Cheating in Online Proctored Exam
Students have found multiple methods to cheat during online proctored exams, ranging from asking family or friends to take the exam on their behalf (known as impersonation) to hiring third party services to take it for them – also referred to as exam fraud.
Others use technical abilities to find answers or consult electronic textbooks without being detected, with cheating rates for online proctored exams rising at alarming rates, further undermining their value and devalue a degree or grade.
Using the Internet
Online proctored exams have become an increasingly popular method used by schools, colleges, and hiring teams to evaluate students and candidates. But they do come with risks; cheaters can use any number of techniques to bypass the system and obtain answers during an online proctored exam – with internet use often being one of the primary means to cheat during one. Students and candidates often utilize it during an exam as they search the web for answers while using notes/books open on another tab/window to access unauthorised websites/search engines to try to cheat during an exam.
Another method for cheating in an online exam is impersonation, either before or during it. Students often share their login details with someone else so they can take their exams for them – this could include family, friends or tutors taking it over on behalf of students. While difficult to detect this form of exam fraud can still happen.
Thirdly, another way of cheating online exams is through screen sharing and mirroring. This enables students to use two monitors during an exam while sharing it with a friend or expert for answering specific questions. A remote invigilator may have difficulty detecting such fraud, making this form of exam fraud extremely hard to detect – potentially dangerously so.
Students and candidates can be extremely inventive when it comes to cheating during online exams. They will use various means such as hiding notes or sheets of paper under their seats or writing on their arms during an exam to attempt cheating, so educators must become acquainted with all methods students and candidates use in order to thwart such attempts at cheating during online exams and develop foolproof solutions for online exam security.
Using Your Own System
While traditional cheating methods, like hiding notes or writing on the palm, remain effective ways to bypass online proctored exam security protocols, others use more innovative strategies. Students could leverage screen sharing or mirroring technology to access multiple monitors, so they could consult with friends or experts during testing to craft answers faster without detection.
Another effective technique for cheating in proctored exams and tests online is deliberately logging out. This could be accomplished through power disruption, poor internet connectivity or accidentally unplugging their device – thus leaving no evidence for an online proctor to detect cheating and returning back to search for answers on original device. While it might sound unlikely, students and job aspirants alike have used this tactic successfully to cheat exams or tests administered via proctored platforms.
Modern online proctoring software can now detect such activity and prevent cheating during exams or tests. Some assessment tools use biometrics, anatomy scans, facial recognition or AI to validate student identity before entering their test center; others utilize AI to detect suspicious activities like moving objects or extra noises that would indicate cheating; while several new platforms now employ virtual machines to detect unauthorised collaboration and ensure that only one test taker enters.
Students and job aspirants may attempt to bypass the system by creating distractions or finding excuses to prevent the camera from recording their behaviors during an online proctored exam or Zoom proctored test. Claiming power disruption or other technical problems as an excuse could allow them to avoid being seen by the proctor – this tactic allows them to conceal any wrongdoing from him/herself while providing the perfect way for cheating an exam!
An alternative creative means of cheating in online proctored exams is impersonation. Students and job aspirants may ask friends or family members who specialize in the subject area to take an exam, quiz, or test on their behalf – this strategy has proven particularly successful when dealing with multiple proctored exams simultaneously. Some students have even used twins or look-alikes as proxy takers of online exams!
Using Other Devices
Online proctored exams use sophisticated software and technology to remotely monitor and invigilate students during an examination, replicating traditional in-person exams for an efficient assessment environment. Unfortunately, many students find ways to cheat during these assessments by using additional hardware, mobile phones or even the Internet – this poses a threat to credibility of online assessments as well as negatively affecting careers of the students taking them.
Some students go so far as to hire impostor candidates to take exams on their behalf. This method of cheating is difficult for proctors to detect. Interception software provides a prerecorded video feed directly into the proctoring system from a computer and external projector; then students should ensure the projected image does not face away from the webcam so as not to give away who the real candidate is.
Other devices used to cheat during an online exam include smartphones, electronic textbooks and personal notes on discreet pieces of paper. Students can use these resources to search for answers to any questions they don’t fully comprehend or don’t know the answer to. In addition, students may use earpieces during their exam that remain undetectable by proctoring systems.
Students have also been known to utilize keyboards during an online exam as an effective way of cheating; it allows them to navigate quickly through other windows on the device without being detected by proctoring software and can even help hide keyboard activity from proctor’s view, making it hard for them to identify any possible cheating activity.
Methods of cheating in an online exam include creating fake identities and exploiting social media. Furthermore, students have even been known to hire impostors to take the exam for them so as to manipulate its results; this should be strictly avoided as an extreme form of cheating.
Using a Keyboard
Many educational institutions and hiring teams rely on online examinations and skill assessments to evaluate students and candidates. Unfortunately, technology used for cheating during proctored online exams has become an increasing problem; students frequently exploit loopholes to bypass examination procedures in order to cheat.
One common way of cheating in an online proctored test is using a keyboard to gain access to another window that displays questions or answers, then copy and paste responses onto that window using it as well. This form of cheating requires minimal physical movement and cannot be detected by remote proctor software.
Students often turn to external devices like hard drives and microSDs in order to copy an online exam and distribute it among classmates during testing. Some may even turn to video calls in order to ask friends or family for assistance during an exam; this practice can lead to plagiarism charges as well as possible disciplinary measures being taken against these students.
An effective and easy way to cheat in an online exam is using a smartphone or tablet to record the screen and transmit it to someone who will provide answers later. This method has proven quite popular with students as it is untraceable by remote proctors.
Students often take advantage of system glitches by deliberately logging out during an exam, then using any available excuse – power disruption, poor internet connection or otherwise – as an excuse for leaving unscheduled. This gives them an excuse not to be caught, giving them another opportunity to take the exam without risk of detection.
Some students employ programmable scientific calculators as notes and formula storage devices during online proctored exams, which they can conceal either under a table or inside their clothing so as not to be detected by remote proctors. Furthermore, others utilize undetectable virtual machines in order to take two operating systems at the same time during an exam; then switch between them in an attempt to cheat on it.