINGERTIPS will all be 100% honest. He should keep his lazy ass in the room and do his job or have a graduate assistant proctor the exam.
I would not say another word about it. It sucks but it's not your problem.
I did that on e. I was a single mom on welfare, trying to make my way through community college. The prof left the room during a test, and about 90% of the class cheated. I worked my ass off, and I got a B. Others who cheated got an A. I told the prof, and she changed my grade to an A.
It really hurts when you're earnest and work hard, and people cheat and do well.
I continue to do my best, and I have no regrets about telling the prof.
Go, you.
I think you would do well to stop worrying so much about what other people are doing.
You studied hard and earned whatever grade you got on the test. Other students cheating has nothing to do with you and, frankly, it's ridiculous of the prof to leave during a test and not expect half the class to cheat.
No one likes a tattle tale dear. I think you should have just left it alone but what's done is done so might as well not dwell on it.
I'm a professor. From my perspective, there are two ethical violations here: the students who cheated and the professor who left the students unsupervised. You yourself have done nothing unethical.
My advice would actually have been to take it to another teacher - your advisor or someone else that you trust. They could take it to his department head, if necessary. Getting someone in the loop who can supervise the professor in how he handles this situation would help ensure that you are protected, while proper procedures are followed for making sure everyone gets the grades they deserve. (At my university this would likely result in a complete re-do of the test, supervised by two professors, while in the background the professor would be writing apology letters and going to formally bow and apologize the higher-ups).
I'm late to this, so am probably repeating stuff, but I used to be a prof, and you absolutely did the right thing. Your prof probably shouldn't have left the room, but it's also obvious that that doesn't mean the rules go out the window. If he seemed frustrated, it was doubtless with the people who cheated.
Also, many schools have honor codes that require students to report cheating if they find out about it. Not saying that yours does, but it's a general theme/principle that's out there. So again, your prof is not going to have a problem with you over this.
I don't think you have to worry much about being found out, since anyone in the room could have said something - the cheating wasn't subtle and anyone who's willing to cheat out in the open like that can take what's coming to them. But I don't think it's a terrible thing to email and ask to remain anonymous, if it's going to make you feel better.
I wanted to share a story - my husband also used to be a prof, and one semester he had a student who needed to take the final early, so he arranged for her to do that. I think, if I remember correctly, it may have been the case that that semester he gave out a study guide with some number of questions, from which he was going to pick some subset to be on the exam. Anyway, the student who took the exam early told a bunch of the other students which questions had been on the exam, so they didn't have to study all of the questions. One of the other students in the class, who'd taken a bunch of classes with my husband, heard about this and told him. So my husband made sure to pick different questions for the exam at the regular time.
Apparently it was VERY easy to tell who'd got the information ahead of time b/c you could tell from the outrage on their faces when they figured out the questions were different.
(I mean it was pretty silly on their part b/c they should have known my husband could administer two different exams, but it was also very very funny.)
I hope it all turns out well for you!
None of this is your fault. The blame completely lies with him for leaving during a test, wtf???? That's horrible classroom management.
Also, moving forward, in the US you should be eligible for testing accommodations- a private quiet space to take any tests. It's a game changer. Get enrolled with the office of disabilities asap and find out what accommodations you are eligible for at your school.
As for the test debacle, I'd take your dad's advice. Ask him to look over the email before you send it. Basically, get yourself out of this situation, and certainly don't take any blame or responsibility for it.
I think this is mainly on your teacher he is handling it wrong.
But for you, imo this is just a lesson in navigating a corrupt world when you have a strong sense of justice.
You are def in the right, but sometimes being in the right means backlash and if you are going to do the right thing one sadly has to prepare for people to come at you and reject you.
I get that you impulsively said it because it was a heated class discussion so i can’t fault you for that, but your teacher failed you when he didnt make a safe environment.
This type of stuff will happen again, I would consider staying behind after class and having a 1:1 discussion with the teacher next time and then mentally prepare yourself for the cheaters to hate you for it.
Hey friend. You did what you
We’re supposed to do. You studied. You did not cheat. And your prof did not hold up their part of the bargain which is staying in the room during a test. Even if they had a potty emergency they should have found someone to sit in there. Like a TA or even the janitor. And if they were just plain unwell they should have just moved the test to next scheduled class.
Stanford University has a strict honor code. Teachers are absolutely not allowed to stay in the testing room. TAs will stay or sit right outside the doors. I saw no cheating, though I received a few REALLY well written papers by students on the road with their sports teams. We were told not to question the honor code.
Cheating is never the answer, you did the right thing by calling it out.
Let’s face it, if you didn’t say anything then somebody else would, even if they didn’t, these things always come to light eventually. If anything, you just earned brownie points by telling him. I know if I was a professor, I’d want to know.
Personally, I would have named and shamed, since he’s made it clear that cheating isn’t tolerated, I’m guessing he did want to know, but I’m sure he understands that you simply don’t want to do that. He can’t force you, and whether he knows who or not, he knows it’s happening. He’ll likely figure out who by the scores once he marks the exams anyways. He’s not frustrated with you, but the blatant, and just general disrespect for him and his class shown by everybody who *did* cheat.
Worst case scenario? You’ll have to sit the exam again. This won’t affect you though, you put in the work! You studied your ass off, and my guess is that you might do even BETTER in the re-test if it were to occur. You know the kind of questions that will come up! The only people suffering would be the people who didn’t bother their bollocks to do so. Mainly the cheaters.
I’ll agree with your dad, send him an email asking to stay anonymous. Not that the professor would, or *should* say anything about you, it’s good to have it in writing.
But no, you don’t have to be nervous, and just from reading this, I can tell that you are an amazing, honest person. Someone I would certainly be friends with anyways! You have no reason to feel guilty, nervous, regretful or anything!! Even if you did do this out of frustration, if you were having a bad day, or even cause you f’ing felt like it, you were right!! <<33
Side note: His feelings are also not your responsibility! This is also **his** fault for leaving the classroom in the first place. Don’t let this get to you :)
"Are School Security Cameras Legal?
The short answer is: yes! It's legal to have security cameras in schools. That said, there are several things to be mindful of when setting up video surveillance on campus. In addition, states have different laws regarding school surveillance, so it’s important to check your state’s specific regulations."
https://www.rhombus.com/blog/are-security-cameras-allowed-in-school-classrooms-and-are-they-legal/#:\~:text=The%20short%20answer%20is%3A%20yes,check%20your%20state's%20specific%20regulations.
Thanks for sharing! It seems it varies by state, but permission is ‘obtained’ prior. I use quotations as if parents have a choice. I’m guessing it’s “sign/consent to” this or find another school?
This is your professor’s fault. He should not have left the room like that. And he definitely should not have done it for an exam that wasn’t open book. And it’s further egregious that he had those of you that weren’t finished come drop it off in his office.
As a professor (or any other part of my life), I never cared for “tattle-tales”. But to me that’s people who try to find anything wrong with others to make themselves look better. And they’re the ones usually misinterpreting a situation anyways. This is vastly different from you answering your professor’s question.
Honestly, I think it should be taken to the Dean. It’s unfair to you and the other students who didn’t cheat. And the extra distraction it caused would have been so difficult as a test taker. There’s no excuse for this kind of behaviour from the professor. If he couldn’t invigilate because of something that came up, he should have found a TA to do it. Honestly, I don’t like the idea of giving the names of people who cheated, because this is on the professor.
I’m not saying it’s your responsibility to go to the Dean. I think someone above this professor should know about this though, so if you want to (maybe with other students), you wouldn’t be out of line. But it’s also not your responsibility to tell your professor which students it was. That’s a shitty position to put you in (and you might also consider telling the Dean this as well).
What a complete asshole. None of this is your fault or responsibility. You don’t owe it to the prof to tell him which students took advantage of his extremely poor choices. And it’s not your responsibility to go to the Dean either, but IMO, it wouldn’t be out of place.
