# Does everyone cheat a little in college, should I feel guilty about myself?



## 933127 (May 14, 2013)

I am hopefully graduating with a degree in accounting this May of 2015. One thing that is bugging me is if I should feel guilty about some of the cheating I have done and gotten away with during my college years. During my freshman, sophomore, and junior year of college at least once every semester there would be one class in which I would quickly glance over another student's test. For example one of these instances took place during my freshman year in an economics class. During the second midterm I looked only at my exam, however there was one question I was unsure about. I knew the answer was not A or B. The answer had to be both C or D. Temptation got the better of me and I looked at another student's test briefly to see what he put. The guy put B as his answer which was definitely wrong in my opinion, so I ended picking D as my answer. This type of cheating that I did in college once again would happen maybe once every semester in at least one class during a multiple choice exam. If the exam involved writing, I NEVER looked at another student's answers. It was basically a glance briefly to compare and contrast another student's answer for only one or two hard multiple choice questions I was unsure about. 

Another thing I did once was during my junior year. I was taking a statistics class. We were allowed to bring a typed up formula sheet we had to create by ourselves. It had to be typed and follow certain margins and font size. I followed the rules; however there was a formula and example problem I really wanted to include. However I had already ran out of room. So I decided to write it down really small using a pencil onto my typed formula sheet. During the test I would use the formula sheet we were allowed to bring. After the exam I would erase the pencil written formula on the typed formula sheet. I did it because we were required to turn in our typed formula sheet. 

During my college years I would write essays entirely in my own words and never cheated in my accounting classes. *I have never cheated in the form of collaboration, taking pictures, stealing answer keys, sharing answers with other students, using crib notes, texting, using phone to Google answers, writing on desks, hands or arms. These cheating methods are things I have seen other students do on tests (never reported them though, just looked away and ignored)* However I did have wandering eye syndrome every once in a while as described in the first paragraph and I did add some additional formulas when I ran out of space on a formula sheet that had to be typed. All of which happened in non accounting related classes. 

I am proud of myself for not doing any of the obvious forms of cheating I have seen other students do as listed above. However I feel guilty as my formula writing and eye glancing itself is a more subtle but none the less still a form of cheating. Should I feel guilty about myself? Or should I not go too hard on myself as almost everyone has cheated a little or a lot in college?


----------



## 933127 (May 14, 2013)

.....Can someone please reply to my post and post thier opinion. I am pretty sure many of you here have either finished college, dropped out of college or are still a college student like me. 

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who has glanced every once in a while on rare ocassions or snuck a few more things on a allowed formula sheet. I would like to read someone else's rationale on whether I should forgive or go hard on myself for what I have done.


----------



## Shameful (Sep 5, 2014)

:stu who cares. You didn't hurt anyone.


----------



## thetown (Aug 16, 2014)

hey, all the methods that you used to cheat... well i'm pretty sure a lot of people have done them. i mean glancing at another student's test is so hard to avoid, especially when your classmates are sitting at arm's length. i don't think that there's anybody in the world that has never cheated during a test before, so yeah don't feel bad. as long as you didn't copy someone else's essay word for word or writing down answers for the next test.. then you're all right. 

now, if you feel really guilty on yourself, remember that our brains won't ever remember every single little detail. but you really want to stop cheating, then study harder? good luck, but don't give up!!


----------



## jeanny (Apr 17, 2014)

You're going to Hell.


----------



## kageri (Oct 2, 2014)

Does it harm the other student? no. So does it impact the quality of your degree and the work you will do for people in the future? If not then who cares. *i *never cheated in college but my mom pretended to be me to sign me up for classes sometimes and two online classes about communications she did in my place. :blank

I did cheat in lower grades occasionally. I also scratched math formulas in highschool calc in to a leather sports watch band. I stored physics formulas we were supposed to memorize in to the programs section of my calculator. Did any of it harm the future outcome of anything? Nope. It made no difference one way or another as to where I and everyone one else in the class are today.


----------



## joked35 (Oct 13, 2013)

I cheated and I don't care.


----------



## 933127 (May 14, 2013)

Lovecrushed said:


> hey, all the methods that you used to cheat...


I only used two methods so far in college. The other methods I listed are ONES I have NEVER done, but I've seen other students do.


----------



## thetown (Aug 16, 2014)

933127 said:


> I only used two methods so far in college. The other methods I listed are ONES I have NEVER done, but I've seen other students do.


yeah yeah, i meant the ones that you *used* not all of the ones that you listed. sorry about the confusion.


