My son just got home from his math final today and said that the test was stopped right after they started. Deans and other school personnel raided the room and checked every student's calculator for preloaded formulas from the stolen exam questions. My son said he had already been approached about buying the test and also said that several kids stood up and left because they knew their calculators contained the stolen formulas.
Now all students will have to retake this final tomorrow. Several students who purchased the stolen test (last year's final) have already been suspended. Also, my son said they believe this mess spans several subjects and that many students were reselling stolen tests. Wow...
Vu2 PS: These could be exaggerated early rumors, but my son was pretty clear on the facts. Also, he was greatly relieved that he never considered buying the exam.
Ahhh, the good ole' fashioned preloaded formula trick. I'm glad to see that kids are still using that incredibly effective cheating technique 15 years after my age-group patented it during the early days of the TI-81 and TI-85.
However, these kids are absolute idiots...anyone employing this technique should have the "format all" technique ready to implement at a seconds notice. At least that's what those who employed this technique told me.
Out of curiosity, what math class was this? Trigonometry, Algebra? Most math classes shouldn't require calculators that can store formulas. In high school and in college, the types of calculators we could have at exams was pretty restricted.
For those looking for a good laugh...go to google and type in "cheating" and "TI-85" or "TI-81." Good stuff.
This has been going on forever...I'm envious that those lucky kids got the tests too. That only happened to me once...and what a glorious day it was. Acct-202...sophomore year in college. I'll never forget how happy I was. In fact, it might have been the best day of my life.
I have to admit, I once reviewed previous 3 years of tests filed at Northern Illinois University library (25+ years ago now) and discovered the next day that my History teacher had combined the tests into my year's final. iIt was quite a rush to discover I could complete the test in 20 mins of the alloted 2 hours (it was multiple choice) and get every answer right! However, if memory serves, I purposely mis-answered a couple of questions just to make it look good...
Anyone know where I can get the Honors Bio test? HA HA - just kidding!
"The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith. " -Bertrand Russell V. Delong
Posts: 3234 | Location: Glen Ellyn, IL | Registered: April 04, 2003
The bio honors test was curved...It had 135 questions and the grade was based on 128 questions. At least that is what it looks like for my daughter. My daughter knew nothing of the cheating. She will look on facebook and let me know what she finds out.
Posts: 790 | Location: glen ellyn Illinois usa | Registered: April 05, 2003
Originally posted by GEmom2: Word online - Facebook - is that it involves Physics Honors as well as an AP History class.
Can't say that is surprising. The vast majority of the cheating takes place in the honors classes. After all, those are the students who find themselves under the most "pressure."
I hope the kids learn a lesson, that they are not permanently harmed and that the teachers use it as a wake up call to actually put forth some effort and change their exams every year.
Originally posted by Vu2: I have to admit, I once reviewed previous 3 years of tests filed at Northern Illinois University library (25+ years ago now) and discovered the next day that my History teacher had combined the tests into my year's final. iIt was quite a rush to discover I could complete the test in 20 mins of the alloted 2 hours (it was multiple choice) and get every answer right! However, if memory serves, I purposely mis-answered a couple of questions just to make it look good...
VU2
That's what happened to me in Acct-202. An old exam made its way around the fraternity and athlete study tables. Word was, the professor had a 5-year rotation on exams and "this exam" was this year's exam. Not totally believing it, I studied anyways...but not as hard as usual. Just to be safe though, I memorized the exam and the right answers. When we sat down in class and got our exams, about 10 of us looked up and the same time and had the biggest smiles on our faces. All ten of us finished that three hour exam in about 33 seconds. We all sat there for the next hour something waiting for the first kid not associated with us to turn in his exam.
The most fun was after getting our results back, seeing which one of us was such an idiot that they actually missed a question....that made for some good ball-busting. They too used the defense that they "intentionally" answered the wrong question so as to throw off the teacher.
That teacher should be fired immediately for being such a lazy piece of work. For the tens of thousands of dollars that I pay in taxes to help pay his salary and to have him use recycled tests is a joke. The school officials are dumber than the kids to think that previous years tests will never resurrect themselves again.
I can confirm this was Honors Pre-Calc. However, the teacher has a good reputation and my son says he works very hard and is well-liked by the students. I'm not sure why the test was being reused. Also, apparently the kids in the class have now been offered an option. They can choose to retake the exam or decide to average their two quarter grades together without this final and skip the test if they're happy with the result. Not sure I like these choices - isn't the point of the final to reenforce what the class has worked on all semester?
do all sections of a course use the same final? Seems like the kids could do some sharing of questions with friends who take the test later just based on memory.
Posts: 790 | Location: glen ellyn Illinois usa | Registered: April 05, 2003