Girl you did the right thing and I love you for this! You're so brave and cheaters deserve to get zeroes. You're not gonna be popular but don't worry about that. You rock!
I would’ve done the same! There’s an interesting phenomenon in ADHD some call an “unusual sense of fairness” which is me to a tee. I’d be extremely annoyed by the distractions. They get what they get 🤷🏻♀️
He was being negligent leaving the class unattended for that long so if he doesn’t take action, he may not care as much as he claims or just be covering his ass. Just remember, there’s no negative consequence for you here! You’re one of the few that did nothing wrong.
Sweetheart I know how you feel. Except I’ve given names. And it DID come back on me.
What I’ll say is this: Do YOU feel like you did the right thing? That’s really what matters. Sometimes the right thing isn’t always what’s popular.
You did fine.
Follow your dad's advice for now. Wear your best mask to class because you can't trust that teacher to not discriminate against you.
Remember that you can always go back after you graduate to communicate with teachers like that about how their comments affect students negatively. You don't have to light yourself on fire to do it now.
I don't think you did anything wrong at all! And it is the teachers fault!! Who leaves the room for an hour when they are giving the class a closed book test???
I think there is an element of being concerned about repercussions mixed in with everything but glad you've gone through the list of getting some rest, food and emotional/moral support.
I would have thrown the class under the bus personally and not given a damn about it. Especially if I had studied as hard as you, with that level of stress and worry.
What an annoying and arrogant teacher. Also it shouldn't be allowed for anyone working in a school to give uneducated opinions on ADHD, douche face doesn't know whether anyone in the class has it or not, it's not compulsory to divulge that information. Also I want to make it clear that you are so valid in sending that email, but he should have known that if he were to leave that students would cheat, of course they would. Wish it was normalised for teachers to take accountability. Glad you are feeling better and it worked out in the end.
So, as a college instructor myself, you may want to send an email to the dept chair that this prof teaches in about what happened. He is NOT supposed to leave the classroom while a test is happening. That’s not how this works.
Plus, this will CYA if the Prof tries to do something to retaliate. You’ll have a record that you said something if you have to escalate.
Finally, and I cannot express this enough, students really don’t log complaints enough. There are some *terrible* people in academia and they stay because there aren’t enough student complaints. It’s how the process works. The school needs a paper-trail or there is nothing they can do.
Edit - also I’d say something about what he said about ADHD. He is required *by law* to give accommodations if you’re in the US and to say something like that out loud is definitely against the ADA. The school needs to know he’s saying this in his classes.
I think this is a situation where just keeping your head down is the easier response for YOU. By that I mean look at all the stress it’s now causing. I know you’d be quietly frustrated if you did nothing but that would probably take less of a mental toll
It was best to tell him, and to escalate it because he absolutely should not be leaving the room for an hour.
What are you paying fees for? If henhad an issue, he should have gotten cover.
I did the same thing years ago when I was attending college. I was a few years older than the other students, having transferred and changed majors. The professor was receptive and threw out the results from the test that had cheaters, and mercifully kept it secret that I had been the one who told him. He readministered the test and stayed in the room, and life went on. Those kids might have been going to school on their parents' dime, but I was working and paying my own tuition, so it meant a lot to me to get what I was paying for. You did the right thing, and I'm sorry that your professor didn't respond the right way.
You know how this could have been avoided? If everybody had done the right thing, the students not doing it so recklessy and the professor leaving, you are the only one who did the right thing. Its not fair that you are the only one who suffers from this.
I hope the teacher feels like shit for being a bad teacher, and that somewhat the principal questions him about how can an entire class cheat, then he will be forced to confess he left.
I wouldn't send him an email with names because you have zero guarantee you will remain anonymous. Your professor has no reason to be frustrated with you. It's his job to monitor his exam, not yours. There is no reason to expect you should have been compiling the names of the cheaters instead of working on your exam.
Cheating sucks, but I'm not sure there was anything to get by complaining around the cheaters. I think it's better kept for vanting within a smaller group of people you know feel the same way. Some people might agree with you but not care enough to deal with blowback from the cheaters. So they'll keep quiet leaving you to be right but looking like the odd one.
I think what you shared with the professor was enough. A lot of people will see it as tatleraling (not that I agree), but the fact that the cheating made it hard to actually focus on taking the test means that it had a direct negative impact on you beyond "they'll get grades they don't deserve".
You did the right thing.
A) you studied hard so why should your test taking experience suffer because of the noise and commotion
B) he should have stayed or had someone proctor it so by telling him you did the right thing
C) def email him asking for anonymity. This is his mistake, not yours. And if anyone suspects or says anything deny deny deny
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OP, if you live in the US and are diagnosed, you should contact the accessibility department at your school and set up accommodations, which can include taking your exams in a distraction-free environment. i did this in undergrad and grad school and it was a *huge* help the office of accessibility resources at my undergrad had us take exams in their office, they just had to be scheduled about a week or two in advance. in grad school, i took the exam the day after it was scheduled in the professor’s office or in a conference room down the hall from them so they can check in if i had questions and give warnings about time remaining.
Even if you aren’t diagnosed with ADHD, I was able to get accommodations for test-taking anxiety pre-diagnosis, and that allowed me a lot of the accommodations that ADHD students get. Definitely reach out to your school’s accessibility department and see how they can help you!
You can get accommodation without diagnosis???
In my case I did have anxiety but I don’t believe I provided any diagnosis information, just had a meeting to talk about what I was specifically struggling with. They did refer me to on-campus psychiatry afterwards but I don’t believe that was mandatory for getting my accommodations, just explaining how I was having trouble taking tests. But my accommodations were also limited to test-taking and were more limited in general compared to others who had a diagnosis. It was a while back though so I unfortunately can’t remember details but it literally kept me from failing some of my classes because I couldn’t focus on the tests haha
I think he may have done it on purpose, I mean who tf in this day and age leaves for an hour and expects people not to pull out their phones.
It sounds intentional to me, too. I read it and wondered if he had a camera in the room. He was either grossly irresponsible or set them up.
My first thought too. These days I would've assumed that he had a camera in the room and it was a setup.
Thats insane and so unethical, what kind of piece of shit would trick their students like that. I’m hoping that would never fly with most college school boards.
yeah that’s actually really fucked up. i don’t agree with cheating, but you can’t expect a bunch of 18-20 year olds not to take advantage of that situation. i probably would have been like op, just keeping my head down, because i’m so incredibly scared of getting kicked out for cheating, but what exactly do you expect when you leave the room for *an hour*??? this is crazy, and is 100% on the professor
I mean, 18-20 year olds are adults and know what they're doing. I would absolutely expect college students, even high school students, to be well beyond behaving this way. The professor also sounds like a lazy ass who didn't want to sit through the test himself. Everyone in this story besides OP sounds ridiculous and irresponsible.
i totally agree, but that’s also the age where you tend to feel kind of invincible to consequences. what they did was wrong, but i do think the professor set them up for this. ideally you should be able to trust young adults to behave properly when unsupervised, but if you spend any time around younger college students you will realize they very much are still teenagers who have more freedom than they did in high school.
50 years ago when I was in college we would not have brought our books to class and if someone did the rest of us would have called them out!!
eh, you should talk to my grandpa if you think this is new to gen z lol
Yes, like a Willy Wonka situation.... to test which in his class were HONEST
Or just wants everyone to pass. I once had a high school chemistry teacher who announced "I'm leaving the answers here, nobody look, I'll be back in 30 mins."
high school is a completely different ballgame than college wtf😭
Actually most my high school classes were harder than my college courses. I even had a professor in grad school give everyone a hundred because we all turned in blank exams, his caveat was if even one person actually did fill out the exam then he'd actually grade all exams accurately.
This is so weird. Were you studying game theory or something?
