How to Cheat in Remote Proctored Exam
Online proctored exams are now a required component of student exams as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but students still discover inventive methods to cheat on these exams.
Remote Proctors (RPs) are people who watch an online test-taker while they take it using software and a live video stream to look for signs of malpractice like cheating.
1. Lockdown Browsers
Some students have managed to get beyond lockdown browsers and Respondus Monitor, which are features used to stop cheating during an online exam.
Using keyboard shortcuts or applications like Manycam to hide their activity and avoid being spotted during an exam gives students who are trying to cheat on online examinations a handy way to do so without running the risk of getting caught.
Some students try to evade an online exam camera by leaving it with a justification, like a bad internet connection or technical difficulties, pausing the camera and looking up the answers on their computer instead of answering directly. During this exam procedure, students can use apps like Zoom to connect with their helper.
As a result, teachers should refrain from using remote proctoring technologies and lockdown browsers excessively when administering tests. The efficiency of these technologies in preventing cheating on online tests has not yet been established, and they may make students more anxious and put strain on their connection with their teachers. Instead, teachers should design tests that are more difficult than ever to cheat on. Limiting the number of questions, assigning written essays, having students answer loudly, or having them demonstrate their understanding through body language are all effective ways to do this. Launched in the spring of 2020, LaneCCMoodle’s Respondus Monitor (Lockdown Browser + Webcam) enables students to take tests without internet cheating and offers stress-free, high-quality evaluations.
2. Virtual Machines
Academic dishonesty has long been a problem. While it may seem like archaic cheating methods to tuck notes under your arm or math formula books in your backpack, technology advancements have made more sophisticated ways to get around academic systems available.
Test takers go through a similar identification and verification process while taking Remote Proctored examinations as they do when taking conventional class-based exams since these exams have various built-in precautions and deterrents. Before being asked if their laptop satisfies certain requirements, such as having a stable broadband connection and working microphone, they are typically asked to enable their webcam and provide a photo or scan of ID. Additionally, if any restricted items, such as drinks, tissue boxes, etc. are on their desk, they may be asked to remove them before an exam session begins.
Using virtual machines to look up answers during an online exam is becoming a more sophisticated kind of cheating. Candidates must be familiar with virtual computers in order to use this strategy, but once enabled, they can use the alternative operating system to search up answers to multiple-choice questions on an exam.
Notably, employing virtual machines for exam cheating is risky and costly, and could result in suspension or expulsion from the test. The use of proctoring software could expose a student to legal action because it could identify such behaviour and report it for investigation.
3. Using a Textbook or a Small Laptop
An essential component of online education is technology. It offers flexibility of use to educators while enabling flexibility, scalability, and cost effectiveness for students. However, technology also creates fresh problems that call for creative fixes. Although students have devised ways to get past this technology by sharing screens or utilizing software emulators, educators still have a significant difficulty in preventing test cheating from occurring. Locked down browsers may help educators maintain academic integrity during proctored exams.
Students may attempt to mirror their primary monitor to a friend during an online exam so that they can cheat by giving the friend the answers. However, it is essential that none of the projected images look directly at the webcam; otherwise, the proctoring software might notice and flag it as suspicious behavior.
Using a textbook or a small laptop to look up exam answers is another common technique used by students trying to cheat on online exams. Although some students still employ this tactic in open universities and colleges, it has proven particularly popular during pandemic outbreaks when schools and colleges are closed.
Companies who provide online skill assessment software should be aware of the various techniques candidates can use to cheat on remote proctored tests so they can include the necessary fraud protection safeguards. Exams that are remotely proctored offer more opportunities for cheating than earlier exams did, making it necessary to use advanced fraud detection and deterrence methods to prevent cheating.
4. Mirroring the Main Monitor
Due to its convenience, scalability, and affordability, online proctored tests have quickly become a top alternative for academic institutions. But along with all of these benefits comes a disadvantage: it’s simple to hack into these systems, which makes it possible for kids to cheat on tests. Cheating on an exam can result in immediate failure or even ejection from the testing room. Teachers work ceaselessly on techniques to maintain integrity inside online testing environments, but it remains difficult.
Mirroring their primary display onto an external projector and allowing relatives or friends to watch and help throughout the exam are two popular ways that online exam takers cheat. Other technological tools that students can use to interact with tutors outside of the classroom include smartwatches and microphones. Some even turn to apps like WhatsApp, which are not allowed during exams, to share answers with one another.
Using software like Manycam to record yourself during an online exam and then importing the recorded material into proctoring software is another way to cheat. This demands additional technical expertise because it calls for knowledge of both operating systems (OSs).
Solutions for remote proctoring have been developed expressly to counteract various types of fraud. They often disable a lot of screen activity and forbid students from using anything besides exam-specific software or web browsing while taking tests. Dual cameras, room scans, and other features that can detect cheating or suspicious behavior are included in good proctoring solutions. By learning how students attempt to cheat during online exams, skill assessment software developers and providers can improve and fortify fraud detection measures within their products.
5. Using Multiple Monitors
Hacking and coding students utilize specialized software to recognize the right answers to multiple-choice questions and display the results as code in a testing environment. The right answers are distinguished by 1s and 0s, while the wrong ones have random text codings. This strategy, meanwhile, only functions in the absence of any extra tools for tracking and recognizing on-screen activity.
Another successful method used by students wanting to cheat on online tests is the use of several monitors, which enables a helper from outside to view their screen and signal them the answers. Such devices can easily facilitate cheating during online proctored exams as they can detect this tactic through sophisticated AI-based remote exam software that tracks head movements, facial expressions, and suspicious behaviors. Communication between this helper and smartwatches with built-in microphones that directly connect with friends or family members may also occur.
Additionally, using software or keyboard shortcuts to hide the mouse cursor, using smartwatches to store answers, using cameras in one’s room to get help from friends or family, writing cheating notes on one’s palm or hiding them behind a water bottle are all examples of ways to cheat during an online proctored exam.
The consequences of cheating on an online exam might be severe, so students should keep this in mind. Cheating is academic misconduct and can get a student suspended or kicked out of their program or course. By identifying alternative ways to improve performance, such as reading the content in advance of the exam, students can avoid using exam cheating.