How To Cheat Online Exams
Online proctored exams are becoming more prevalent, and students have come up with creative ways to cheat them. Cheaters use tools and methods to conceal devices from proctors – including using family or experts who will take the exam instead of them – or hide devices using various strategies that hide devices that they have taken for a test.
Users often employ techniques to bypass proctoring software and fake an unstable connection, in addition to various tricks used to cheat in an online proctored test. Here are some of the most frequently employed tactics for cheating during online proctored exams.
1. Hiding Devices
At an online exam, gadgets like smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and monitors can help students conceal their answers from remote proctoring software. By creating a private environment in which only you have access to, this technique allows students to search online or consult books unauthorized by proctoring services for answers – but any answer hacking app must be reliable and undetectable for it to work successfully. Some students go so far as hiding a small digital camera so they can contact friends or family outside the exam room if help is required from them outsider proctoring software.
Students often cheat during non-proctored online tests by using various devices to communicate with outsiders during the exam, including mobile phones and tablets, social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat or instant messaging apps as well as video-conferencing tools like Skype or FaceTime – an approach commonly utilized by those seeking a high score with minimal studying efforts. This form of cheating has become an accepted way for students to achieve this result.
Many students find themselves in an impossible situation when taking online exams that are timed, especially those that entail timed tests. A ticking clock gives students a justifiable excuse for looking up answers on their phones or using other forms of cheating which do not violate test policy. Unfortunately, however, due to rapid technological development and widespread adoption of e-learning, this form of cheating has become more sophisticated over time and more challenging.
Educational institutes have therefore devised new methods of fighting academic dishonesty online learning environment. This infographic dispels some of the myths surrounding online exam cheating while outlining how it can be avoided.
Cheating during tests often involves concealing information with “cheat sheets”, pieces of paper that contain answers for every question on an assessment test. Cheat sheets can be placed under clothing, in pockets or pens, or kept next to an online assessment screen. They’re particularly effective during low-stakes exams such as school and university exams but less effective against tests using remote proctoring technology and human proctors for monitoring respondents.
2. Facial Recognition
Undertaking an online exam requires respondents to stare directly at the screen throughout, unlike an in-person test where cheat sheets may be hidden under clothing. Therefore, many individuals use different techniques for cheating online tests.
Some methods for answering exams can be as straightforward as writing the answers on their palms, while others can be far more complex. Some individuals try using pea-sized Bluetooth devices that they hide under clothing or on pens so they can search using voice command; others bring mobile phones equipped with cameras and external keyboards so they can take selfies during assessments to take photos of handwritten notes during assessments.
Impersonation is another common method for cheating during online assessments, particularly during COVID-19, but this technique can be used on any type of examination from school exams to college assessments and business evaluations. Unfortunately, however, this tactic can easily be detected as many online proctoring solutions feature AI or human proctors to verify respondent identity during assessments and monitor for suspicious activity.
Timer settings on online timed assessments present one of the greatest barriers to cheating during an assessment; respondent must act quickly in finding answers quickly enough. But this barrier can be circumvented by accessing and changing code from a remote assessment platform and altering timer settings; this allows respondent to cheat by adding extra time for completion – giving more chances for cheating answers from phones or other devices.
Although these techniques aren’t foolproof, they can help you pass exams without being caught by a proctor. To prevent yourself from falling prey to these tricks, arrive at the exam site without anything that might easily catch a proctor’s eye – such as pencils and water bottles which might otherwise cause cheating charges to arise.
3. Screen Mirroring/Sharing
Use of a screen-mirroring app during an online exam allows students to share their laptop contents with someone who knows the answers for the exam questions; oftentimes this person could be another student or someone with advanced knowledge who then answers those questions while the student watches on in silence – it is an increasingly popular method of cheating during such tests.
Universities and colleges alike have moved their examinations online, creating tests which can be difficult for educational institutes to monitor due to being conducted from students’ homes. As such, this has prompted students to find various means of cheating online exams; one popular technique involves hacking multiple-choice answers in multiple-choice exams using special software that displays them as code so that correct answers can be identified with 1s and 0s, the traditional code format.
Cheating during an online exam is made simpler with a cheat sheet prepared before the test begins, or by simply getting assistance during testing by hiring a “helper,” such as a friend or professional who will dictate answers back to them.
Cheating can be particularly effective for timed online tests, as helpers can aid students in finishing early. Students should remember, however, that cheating remains illegal and could lead to serious repercussions.
Online proctoring companies employ various measures to prevent this from occurring, including recording video and audio of test-takers as they take part in exams, monitoring for sudden visual or audio changes that indicate suspicious activities, offering secure browsers that prevent accessing any websites that could enable cheating during an exam, etc. Unfortunately, however, cheating during online exams remains a significant problem despite these methods of prevention.
4. Hacking the Multiple-Choice Answers
Students attempting online exams frequently employ various means to cheat. While universities, colleges and schools have implemented remote proctoring software to address this issue, students have found ways around it.
Respondents can use their mobile device or monitor to quickly research answers online when questions are displayed, providing answers before being asked by their teacher and saving time. It’s important that when responding, respondents ensure their screen doesn’t come within view of a test supervisor – to do this they may wear headphones with discreet wireless models like Apple Airpods which make their gadget less visible.
Multiple-choice questions tend to make the correct answers readily apparent by simply reviewing the options displayed on screen, while true/false questions might require closer inspection for an answer that may not be readily apparent. Therefore, students should try their best to observe correct responses as they come through by wearing wireless earphones or covering their tablet or smartphone screen with their hands while looking.
In answering true/false questions, it may be useful for students to choose an answer which is less likely to repeat previous options (i.e. option B or option D). By doing so, they may be able to guess correctly without getting caught.
One common method of cheating an online exam is hiring someone else to take it for them, although this may not be ideal as it provides quick and cheap way of getting all the right answers without risking detection from test supervisors.
As online assessments increase in popularity, so does the need to protect students from cheating and piracy. Finding an equitable educational experience while simultaneously preventing academic misconduct has proven challenging in this digital era; nonetheless there are ways educators can stop cheating online to ensure all their students have equal chances to success.