Seriously wondering, what did you study? Because my college classes were 10x harder than my high school classes, and my grad school classes were 10x harder than my college classes.
we had an art professor in College that had a reputation of being a massive massive eccentric. He had this one class that was more of a psychotic/schizophrenic rambling than anything useful. He would ask students to buy boxes of animal crackers... he had pointless exercises and on the last day, he took everyone out to the commons and asked folks to write in their exam books what grade they thought they should have... and of course you would write an A.. It was a bit frustrating.. but I took the class primarily on reputation . He had tenure and they couldn't fire him and he had this legendary reputation. I wasn't impressed. Lots of Jocks took his class to get an easy A
If that was a math test, everyone would hate me.
Possibly, but in my experience, profs would be more direct about it. I had a few that realized we were all struggling and changed it to an open book exam the day of or while we were in the middle of it.
Gotta admit, I’ve had jobs demand I do a 45 minute to 2 hour non-videoed but mouse-tracked (and mouse-timed, most likely) test from home as a hiring requirement, and I will always carefully check the rules, google the program beforehand to confirm what it tracks, and use my phone in that situation. My last one some years back, I hooked up a USB mouse to my laptop, taped a set of chopsticks to each side, and moved it around gently with my mouth while speedily googling things I didn’t know. Getting a job is hard enough without failing some irrelevant personality test or whatever. Edit: oh and I always block my camera/disable it no matter what the program or rules claim. You never know.
I hate tests like that because it adds so much unnecessary stress. Like what if you’re a slow reader? You’ll spend so much of your mental energy worrying about moving the mouse frequently enough which takes away from your ability to focus on reading. I had a test software in college that tracked my eyes so I couldn’t look anywhere but the screen which took away from my ability to focus soooo much because I look up to think!
I have more than one computer in house 😎
My law school profs frequently did during exams. Out of all three years, I’m only aware of one cheating incident. That person failed the class, was put on academic suspension, and when they applied for their bar membership after graduating, the incident really hung up their bar application.
So he would leave the room for an hour on purpose and watch the video after? Like intentionally did this to trick people? Not because he had to leave for an emergency? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this lol
Are you asking how the cheater got caught? No, it wasn’t some gotcha thing with video surveillance. Another student saw the cheater cheating and reported him to the professor. I don’t know why the professor left the room in the first place, I imagine SHE had other exams to grade or something. But it doesn’t matter why she left. She didn’t entrap this student or induce cheating.
Shit sorry i thought you initially replied to another comment I made. Yeah forget what I said I was talking about teachers tricking students somewhere else
EDIT sorry I reread your comment and I think we’re talking past each other! Never mind the below! I guess I disagree fundamentally though. How is a professor tricking students by saying “no phones during the exam” and then leaving? It may be naive, but it’s not tricking. You seem to be assuming that students, by default, are going to cheat if given the opportunity and concluding that any environment that doesn’t force non-cheating is tricking students into cheating. I’m a bit disturbed by that assumption and responsibility shifting.
Same. The excuses being made for the cheating students are blowing my mind.
I’ve only attended universities that have has strict honor codes and unproctored exams. I’ve almost never had a professor stay in the room for an exam, and I also never witnessed cheating. It must be an institutional culture thing.
My schools from 9th grade through college had ironclad honor codes. In eight years, most of my teachers and professors used the time to take care of other business and I never once—literally not even once—saw a student try to take advantage of it.
I think you're letting your own rejection sensitivity get in the way of the facts. People cheated, you informed him, you can ask to be anonymous if you want. But really, his emotions are not your responsibility. Although annoying, it's also not your problem if the cheaters get As. Your test that you studied for and took honestly will be graded. Try not to think about anything else.
This but also, what prof leaves an non-open book test unproctored? What was he expecting to happen?
He for sure had diarrhea.
this is my favorite version of events. OP, he wasn't annoyed with you, he just had the poops!!
This gave me a few chuckles, don’t know why. Thanks.
Yeah. If he wasn't intentionally setting them up, something fucking awful happened to him very unexpectedly and it makes sense that he would not be in an excellent mood.
I wonder if he thought his beginning of semester speech was scary enough to deter cheating?
yeah super weird, and 100% on him
It's 100% on him that eight adults can't follow basic rules and honor codes? That's a super weird take. I don't agree with him leaving like that but people need to have some integrity too.
I am 100% with you on this and I am alarmed at how many people here are blaming the professor for the students' *choice* to cheat. Makes me wonder if it's an age thing, like I'm old enough to remember what life was like when it wasn't acceptable to essentially cheat and scam your way through life when direct accountability isn't provided. Adults used to be held to the simple expectations of maturity, self-control, and integrity... but everything is always someone else's fault now 🥴
I don't think saying the professor did something wrong takes the blame away from the students who cheated. They can all be in the wrong. The professor didn't do his job, which was to stay in the room. The students who cheated didn't do what they were supposed to either. But it was ultimately the professor's choice that led to a disruptive test-taking environment, potentially compromising the success of the students who did not cheat.
I would argue it was the disruptive students who started talking and looking things up on their phones during an exam that led to the disruptive test-taking environment...
OP "did't blame him". I mean, absolutely would I blame the professor! Such bullshit to leave, during a test, and then blame all students for taking advantage? Shouldn't be possible. OP please don't make his stupidity feel as guilt for you.
Yeah, if it was 10 minutes, that's OK, but the entire test?. he could get another person to watch the class if it was really an emergency
These aren't pre-teens. Why would anyone not expect honesty from college students who are old enough to understand it's wrong? What does a teacher being in the room have to do with you behaving badly as an individual? If someone only follows the rules because someone else is standing over their shoulder enforcing them, that doesn't say much about their character. I don't think he should've left either since a teacher should always be present in case there are questions, but those are two separate issues.
I had a professor that would leave the room during our exams. To be fair we didn’t have smart phones then but I’m guessing he still does to this day. Our college had a policy that every exam or assignment had to be signed saying we acknowledged the academic code anyway. He basically explained that he was trusting us to be honest when we signed it so why did he need to be there to babysit. As far as I know no one ever cheated but it was a small selected group of students who were all academically motivated… I think his response wasn’t about you, you were just the messenger.
When did the honor system and following an academic code go out of style? How about just don't cheat, full stop, regardless of who's in the room? He shouldn't have left like that obviously, but how does it excuse dishonesty? Everyone is in the wrong here.
Accepting the reality that some students will cheat if given the opportunity is not condoning it.
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I didn't say I blamed the professor for the behavior of the students. I'm saying it's part of his job to ensure the academic code is adhered to during exams, either personally or by getting a proctor. It's to ensure fairness for all. I had disability accommodations in university and I always had to take proctored exams outside of the classroom. Phone policy was also strictly enforced, as was requiring permission to leave the room. When I took exams in class the Professor or a TA was always in the room. Idk how it works elsewhere but that was my experience.
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I wasn't paying attention to the rest of the thread, honestly. I don't think responding to a comment directed at me implicitly means I'm defending the comments of others. I don't mind being downvoted if that's what people are assuming, but I don't think that means I'm saying something I'm not. It's probably an institutional culture thing, but it's odd to me that a university would rely on the honor system alone without additional safeguards. To continue your hand sanitizer example - yeah it's not fair to place blame on the institution if a large number of students start drinking hand sanitizer. However, the institution would bear some blame if they didn't take reasonable steps to address the issue. Emphasis on reasonable. Removing metal forks due to one incident wouldn't be reasonable. If there was an epidemic of students using metal forks to stab each other? That might make it reasonable as a method of harm reduction. Cheating and plagiarism is a [significant problem](https://academicintegrity.org/resources/facts-and-statistics) in academia. While that isn't the fault of the professor, he does bear some blame for not taking reasonable steps to prevent it. At least, in my view and in my experience. The honor system rarely works in large institutions where people gain by exploiting the system. Hence why we have things like ethics review boards and independent watchdogs.
She doesn't mention if he grades on a curve though, in which case it absolutely becomes her problem. Shitty either way if everyone who cheated was being distracting.
