Can We Cheat In Online Exam
Online education has revolutionized how students study and learn, yet has it also changed the ways in which they cheat?
Students often resort to various techniques in order to pass online exams by cheating – from mobile phone use and accessing unapproved materials to impersonating others and accessing unsecure networks.
Other methods may include using a virtual machine, mirroring or sharing their screen, and having someone take an exam for them.
1. Accessing Unauthorized Materials
Online exam cheating is a serious threat for educational institutions and students. While rapid technological development and the surge in e-learning has made studying remotely simpler for students, this has also made it harder for institutions to monitor academic misconduct effectively and detect it during online examinations. Students frequently utilize both technology and their own abilities in order to cheat during these examinations.
Test takers in the online environment may find themselves faced with various temptations when taking exams online, from accessing unauthorised materials to hacking exam content. Although some of these cheating techniques may appear simple to implement, cheating in any form constitutes a serious academic offense and should always be avoided at all costs.
Some students try to hide their face, vanish from the screen or whisper softly during an online exam to fool remote proctoring software into thinking they are being honest – this type of behavior may lead to false positives as well as suspicion from both proctors and fellow examinees. Furthermore, recent pandemic cases have shown an alarming surge in students caught engaging in such tactics during high-stakes tests.
Though jotting down math formulas on palms or asking others for answers has long been used as a form of cheating during an online exam, more sophisticated means have also emerged to cheat. Some such as Bluetooth calculators that store formulas or data have come onto the scene while more low-tech solutions include placing sticky notes around rooms or tables as alternative strategies.
One of the easiest and most widespread ways of cheating during an online exam is using a separate browser to search the web or other sites for answers while taking an exam. To prevent this from occurring, Questionmark offers a locked-down browser which prevents students from leaving the page without being detected by its AI system.
Other unauthorized materials could include additional objects like desks, chairs, beds; additional noise or humming; and even hidden cameras. To prevent this, Alemira Proctor requires students to undergo a pre-exam environmental scan in order to identify any objects that might serve as cheating aids during testing.
2. Screen Mirroring/Sharing
Online proctoring companies use software and hardware tools to prevent students from cheating, yet students have found ways to bypass these measures – whether using remote computers to give exams to another student, sharing screens with sitting nearby friends while passing along answers via cell phone or sign language or even falsifying system errors to gain extra time for studying.
These clever strategies have become more and more widespread as students adapt to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. While searching Google is still useful, many students are turning to TikTok and other group chat apps in order to easily share cheat sheets and information among themselves – even taping notes onto monitors and desk edges while trying to appear natural during online exams.
Proctoring software should be able to detect this form of cheating by looking out for extra noises or changes in behavior from students using virtual machines as extra operating systems for searching the answer. Often this form of behavior will be detected.
Some students attempt to bribe the proctor in order to gain extra time for their exams. They might fake an error with the system or claim their internet connection is dropping, in order to convince the proctor there is something amiss and grant them additional time on their test. They might also try recruiting an assistant to answer questions for them using Team Viewer or similar RDC software which allows remote desktop control (RDC), such as RDP Manager Pro. That way, both students can give exams together and achieve high scores on each of their exams!
3. Hacking Exam Content
Students have developed numerous devious schemes for cheating in online exams. Some strategies involve technical tricks that are hard for proctoring systems to detect; other ways involve more subtle means of getting answers.
Students often turn to multiple monitors in order to mirror the original screen and have someone take the test for them, giving access to questions on one monitor while their friend searches the internet for answers on another – one of the most widely-used and effective strategies for cheating during online tests.
Another method involves the use of a portable device capable of storing information, such as formulas. Once connected to your computer, this portable storage unit can be hidden under desks and chairs – or hidden by students themselves in clothing or the hood of their car in order to gain access without being detected.
Some students hire experts to help them cheat in online exams. These professionals may be able to use hacking techniques or taking the exam on behalf of the student in question – which not only violates ethics but puts academic integrity at stake as well.
Students attempting to cheat during online exams often use water bottles as cheat sheets because the proctor cannot see what is written on its lid. Students may also write on their palms or bodies before looking around the room and whispering to friends in an attempt to reduce stress during tests.
Some students use technology to their advantage by prerecording themselves using software in a proctored setting and then using this video as their default webcam during exams without getting caught. This technique requires very savvy and subtle students, only the most talented of whom can pull it off successfully.
Students often devise novel ways of cheating in online exams. This is particularly true if their efforts won’t be detected by invigilators or proctoring technology; to stop this from occurring, tighten up authentication processes and add layers of security protections.
4. Impersonating Others
If you are an overachieving student, it may be tempting to recruit another to take an online exam on your behalf – one of the more pernicious forms of cheating as it’s hard to detect. Some students even try wearing similar makeup or masks so as to stay unnoticed by instructor or proctors.
Hacking exam content to cheat in an online examination is another method students have available to them to them in an attempt to cheat the system. A student with knowledge of coding and programming may use software during an examination to change multiple-choice questions into answers that match their answers and then submit this test, making the occurrence harder to detect as most proctoring platforms only look for suspicious activities like opening new tabs quickly or moving the mouse quickly enough to detect suspicious activities like this one.
Proctoring platforms that can detect this type of cheating and immediately notify students is one way to effectively eliminate this type of plagiarism. For example, the online proctoring platform Mercer | Mettl can eliminate impersonation risk through various verification techniques, including OTP verification, Aadhar/biometric authentication and ID authentication, which allow candidates to be verified to ensure only those eligible take their exam. In addition, this platform offers a safe exam browser which blocks internet access while monitoring candidates for suspicious activity or behavior changes during exams.
Tech gadgets such as smartwatches and microphones have become common tools used by students while taking online tests. Some students also utilize remote software to connect with helpers outside the exam room in order to assist in answering questions, projectors often being used to show answers on screens and some even trying to bypass proctoring tools by using virtual machines, insider assistance or spyware apps; it should be remembered that cheating will never lead to success and should always be avoided in favor of studying honestly for the duration of an academic year and working hard towards attaining their academic objectives.