Cheating During Online Exam
Cheating during online exams has become more prevalent. Many students use various means to feign taking an examination – from writing out math formulas on their palms to hiring experts to take the exam for them.
Other technical methods for cheating include using sticky notes or virtual machines to look for answers. Proctoring software like Questionmark can prevent this type of cheating by providing a locked browser which blocks external applications.
Accessing Unauthorized Materials
Online proctoring software can be an excellent way to prevent cheating during an online exam. Students using this technology must use specific monitoring software and show ID before taking their exam, which is also recorded using webcam. With these measures in place, there’s almost no chance for cheating during such exams; students cannot receive outside help or use unfair means in order to achieve better grades during these assessments.
Students often try various tactics to gain access to unauthorized materials during online exams, including using external devices (phones and smartwatches), messaging tools and social media platforms or getting help from those familiar with the exam answers. Some even employ professional test takers or trusted friends as impostor examination takers during an exam – however these strategies can easily be identified and stopped using appropriate tools.
Students taking online exams often resort to looking up answers beforehand for any unfamiliar questions – either through formal braindump sites or more informal “test prep” forums. Unfortunately, this approach makes it hard to differentiate between someone with pre-knowledge of answers and someone who simply knows enough for the exam.
At an online exam, it’s essential for students to make every effort to avoid accessing any unauthorized materials. This means taking the test in a private and quiet environment without distractions; placing away books, notes and any other unauthorized material prior to starting; turning off apps or services which might alert or disturb them during testing; as well as foregoing wearing clothing that identifies themselves during an exam.
Many instructors and institutions are exploring alternatives to proctoring as a method for cheating detection during online exams, such as challenge questions, biometrics, text originality checks and lockdown browsers. All these technologies have been created specifically to combat cheating behavior during exams conducted online.
Screen Mirroring/Sharing
Online examinations are becoming more and more prevalent as a means for students to access higher education courses when living away from the institute of their choice. Unfortunately, online exams aren’t foolproof and students have found various means of cheating during them – some needing specific equipment while others being straightforward and quick ways. Unfortunately these cheating practices could result in serious repercussions for both candidates and institute alike.
Screen mirroring is one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to cheat during an online exam. This technique allows users to display the screen from their mobile device onto another display – be it a TV screen, projector screen or another computer’s monitor; or using an app such as Mirroring Pro on smartphones and tablets – without the use of cables – giving them freedom to move around while taking an exam.
Proctoring software will likely detect this approach; however, you may still be able to deceive them by using software like ManyCam to create a virtual webcam and send your proctor prerecorded videos of you browsing the internet during an exam; they’ll assume that what they see is real footage!
An alternative method of cheating during online exams is the use of virtual private networks (VPN). A VPN enables you to securely connect to another computer and access its files remotely, then search your VM for answers to questions that arise and highlight them with colors – then run these highlights through online coding software to determine their correct solutions.
In order to avoid cheating during exams, take care to take them in a private location without distractions and stay calm and quiet during them. In addition, make sure your internet connection remains stable while unplugging any additional monitors; also avoid software that could potentially aid cheating activities.
Impersonation
Students often attempt to cheat during online exams by impersonating other students or creating false identities to access exam questions and solutions ahead of or during testing, according to Korman (2010). Such attempts at cheating have an enormously detrimental impact on exam fairness as it creates false confidence among test-takers about their abilities.
Instructors can utilize video proctoring and other monitoring technologies to detect impersonation during exams. Such systems typically require students to show their face and ID over the camera and flag any instances where a different person appears on-screen. Furthermore, some systems track physical movements so as to detect any attempts by students at moving or concealing items that could indicate cheating during an examination.
After an exam has concluded, using data forensics techniques can also help detect cheaters. Psychometricians can analyze testing data such as response times and wrong-to-right answer changes to determine whether a student cheated.
One method of detecting impersonation is using social network analysis to identify students who work closely together, creating unique questions for each cluster of students thereby making it harder for friends to collaborate during online exams.
Other methods of detecting cheaters include biometrics to monitor stress levels and facial recognition technology that can detect nervousness as a telltale sign of cheating. AI-based proctoring technology also tracks students to identify any suspicious activities during exams (Mengash, 2019).
Some students attempt to buy themselves more time by submitting corrupted answer files or reporting technical issues with the exam system or proctoring software, hoping for teachers’ sympathy rather than punishment, which encourages further cheating behavior from these cheaters.
Virtual Machine
Students seeking to bypass remote invigilation technology during online exams often utilize virtual machine usage, which involves installing an additional operating system on a computer and using it during an exam to search for answers. Proctoring software cannot easily detect this method due to virtual machines not being visible by primary operating systems. Therefore, to prevent cheating during an online examination it is imperative that proctoring software can detect screen sharing, hardware issues and any anomalies.
Impersonating someone else is another effective method for cheating in online exams, providing access to forbidden materials like sticky notes and test questions that cannot otherwise be seen by an examiner. It works especially well during international standardized exams such as GMAT and GRE which take place all around the globe at different times and locations.
Smartphones have revolutionized cheating during an online exam. Through apps like ManyCam, candidates can pre-record themselves browsing the web before using this video footage as their default webcam during an exam – this enables them to hide themselves or any suspicious activities from being detected by camera, convincing proctoring software they are being truthful.
Other methods of cheating during an online exam include creating technical difficulties or convincing a proctor that they have lost internet connectivity, delaying an examination further by convincing them of this fact. Preventing such instances from happening requires extensive training for human proctors in order to avoid it during online examinations.
Academic dishonesty is an enormous problem in educational institutions, and the trend is only getting worse as more students embrace online education and e-learning. There are endless ways for cheating during an online exam, and its consequences for both student and institution may be severe; decreased grades, suspension and expulsion could all occur; as could irreparably damage one’s professional and academic reputation in perpetuity.