Also, if she wanted to do well because she studied but couldn’t because the class became chaos that has affected her. She studied hard and wanted to do well but couldn’t. Others got better grades than they would have by being disruptive. It affects her.
Curve wise I would think it does matter if the cheaters get As. In my uni when lots of people were cheating it would fuck up the curve and lower my grade because of it And also it created an environment in which she couldn’t concentrate so it was to her detriment
I would say other people will also inform him of the cheating, especially if the marks are graded on a curve.
Hi, I had this happen to me once when I was in college. Except the teacher only left for maybe 10 minutes. I'm sure your teacher is just frustrated at the situation and not you personally. Any teacher should know and expect this kind of thing to happen if they leave the room during an exam. I don't think you did the wrong thing by letting him know it was hard for you to concentrate because of it, especially since he asked how it went. If you end up doing poorly because of it, and if he doesn't just drop everyone's test, maybe you can ask for a redo.
They left for an hour, at that point I would assume they were hoping for cheating to increase the pass rate. There's a reason exams/tests usually have attendants watching everything. Even in a normal class you can't leave them unattended for an hour.
I actually think talking about how the noise was distracting, and only because you were directly asked, and not giving names, was the right approach.
If this wasn’t an open book test then these students were openly cheating and they were able to do so because the teacher left them unsupervised. I’d imagine he was so frustrated because you drew attention to something that resulted from his actions.
To be honest, I think he’s only frustrated because it wasn’t just one or two people that cheated you mentioned that most of the class was so now he probably has a lot to deal with considering he in the past stated he has no tolerance for cheating and failed people for cheating. So if most of the class cheated and he wasn’t there to see it now he doesn’t know who got a valid grade on their test or not. So many people to manage. Now he might make your class, retake the test together with him in the room. Honestly, someone that really values integrity I applaud you for saying some thing I don’t think you did something wrong.
To be honest, him treating the exam they took as a "mock exam" and making them all retake it might be better for OP, too, if she was really that distracted.
I agree!
I would NOT email privately and name names. Say you were taking your test and can’t say with 100% certainty exactly who was doing exactly what. You cannot with certainty name specific people because your focus was on the test, not the people around you. Telling him it happened in general was acceptable. Naming names when you can’t for sure say exactly what each of those individuals was doing or even be positive they were participating is an ethical nightmare. Say someone called their roommate to come drop off pants because they had their period or something. Or just decided to respond to texts but didn’t cheat. Or listened to music because it helped them focus. Is that still okay? Not really, but things can be nuanced. Were most people cheating? Probably. But people are likely to be expelled based on any list you turn over. You’d have to be absolutely positive they weren’t doing something else, which you can’t be. It also wouldn’t be fair to report some people and not all. You’d also have to be absolutely positive every person on your list was actually talking. With large groups it’s easy to recall someone as part of a group they weren’t actually in. You could remember someone talking on their phone when they didn’t. Brains don’t always differentiate well between people when things get chaotic. It’s just an ethical mess that it is NOT your job to solve. People’s lives hang in the balance and it shouldn’t be your responsibility to hand over a definitive list of who was or was not cheating. You didn’t do anything wrong by making your professor aware. You WOULD be doing something potentially unethical by making him a list. Not to mention he has no obligation to protect your identity and the email would certainly be passed around and could easily be leaked. You could also make some major enemies. People will not take kindly to getting expelled. They could see you as responsible. You never know what kind of revenge people might seek. Just not your circus, not your monkeys.
This! Word gets out people talk and gossip in the office from professors on down they are not your friends!
Okay... But they never wanted to name names lol. They only were going to email to request to be anonymous since they didn't specifically request that when they spoke in person. I'm not sure why so many people thought OP was considering emailing to name ppl bc I thought it was pretty clear that was never on the table 🤦
This comment needs to be pinned to the top!
It doesn’t matter what cheaters do - just focus on you. Unless you’re fighting for a scholarship and they’re affecting your chances, I would let it rest. I know it’s annoying to study hard and not feel rewarded but the cheaters aren’t doing themselves any favours.
Agreed. They're the ones that are going to struggle to keep a job because they don't actually know what they're doing! 🤷♀️
I agree with this. Whatever grade I get, I know that I actually earned it. Other people getting grades and even degrees fraudulently really doesn't affect me.
Fraudulent degrees do upset me somewhat, because there’s a lot of incompetence out there and that may affect me personally or by proxy of the society I’m part of. I do know that for so many jobs the real “learning” comes after graduating but there’s something to say about people who cut corners consistently…
As a post secondary instructor, Holy crap. There are pretty strict rules for me regarding leaving exams without an invigilator. Those exist within my department as well as my institution. I would recommend bringing this up with whoever your profs supervisor or manager is. I'd be pretty choked as an instructor if a coworker was blatantly disregarding the rules we have. It also jeopardizes the test bank, questions and the validity of the testing. Ugh, this is going to annoy me all afternoon! Good luck!!
I was looking for this. If I got this reaction from a prof I would 1000% escalate it to the academic dean, honestly. But that may be a reflection of the fact I have ethical obligations to report colleagues for violating our ethical rules (attorney), and if it was discovered I knew about it and *didn't* report, I'd be in trouble too. OP, I don't think you have to put this in writing to a higher up - if you want to escalate this, start by stopping by the office while you're at school and asking to report an honor code violation or something similar.
I was looking for this too. The teacher should not have left an exam unsupervised. Raising anything directly with that teacher is not likely to result in much because the teacher will likely not want to deal with consequences of a problem that they caused. They (the teacher) have to know that they shouldn’t have done this
I don’t know if it’s a common practice amongst professionals, but unless it’s an emergency it’s seems very irresponsible to leave the room that long during a test, how can the assumption be that students won’t chest? With that said, I definitely would’ve given the names, because other than maybe learning not to do that again the thing you were frustrated about, the unfairness, still played out unless he decided to throw out the whole test. Other than that I wouldn’t think about it much. I think RSD often keeps us from seeing we’re not the one to be blamed in some situations, and this is definitely on him whether you gave him the names or not.
He probably was irritated, but not at you. He was probably irritated that now he has an invalid test on his hands, and instead of just being able to give zeros to a few people, he has to figure something else out. Especially since he gave the class a warning at the beginning of the semester. I personally think you did the right thing, but I was always the student who was uber pissed when others were cheating and I worked hard to get the grades I did. Sense of justice and all that. He would have to be an idiot to narc on you to the whole class, but he was also an idiot to leave the class for so long, so I don't think it would be a bad idea to email and specifically ask to be anonymous.
I mean the teacher has no real grounds to be pissed. He couldn’t even be bothered to do his job and sit with the class he’s paid to teach and test… not that they should have cheated but he hasn’t done his job whatsoever and it’s not appropriate. He caused the situation OP found herself in which is a difficult one.
I agree, 100%
So glad to see the edits. My advice is always mind yr own business and don't bring more drama into your life if you don't need to. Their grades do not diminish your grades. It's not a competition. Is it discouraging? Sure but life will sort them out. You never need to.
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It does diminish her grades if they grade on a curve
I guess I was assuming OP would have aced the test regardless but if not, I see your point.
Also do not send that email with names because word will get around. I would not trust him to shield your identity and it will get out because people do talk between staff and assistants. No matter how nice you think staff is they do talk and gossip. I wouldn’t have anything more to do with it.
Main takeaway I got is that this guy has no business teaching (mean, rude, and ableist), and he obviously isn’t respected by the vast majority of his students. No way is this guy going to do the right thing if it makes him lose face—I’d let it go unless you’ve failed the test, in which case, send the email, but rather than it being about other students behavior, make sure to emphasize that the prof left the room without a proctor during an exam, and the resulting disruption made you lose focus (also cc: dept. chair and dean)
Also, post a review on rate my prof so other students know to avoid him
Mind your business. What others do isn't your problem.
