15 Ways Students Use Smartphones To Cheat On Tests

For a long time, students have found ways to cheat. Students have written the answers on their hands or desks. Some even make cheat sheets and tape them underneath the desk, then peek at those answers during the test-taking time. However, technology has made cheating simpler and easier to do. With the help of smartphones, students can easily access just about any material they may need in order to cheat on tests. Here are 15 ways students can use their smartphones to cheat:

Texting

Using smartphones to text is one of the most popular ways students tend to cheat. Through texting, students can easily send the answers to questions on the test to their friends, and all their friends have to do is look at their phones for the answers.

Another way students cheat by using texting is by sending the answers to themselves in a text message and looking at the text for answers. This is very easy for a lot of students to do, considering they have been texting for years during class and trying to hide their phones from their teachers while texting friends during class – after all, practice makes perfect.

Taking Pictures of Test Questions

Another thing that students can do with their smartphones is take pictures of test questions. This is much easier for those who don’t feel like writing out the questions and answers, or those who are taking pictures of graphs that they can’t draw.

This can be used for cheating if a student looks at pictures of questions and answers from an earlier test, or shares the pictures with someone who hasn’t taken the test yet. Some students also use Bluetooth to get images from a friend outside the exam hall.

Searching The Web

Students can cheat using their smartphones by simply going to Google and typing in whatever they want. With an internet connection, search results can appear in seconds, though they won’t always have the right answer. Search engines can also give pretty accurate answers, which makes it easier for students to find information during a test. Some students also use Facebook for cheating by asking for answers from their pre-planted online friends.

Asking AI Chatbots

AI chatbots are able to respond to questions, clarify concepts, and even assist in drafting replies. A student might enter a test question into an app and rely on the answer it gives rather than figuring out the solution themselves.

Naturally, the response is not always accurate. When the teacher has not given permission to use AI, turning to it during a test may also be considered cheating, even if the student rewords a few parts of the response.

Using Math Solver Apps

Some apps can scan a math problem and show steps for solving it. That’s useful when you’re studying and want to see where you went wrong. During a test where that help isn’t allowed, though, a student could use the app to work through a problem they were supposed to solve themselves.

Saving Notes on a Phone

A phone’s notes app can hold far more than a tiny cheat sheet. Students can save dates, formulas, definitions, or anything else they think might come up on a test.

On a test where notes aren’t allowed, looking at them gives students a reference they aren’t supposed to have. A note that’s fine for studying the night before can become a problem once the test starts.

Opening Downloaded Class Materials

Lecture slides, worksheets, and digital textbooks can all be saved on a phone. A student who isn’t allowed to use course materials during a test could open one to check a fact or find an example from class. Since the files are already downloaded, they may be available even without an internet connection.

Using Flashcard Apps

Flashcards work well for memorizing vocabulary and other facts, yet they can equally serve as a way to peek at answers while taking a test. A student could have an entire set of terms and definitions prepared on their phone. When the test is closed book, scrolling through those cards is no different from consulting a paper study guide.

Using Calculator Apps

Calculator rules aren’t the same for every math test. Some permit a basic calculator, whereas others don’t allow any calculator at all. A phone may give a student access to calculations that the test does not permit.

Even when a calculator is allowed, that doesn’t automatically mean a phone can be used instead. What really matters are the rules for that specific test.

Using Translation Apps

During a language test, a translation app may provide words or phrases that students are supposed to know on their own. Certain apps are even able to translate text that appears through the phone’s camera. That comes in useful while traveling, yet using it on a test without permission undermines the purpose of assessing what the student has learned.

Checking Spelling and Grammar

While a person is typing, phones are able to offer spelling suggestions and assist with correcting grammar. Those suggestions could be used by a student to obtain assistance on a writing or spelling test in which such help is not permitted. Even though it might look like a minor correction, it becomes significant when spelling or grammar is the very thing the teacher is grading.

Listening to Recorded Notes

Some students make recordings of themselves reading their study notes so that they can listen to them again later. These recordings come in handy for reviewing, yet playing them during a test would let a student reach information that might not be allowed.

Rather than reading a sheet of notes, the student would be listening to the same material through their phone.

Getting Help Through a Call

A student can use a phone call to receive assistance from someone who is not taking the exam. That individual might walk them through a question or hint at an answer. The student doesn’t have to swap texts for it to count as cheating; receiving outside help during a solo exam can also violate the rules.

Sharing a Document

With shared documents, multiple people can add or modify text. During an individual test, students might open the same document on their phones and use it to exchange answers back and forth. Collaborating on a class project is one matter, but doing so on an exam that demands independent work is quite another.

Connecting a Smartwatch

A smartwatch is able to show notifications, messages included, coming from a phone it’s paired with. This means a student might get information on the watch rather than having to read it straight from the phone.

Numerous exams set out rules covering smartwatches in addition to phones. Simply keeping the phone out of view does not automatically mean the watch is allowed.

Overall, smartphones have given students more ways to cheat. Instead of students having to hide their hands with all the words on them, students now have to hide their cell phones. It’s crazy how three simple things such as texting, taking pictures, and using search engines can all be used to cheat in the classroom.

However, whether or not many people like to admit it, some students have used at least one of these forms of cheating. While it may be worth it, a lot of students feel like they need to cheat because of fear of getting a bad grade, or they just so happened not to study for a test the night before.

There are also students who may not feel like they’re cheating because it’s not like they’re looking at the person’s paper next to them, and it’s a cool thing to do. However, the use of smartphones for cheating can be punishable.

Title Image Courtesy: Flickr/Jacob Bøtter