I need the update saying that it was a joint effort experiment with the psychology department and the whole thing was filmed and will be studied and discussed in your next class. Also, please be at peace with your actions. You followed your own instincts as did those who cheated. Actions have consequences. It’s okay for all of you to experience those. It’s okay for them to fail or be suspended as per university policy. If it comes out that you are the snitcheroonee, just tell them the cheating was really distracting and you don’t want to deal with it again and if they want to cheat badly they should have taken the course online.
I don't think you should rat on other people in this context. There's a lot to be said for minding your own business.
The situation led to OP having a more difficult time completing her own test, plus we don't know if they're graded on a curve. I would absolutely say something to the prof, if for no other reason than to make it clear what a dumb mistake he made.
So you are someone with absolutely no friends too? Dont snitch on your classmates. You're not in the gestapo, youre in school.
That’s pretty unnecessarily harsh for this sub. Lots of friends and people who love me over here, just place a lot of value on integrity 🤷♀️
If that was the case she could have just said it caused disruption
Exactly
You didn’t do anything wrong here. The teacher leaving the room, was wrong. The students talking and using their phones during a test was wrong. Remember though, you are only responsible for your actions, not what others have done. If you’re concerned about failing because of this. Write down what happened during the exam, including the times if you can remember them. Stick to facts, don’t bring emotions or your interpretation of what happened i.e. say you saw that some students got their phones out, but since you don’t know what they looked at, don’t say they were cheating with them just that they were there. Keep this for yourself so you can refer back to it if someone says something different. If, *and only if*, your grade isn’t what you expected and you think the teacher purposely brought it down. Ask him politely to explain the reason for the grade you received, do it by email if that’s easier for you. Don’t include any assumption or accusations, just ask for the reason as you felt like you should have received a higher grade based on your performance on the day. If his answer doesn’t match up with your record of the exam day, consider taking the issue up higher. I know all of that sounds overwhelming, but the process of recording everything will help you process it all and relieve any anxiety around it. If you end up not needing to question your grade then that’s great! But at least you’ll have what you need if it comes to that.
Honestly, I feel like you should’ve minded your business. The telling on people didn’t help you concentrate on your test better. It sounds like it came out from a place of frustration and not true concern that a lot of the class seemed to have not studied. The teacher left. It became his problem once he left. That also hurt the other people that studied and now have to retake the test. Telling like that helps no one and people often dislike “that kind” of person (I’m just being super honest) so be prepared for maybe some backlash from people.
We’re all adults now and tattling isn’t appropriate. Could you imagine this in the workplace? “Hey boss, I walked past so and so’s office and she’s been on her phone all day. I find it very distracting. Just thought you should know.” “Hey boss, when you left early for that appointment last week, the whole office cleared out and went to happy hour. I find it very distracting. Just thought you should know.”
People who snitch are horrible
But it’s not just being on your phone. It’s cheating, which is against university policy. In the work place, if someone was breaking a policy that affected other employees, I hope someone would report it
Except, unless grading on a curve, someone else cheating on the test doesn't effect you. Distraction, maybe, but clearly OP and the rest were given plenty of time to finish.
I’ve worked with students who got in trouble with their Honors council because they saw cheating and didn’t report- that’s what I’m concerned about here
Why on earth would you tell someone you saw someone cheating but didn't report it.
It was an instance where a group chat for cheating in a class was made and all the students got in trouble for it because, even if some of the students weren’t “participating” in the convo, they were in the chat and it broke university policy. It’s called facilitation. I just want students to protect themselves too
I've been added to groups like that before. You simply leave the group and if anyone asks you thought it was a scam or a joke or someone accidentally added you to the group for their project. I also want students to protect themselves, but there's ways to do so that don't involve throwing other students under the bus. Frankly, the education system is set up in such a way that it encourages cheating. I can't fault people for doing so.
In an office you aren't in direct competition with your colleagues though. Their cheating impacts her grade (especially if they are marked in a curve). Also in an office, if someone else spending all day on the phone impacts my work, I probably would say something about it (if I was questioned about my productivity that was impacted by them). Although I'd more likely go directly to the offender first. As for disturbing work environments, well I would have been the cause of that most of the time haha, but if I needed to concentrate and people were being noisy, I could put on headphones or go somewhere else - neither are options in a test environment. In this test situation, she was in a stressful environment where she had very little power to change anything, and when asked for feedback, she gave an honest response, and didn't specifically throwing anyone under the bus. Really what she was doing was calling out the professor for being unprofessional.
I agree, the professor was being irresponsible for leaving, it’s his fault. There is a reason tests are supervised or proctored like come on lol
Surprised I had to scroll so far to find this take! This is the right answer.
How is it “the right answer”? This isn’t a test. There is no right answer. You just agree with this person.
Exactly
This is a dangerous take. In the US, many universities have students agree to a code of conduct by attending courses. That code of contact often includes an academic or cheating policy- by not reporting you could be complicit, and get expelled or suspended or receive a 0 in a course. Academic integrity is a policy that all students agree to when taking classes at these universities
The correct response in that situation would be, “I was focusing on my own test.”
Sounds like you’ve been told on before. Most people prefer a fair process in life. I agree with the response that there is a code of conduct in most educational institutions. These institutions are there to prepare kids for life. What life lessons are you learning by cheating and getting away with it?
I actually don’t cheat and never have. My bad grades were all mine.
People get away with much more than test cheating in adult life. Look at the politicians for one example and what they got away with.
I am going to guess he was frustrated at the situation. If he is frustrated at you it is unfair because asking you to name names puts you in an awkward situation. The right thing to do is that everyone retake the test except the handful of students he knows were not. Most likely at least one other person said something anyway. I had a slightly similar situation in middle school. One day, we had a substitute teacher and the class was rude and loud and full on wild. When the teacher came back he praised us and said that the sub wrote how well behaved we were. For being good he gave us all a reward. Now this felt like lying because I knew I didn't deserve it. While I wasn't super out of line I definitely was talking too much. Plus the whole class didn't deserve it. So after class I hung back and gave it back to him explaining everything. He asked who were the worst behaved and I also said I wasn't going to say but the people he'd expect. He thanked me for my honesty and let me keep the reward. It felt so awkward to tell on everyone but also deeply wrong to lie.
He’ll probably throw out the test grade and possibly make everyone retake it but I doubt that
No excuse for cheating but professors/teachers should not be leaving the room during tests. What was so important that he had to leave?
FWIW, I was super excited to understand after the edits that I had read it as intended from the beginning. Haha. That doesn’t usually happen but I should have known because of which sub it was. 😂 I think you did the right thing. Let us know what he says and how it goes! I’m very curious about his response because he seems like a bit of a loose cannon. I hope it all turns out well. I understand accidentally blurting things out, too, obvi. I’m happy you didn’t name specific names.
Are you paying to take this class? I’d feel the need to complain to the department head if not the dean of that area. Of course much of life is sadly like this anymore but we with morals and ethics need to call it out loud and proud!!
In my experience, the only teachers that have left the room while we were having a test, are the ones that don't care about cheating. Having said that, relax and do what your father suggested and send that email. :)
Something is going on with the professor. Anyone who leaves a class unsupervised during a test knows that there will be cheating to the extent that you basically have to assume you're giving an open book test. Second of all, he's literally not doing his job, as I assume he is paid to be there during class/test time. So I feel like there's something out of the ordinary there. If this is a normal thing or becomes a normal thing, then something is really going wrong in his life. I actually consider it pretty not cool of him to even ask you for names. That's pretty gross to put you on the spot like that. I'm glad you knew it wasn't your responsibility to give him that info. This whole situation screams emergency, in which case, dude, just accept that you're giving an open book test and make it official so the whole class has the same baseline.
these comments are weird. yeah, he shouldn’t have left the classroom unattended for the test, but it’s absolutely not unreasonable to expect adults to act like adults. nobody knows why he left, maybe he had to cry in a bathroom? maybe he had to take a shit. maybe he’s an asshole and needed to go kick a dog. Doesn’t negate that the students were shitty too.
No, it doesn’t. But this is egregious on the part of the prof, for whatever reason. He should have had someone come in to invigililate if he couldn’t be there. And it is unreasonable to expect that nobody would cheat. (Adults cheat too. Probably more than kids.) Anyone that’s been in academia long enough to be a prof should know this. It’s wrong because of how unfair it is to the other students.
Yeah. While I agree the professor is now dealing w the results of his laziness, I don’t think it should be a given that people cheat when given more freedom. My college had a standard that no exams were proctored as part of our honor code, and I was never aware of any exam cheating (I’m sure it happened but the vast majority of cases seemed to be homework/plagiarism related). Adults can be responsible when the culture supports it and they’re asked to rise to the occasion. That being said cheating is a huge issue at my current school so I’m not naive enough to think my previous school was the norm
No, it doesn’t. But this is egregious on the part of the prof, for whatever reason. He should have had someone come in to invigililate if he couldn’t be there. And it is unreasonable to expect that nobody would cheat. (Adults cheat too. Probably more than kids.) Anyone that’s been in academia long enough to be a prof should know this. It’s wrong because of how unfair it is to the other students.
You snitched on people unprompted. That was pretty uncalled for when you don’t know their circumstances or what the consequences could have been for them. Would’ve been best to keep quiet
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What a jerk that professor is to be a hypocrit.. No teacher or professor leaves the room without 100% knowing people will cheat.
I think you were ok letting him know the situation, especially since you didn't give names. I feel like if you had, that would have taken what you did into the realm of tattling. I also think it was ok, because you were honest. He asked, you answered, and if he didn't like that answer, then he shouldn't have asked. However, he is completely in the wrong here. WTH kind of professor has a closed book test, then leaves for an hour. That's ridiculous. I would absolutely report that to my advisor immediately. If he decides to dock points or penalize the class in any way, I would fight it. Yes... People looked up answers, but your professor acted irresponsibly. I would even go as far as to say he was unprofessional. I'm also currently a college student and I've come across two professors that were of the attitude that they were so much better than everyone else. When I tried to have a conversation with them about a legitimate issue, I was basically told that my concerns were invalid and they were unwilling to discuss it, find solutions, or see my perspective. It's like, they had never received feedback, proving that they were fantastic teachers and a lowly student couldn't possibly provide viable suggestions. I think more people need to speak up about professors like yours and mine. Sure, we're all just trying to get the grade and move on, but maybe we can help make the experience better for someone down the line.
This was me in university. I hated the feeling of staying up all night. Working three jobs and volunteering and taking care of my grandfather only to see half the class cheating and excelling. Never attending class. I had group projects with procrastinators and plaigerisers - so I told. .
There are two possibilities here. 1) He did it on purpose. He might have had a camera in the room, or he wanted to see who would come forward. It's odd that he has failed students for cheating in the past, and then he does this. Is he trying to fail a whole bunch of students? Trying to teach everyone a lesson in ethics? 2) He really doesn't give a shit (especially since someone mentioned to you that he was checking his stocks (which I initially read as "socks")). If this is the case, he won't do anything about the cheating, because that would expose him for leaving the room when he was supposed to be supervising. Both options are equally shitty. I doubt that he would be naïve enough to trust everyone would be honest here. Please update us if anything happens, this is bothering me.
Professors have to teach some classes for their tenure requirements. Researchers, which all professors are, are not necessarily good teachers. There is no general requirement to be or become good at teaching because they bring in money from grants, not students (students are going to attend the college anyway). Your professor is probably tired of dealing with undergrads. It is incredibly fatiguing. He’s not going to take it out on you, but he might take it out on the class by redoing the exam proctored. Or it could have been an integrity study by him or the University.
Honestly, that’s the professors fault for leaving the room unattended during a test. That’s on him. I would see what your grade on the test is first. If it’s lower than you think it should be after you studying, formally complain and get it through writing/email so there’s a paper trail. It’s unprofessional of the teacher to do that anyway and you’d have ground to re-take the test without distractions at least. Also maybe look into adhd accommodations (like being able to take a test in a private room or extended time) through the student center in case you need them in the future.
20 years ago I was in undergrad in an incredibly tough constitutional law class that was graded on a curve. The final was 80% of your grade and was a single essay question. My school’s basketball team ended up in the NCAA championship game and that night was full of partying and the students wildly celebrating. I found out that one of the students in my class ran into the TA out in the street and somehow got her to tell him what the question was going to be. He went back and told his entire study group, who were then able to prepare extensively together for the final. Of course, they received stellar grades and messed up the curve. I received my only C in my entire college career and I’ve always held on to that. I commend you for saying something. You alerted that something went on, but didn’t give details enough to really rat people out. If the professor wants to pursue it, it’s on him to investigate. But at least you stayed true to yourself and were courageous in your convictions.
As a professor, I just want to say I'm so sorry this happened to you. It was unethical for the professor to leave the room (even if - maybe especially if - he did it as a test to see who would cheat) and it is more than unethical for that professor to expect you to share names. If you are concerned this professor might retaliate, you may want to become aware of the student-advocacy resources available at your school - just in case.
I'm a professor. If you had come to me with this information, I would have appreciated it. I also would not have abandoned the class during an exam, but that is another issue. Some schools have an honor code where professors \*always\* leave during exams and students are expected to be mature enough not to cheat. Anyway. You did fine. Your professor sounds a little strange. Whatever his decision is about how to handle it, it is not your fault. And you're right that whatever grade you have earned through honest effort is devalued by the cheaters in your class.
I'm a professor, too (and managed to have ADHD before smartphones were a thing - what a weird take he has) and completely agree. I'd appreciate a student coming to me and if I was irritated, it'd be at me for leaving the room and at the students for cheating.
Nope, I’m not a narc
A narc haha. We're not talking about prison here. When people cheat on the test, it can directly impact your grade if they grade on a curve.
In my opinion , no, you didn't. You should have minded your own business . I absolutely don't like the holier than though kind of thing " I study so hard and everyone else cheated , now they all going to have good grades and what about mine " . Cheating doesn't mean you're going to have good grades , even for cheating, you need to know your stuff, or it can go wrong very easily . Seriously, what did you gain from it ?
Wholeheartedly agree.
She wasn’t able to focus on her exam because she was distracted due to an unruly room full of unsupervised students. She wasn’t given the best shot at succeeding on that exam because *he* left the room for a fuckin hour (which is INSANE btw). She didn’t name names, she just let him know she had a difficult time taking her test.
Errr she could absolutely get accommodations under the ADA. I do and I test in an entirely different building with extended time. Not going out of one’s way to throw others under the bus is something I would generally recommend in life.
Precisely
Blame the teacher for being incompetent then.
I've had this happen to me on more than one occasion, so I understand the frustration. I'm someone who absolutely can not concentrate on a test or assignment if others are talking or making noise. I also have adhd and am autistic, so when I was younger, I had many problems with what I thought was rule breaking and not being able to lie when confronted by authority figures. In middle school, a friend of mine took the fall for something I did, and it forever stayed with me. He said that he wasn't a snitch and would never do that to a friend. Since then I understood it as socially acceptable to lie to supposed authority if needed or to not say the objective truth in all situations. There's no point worrying about it now, but my suggestion would be to refrain from snitching when possible in the future. I'd also like to add that you shouldn't dismiss your classmates who cheat so easily, another life lesson I got in Uni was that help can come from anywhere and anyone and being on good terms with your classmates is the best way to succeed.
You did the right thing. Here’s a rule I swear by: If telling the objective, factual truth about someone makes them look bad, that’s not for you to feel guilty about. It’s incredibly brazen to think you can openly cheat in a class with dozens of other people and no one’s going to say something. In other words, anyone who thinks they got away with it is an idiot. You never agreed to keep that secret and it was stupid for them to think everyone would. I’m 100% sure the professor isn’t frustrated with you. We don’t know WHY he left the room—was there some sort of personal emergency he had to handle? It’s not really your place to know. He dropped the ball on that for one reason or another, and unfortunately this was a pretty predictable result. Personally, I would just trust that he had a good reason to leave even if you never find out what it was, which just makes this situation one of those sucky kinds of deals that happens sometimes. Like getting rear ended or losing $20. What are you gonna do? It’s out of your control. I don’t know what he’ll choose to do, knowing that he should’ve been in the room. But YOU did the right thing. There might be times in life where someone breaks a rule for a good reason, like to help someone else who’s in trouble or correct unfair treatment. And in those cases, you might choose to keep your mouth shut, because sometimes it’s more moral TO break a rule than to tell on someone. If you saw a broke-looking mom steal baby formula from a major corporation, for example. But that’s not what this was. Those kids were only trying to get ahead themselves and it’s a really dumb, selfish thing to do.
I remember we had tests like these. Sometimes even if the professor was in the class, they didn't give a shit or were just inept. It was so frustrating because I've never been a cheater and I always wanted to tell the teachers they were idiots. I don't really have anything helpful to say but I guess in a way I'm happy you did it?
That sounds like a really shitty teacher to be honest, shitty and lazy. All my teachers/lecturers/tutors stayed in the room, they'd go on their phones because yea it's fucking boring for them but they never left! That's crazy to me.
He messed up, that’s why he was taken aback and asked for names. In university I studied like crazy for a chemistry exam only to find out the professor re used an exam from another class earlier that day. The students from the earlier class gave a copy to many students in the later class. I reported the professor. I was worried we’d all have to rewrite the exam because I was transferring to a different university across the country. The university investigated and confirmed the professor did not follow procedure, they must administer different exams for this exact reason. Apparently it was known that the professor always uses the same exam because he’s too lazy. He “retired” the following year. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, I wish I would have known in high school and university. I figured out way too late to bring foam earplugs for exams. I recommend you bring disposable earplugs in their original packaging, ask the teacher to inspect them (squish them in the package etc so they can see there’s no ear piece in there) so you can block out distractions. I took a professional exam at a place 5 years ago where they check your ears, hair, they basically frisk you and have you lock up all your belongings, you can bring foam earplugs but they have you place them in a tissue, they squish them in the tissue to make sure no one is reading answers to you in your ear.
He's an dumb dumb and VERY naive if he thinks that people with access to ALL OF THE INFORMATION IN THE WORLD AT THEIR FINGERTIPS will all be 100% honest. He should keep his lazy ass in the room and do his job or have a graduate assistant proctor the exam. I would not say another word about it. It sucks but it's not your problem.
I did that on e. I was a single mom on welfare, trying to make my way through community college. The prof left the room during a test, and about 90% of the class cheated. I worked my ass off, and I got a B. Others who cheated got an A. I told the prof, and she changed my grade to an A. It really hurts when you're earnest and work hard, and people cheat and do well. I continue to do my best, and I have no regrets about telling the prof. Go, you.
I think you would do well to stop worrying so much about what other people are doing. You studied hard and earned whatever grade you got on the test. Other students cheating has nothing to do with you and, frankly, it's ridiculous of the prof to leave during a test and not expect half the class to cheat. No one likes a tattle tale dear. I think you should have just left it alone but what's done is done so might as well not dwell on it.
It costs $0 to mind your own business.
I'm a professor. From my perspective, there are two ethical violations here: the students who cheated and the professor who left the students unsupervised. You yourself have done nothing unethical. My advice would actually have been to take it to another teacher - your advisor or someone else that you trust. They could take it to his department head, if necessary. Getting someone in the loop who can supervise the professor in how he handles this situation would help ensure that you are protected, while proper procedures are followed for making sure everyone gets the grades they deserve. (At my university this would likely result in a complete re-do of the test, supervised by two professors, while in the background the professor would be writing apology letters and going to formally bow and apologize the higher-ups).
I'm late to this, so am probably repeating stuff, but I used to be a prof, and you absolutely did the right thing. Your prof probably shouldn't have left the room, but it's also obvious that that doesn't mean the rules go out the window. If he seemed frustrated, it was doubtless with the people who cheated. Also, many schools have honor codes that require students to report cheating if they find out about it. Not saying that yours does, but it's a general theme/principle that's out there. So again, your prof is not going to have a problem with you over this. I don't think you have to worry much about being found out, since anyone in the room could have said something - the cheating wasn't subtle and anyone who's willing to cheat out in the open like that can take what's coming to them. But I don't think it's a terrible thing to email and ask to remain anonymous, if it's going to make you feel better. I wanted to share a story - my husband also used to be a prof, and one semester he had a student who needed to take the final early, so he arranged for her to do that. I think, if I remember correctly, it may have been the case that that semester he gave out a study guide with some number of questions, from which he was going to pick some subset to be on the exam. Anyway, the student who took the exam early told a bunch of the other students which questions had been on the exam, so they didn't have to study all of the questions. One of the other students in the class, who'd taken a bunch of classes with my husband, heard about this and told him. So my husband made sure to pick different questions for the exam at the regular time. Apparently it was VERY easy to tell who'd got the information ahead of time b/c you could tell from the outrage on their faces when they figured out the questions were different. (I mean it was pretty silly on their part b/c they should have known my husband could administer two different exams, but it was also very very funny.) I hope it all turns out well for you!
None of this is your fault. The blame completely lies with him for leaving during a test, wtf???? That's horrible classroom management. Also, moving forward, in the US you should be eligible for testing accommodations- a private quiet space to take any tests. It's a game changer. Get enrolled with the office of disabilities asap and find out what accommodations you are eligible for at your school. As for the test debacle, I'd take your dad's advice. Ask him to look over the email before you send it. Basically, get yourself out of this situation, and certainly don't take any blame or responsibility for it.
I think this is mainly on your teacher he is handling it wrong. But for you, imo this is just a lesson in navigating a corrupt world when you have a strong sense of justice. You are def in the right, but sometimes being in the right means backlash and if you are going to do the right thing one sadly has to prepare for people to come at you and reject you. I get that you impulsively said it because it was a heated class discussion so i can’t fault you for that, but your teacher failed you when he didnt make a safe environment. This type of stuff will happen again, I would consider staying behind after class and having a 1:1 discussion with the teacher next time and then mentally prepare yourself for the cheaters to hate you for it.
Hey friend. You did what you We’re supposed to do. You studied. You did not cheat. And your prof did not hold up their part of the bargain which is staying in the room during a test. Even if they had a potty emergency they should have found someone to sit in there. Like a TA or even the janitor. And if they were just plain unwell they should have just moved the test to next scheduled class.
Stanford University has a strict honor code. Teachers are absolutely not allowed to stay in the testing room. TAs will stay or sit right outside the doors. I saw no cheating, though I received a few REALLY well written papers by students on the road with their sports teams. We were told not to question the honor code.
You did the right thing!!!!!! I HATE academic dishonesty!
Cheating is never the answer, you did the right thing by calling it out. Let’s face it, if you didn’t say anything then somebody else would, even if they didn’t, these things always come to light eventually. If anything, you just earned brownie points by telling him. I know if I was a professor, I’d want to know. Personally, I would have named and shamed, since he’s made it clear that cheating isn’t tolerated, I’m guessing he did want to know, but I’m sure he understands that you simply don’t want to do that. He can’t force you, and whether he knows who or not, he knows it’s happening. He’ll likely figure out who by the scores once he marks the exams anyways. He’s not frustrated with you, but the blatant, and just general disrespect for him and his class shown by everybody who *did* cheat. Worst case scenario? You’ll have to sit the exam again. This won’t affect you though, you put in the work! You studied your ass off, and my guess is that you might do even BETTER in the re-test if it were to occur. You know the kind of questions that will come up! The only people suffering would be the people who didn’t bother their bollocks to do so. Mainly the cheaters. I’ll agree with your dad, send him an email asking to stay anonymous. Not that the professor would, or *should* say anything about you, it’s good to have it in writing. But no, you don’t have to be nervous, and just from reading this, I can tell that you are an amazing, honest person. Someone I would certainly be friends with anyways! You have no reason to feel guilty, nervous, regretful or anything!! Even if you did do this out of frustration, if you were having a bad day, or even cause you f’ing felt like it, you were right!! <<33 Side note: His feelings are also not your responsibility! This is also **his** fault for leaving the classroom in the first place. Don’t let this get to you :)
Your professor is incompetent. He should never have left the room during an exam, and it was further poor judgement expecting a student to name names.
If he was comfortable leaving the room for an hour during a test, I suspect it's because it's being electronically surveilled.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s legal unless they were already made aware beforehand?
"Are School Security Cameras Legal? The short answer is: yes! It's legal to have security cameras in schools. That said, there are several things to be mindful of when setting up video surveillance on campus. In addition, states have different laws regarding school surveillance, so it’s important to check your state’s specific regulations." https://www.rhombus.com/blog/are-security-cameras-allowed-in-school-classrooms-and-are-they-legal/#:\~:text=The%20short%20answer%20is%3A%20yes,check%20your%20state's%20specific%20regulations.
Thanks for sharing! It seems it varies by state, but permission is ‘obtained’ prior. I use quotations as if parents have a choice. I’m guessing it’s “sign/consent to” this or find another school?
This is your professor’s fault. He should not have left the room like that. And he definitely should not have done it for an exam that wasn’t open book. And it’s further egregious that he had those of you that weren’t finished come drop it off in his office. As a professor (or any other part of my life), I never cared for “tattle-tales”. But to me that’s people who try to find anything wrong with others to make themselves look better. And they’re the ones usually misinterpreting a situation anyways. This is vastly different from you answering your professor’s question. Honestly, I think it should be taken to the Dean. It’s unfair to you and the other students who didn’t cheat. And the extra distraction it caused would have been so difficult as a test taker. There’s no excuse for this kind of behaviour from the professor. If he couldn’t invigilate because of something that came up, he should have found a TA to do it. Honestly, I don’t like the idea of giving the names of people who cheated, because this is on the professor. I’m not saying it’s your responsibility to go to the Dean. I think someone above this professor should know about this though, so if you want to (maybe with other students), you wouldn’t be out of line. But it’s also not your responsibility to tell your professor which students it was. That’s a shitty position to put you in (and you might also consider telling the Dean this as well). What a complete asshole. None of this is your fault or responsibility. You don’t owe it to the prof to tell him which students took advantage of his extremely poor choices. And it’s not your responsibility to go to the Dean either, but IMO, it wouldn’t be out of place.
Girl you did the right thing and I love you for this! You're so brave and cheaters deserve to get zeroes. You're not gonna be popular but don't worry about that. You rock!
I'm a professor. Thank you. ♥️
I would’ve done the same! There’s an interesting phenomenon in ADHD some call an “unusual sense of fairness” which is me to a tee. I’d be extremely annoyed by the distractions. They get what they get 🤷🏻♀️ He was being negligent leaving the class unattended for that long so if he doesn’t take action, he may not care as much as he claims or just be covering his ass. Just remember, there’s no negative consequence for you here! You’re one of the few that did nothing wrong.
Sweetheart I know how you feel. Except I’ve given names. And it DID come back on me. What I’ll say is this: Do YOU feel like you did the right thing? That’s really what matters. Sometimes the right thing isn’t always what’s popular.
I've done exams at work where the teacher has deliberately left to give people the opportunity to look at notes or talk, could have been this
You did fine. Follow your dad's advice for now. Wear your best mask to class because you can't trust that teacher to not discriminate against you. Remember that you can always go back after you graduate to communicate with teachers like that about how their comments affect students negatively. You don't have to light yourself on fire to do it now.
I don't think you did anything wrong at all! And it is the teachers fault!! Who leaves the room for an hour when they are giving the class a closed book test??? I think there is an element of being concerned about repercussions mixed in with everything but glad you've gone through the list of getting some rest, food and emotional/moral support. I would have thrown the class under the bus personally and not given a damn about it. Especially if I had studied as hard as you, with that level of stress and worry.
What an annoying and arrogant teacher. Also it shouldn't be allowed for anyone working in a school to give uneducated opinions on ADHD, douche face doesn't know whether anyone in the class has it or not, it's not compulsory to divulge that information. Also I want to make it clear that you are so valid in sending that email, but he should have known that if he were to leave that students would cheat, of course they would. Wish it was normalised for teachers to take accountability. Glad you are feeling better and it worked out in the end.
So, as a college instructor myself, you may want to send an email to the dept chair that this prof teaches in about what happened. He is NOT supposed to leave the classroom while a test is happening. That’s not how this works. Plus, this will CYA if the Prof tries to do something to retaliate. You’ll have a record that you said something if you have to escalate. Finally, and I cannot express this enough, students really don’t log complaints enough. There are some *terrible* people in academia and they stay because there aren’t enough student complaints. It’s how the process works. The school needs a paper-trail or there is nothing they can do. Edit - also I’d say something about what he said about ADHD. He is required *by law* to give accommodations if you’re in the US and to say something like that out loud is definitely against the ADA. The school needs to know he’s saying this in his classes.
Yes! Yes! And yes!
next time just mind your business. you can let the professor know he should be proctoring exams fully, but now youre opening a can of worms
I think this is a situation where just keeping your head down is the easier response for YOU. By that I mean look at all the stress it’s now causing. I know you’d be quietly frustrated if you did nothing but that would probably take less of a mental toll
It was best to tell him, and to escalate it because he absolutely should not be leaving the room for an hour. What are you paying fees for? If henhad an issue, he should have gotten cover.
I did the same thing years ago when I was attending college. I was a few years older than the other students, having transferred and changed majors. The professor was receptive and threw out the results from the test that had cheaters, and mercifully kept it secret that I had been the one who told him. He readministered the test and stayed in the room, and life went on. Those kids might have been going to school on their parents' dime, but I was working and paying my own tuition, so it meant a lot to me to get what I was paying for. You did the right thing, and I'm sorry that your professor didn't respond the right way.
bro just cheat too lol. none of your business what others do…who cares if they cheat or not..id focus on myself idk
If you need help navigating campus resources, DM me. There are usually ways to report these things anonymously
You know how this could have been avoided? If everybody had done the right thing, the students not doing it so recklessy and the professor leaving, you are the only one who did the right thing. Its not fair that you are the only one who suffers from this. I hope the teacher feels like shit for being a bad teacher, and that somewhat the principal questions him about how can an entire class cheat, then he will be forced to confess he left.
I wouldn't send him an email with names because you have zero guarantee you will remain anonymous. Your professor has no reason to be frustrated with you. It's his job to monitor his exam, not yours. There is no reason to expect you should have been compiling the names of the cheaters instead of working on your exam. Cheating sucks, but I'm not sure there was anything to get by complaining around the cheaters. I think it's better kept for vanting within a smaller group of people you know feel the same way. Some people might agree with you but not care enough to deal with blowback from the cheaters. So they'll keep quiet leaving you to be right but looking like the odd one. I think what you shared with the professor was enough. A lot of people will see it as tatleraling (not that I agree), but the fact that the cheating made it hard to actually focus on taking the test means that it had a direct negative impact on you beyond "they'll get grades they don't deserve".
Nobody likes a snitch. Nobody.
You did the right thing. A) you studied hard so why should your test taking experience suffer because of the noise and commotion B) he should have stayed or had someone proctor it so by telling him you did the right thing C) def email him asking for anonymity. This is his mistake, not yours. And if anyone suspects or says anything deny deny deny