----------



## nomenclature (Sep 1, 2014)

I'm currently in my second year of college and have never cheated. It's not because of higher morals or whatever, though. I just don't trust anyone around me enough for my grade to depend on their intelligence.


----------



## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

I never cheated, but why ask here if you should feel guilty or not?


----------



## 933127 (May 14, 2013)

When it comes to using crib notes, or using electronic devices to cheat I am able to discipline myself to not do it. I am good at paraphrasing and summarizing research material for essays. So I never could fathom why someone would copy and paste something that is not thier own. It is not that hard to write in your own words and avoid matching.

However on rare ocassions I have allowed my temptations get the better of me. Like I said before a few times I have quickly glanced someone else's multiple choice answer and compared it to mine to see if I selected the same answer as them. This happened especially with the difficult questions. Compare and contrast glance is basically what it was.

Then there was the addition of pencil written formulas on something that should have been entirely typed. 

The reason why I posted this is because I want to know if it is common for students in college and high school to use the two subtle methods I listed even when they avoided and did not cheat using the more obvious forms. 

My other concern is whether these two more subtle forms of cheating are just as bad as someone using crib notes, writing on hand, arms, collaborating, using phone to take pictures of test or search up test question answers. Also whether using them on rare ocassions should be forgivable since they are considered less bad when compared to using crib notes.

.....It just bugs me that I have glanced for a few seconds on someone else's paper and hand written additional things on a typed formula sheet.


----------



## tonyhd71 (Jul 27, 2014)

I cheated in high school, but that's because the teacher was horrible and didn't teach. That class was a joke (not the subject, the class- the subject AP Chemistry was hard). 

The class wasa joke because all the students always joked around with the teacher. The teacher did not teach at all, so I just stored all the notes and formulas on my graphing calculator she gave us study guides, so I also wrote what was on them and stored it on my calculator.

To answer your question, no I don't feel guilty about it.


----------



## BobDylans115thDream (Jan 18, 2015)

I don't think you should worry too much about cheating as long as you're not doing something very risky and as long as you actually understand the course material. I think a lot of people cheat a little bit in their own ways. Just make sure you _actually _understand the course material, as this will actually be relevant to your career. But, I mean, if you can bump your mark up from an 88 to a 90, why not? The person beside you might do that, so there's no problem evening the playing field in my opinion. 

Just for the love of god, do not get caught!


----------



## 933127 (May 14, 2013)

BobDylans115thDream,

Thank you for your reply. I understand what you mean by more risky and actually learning the material.

I have never cheated using crib notes, or cell phones due to the fact that these forms of cheating tend to rob you the most in terms of actually knowing the material needed after college when you get a job. These forms of cheating are also more risky, as you have to constantly check to make sure the instructor does not see you using them, which wastes valuable time you could have used to get half the test done if you had already known the information well.

I have always studied on my own, the wandering eye syndrome and small addition on my formula sheet were microscopic temptations that I sometimes could not resist for whatever reason. 

I still feel guilty about doing them though, which is a good thing but at the same time I should probaly not go hard on myself right?


----------



## Hilla (Jul 18, 2013)

It's not cheating unless you get caugth.


----------



## Imbored21 (Jun 18, 2012)

I've cheated hundreds of times in my acedemic career. A lot less now than I did in k-12, but I sitll do on the occasion. Don't feel bad. Everyone cheats.


----------



## BobDylans115thDream (Jan 18, 2015)

933127 said:


> BobDylans115thDream,
> 
> Thank you for your reply. I understand what you mean by more risky and actually learning the material.
> 
> ...


Absolutely. You sound like a good student. Keep working hard and don't be so hard on yourself. At the end of the day when you have a successful career no one will care that you once looked at your neighbour's answer on an exam.


----------



## Farideh (Nov 13, 2011)

Oooh girl A LOT of people cheat in college. When the professor would leave the class, some students were all like "yo help me out" I would always lie and tell them I did not study. aha


----------



## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

I cheated a lot during middle school and high school, even got caught a few times before the tests. It was so embarrassing but luckily I had not taken the tests yet and my grades were not penalized.

College is a different story. For many (keyword many, not all) college courses you take there are only a few to several exams per course, so a lot of emphasis is placed onto the exams and are unsurprisingly more substantial than the tests taken during high school. If I ever get caught cheating during these college exams, am reprimanded for it (receiving a mark of zero, having the incident going on my permanent record, receiving suspension or expulsion from college), I would never be able to forgive myself for it. If you can find some nearly infallible method to cheat and choose to do it, and your future career doesn't heavily influence other people's lives depending on job performance (doctor, lawyer, nuclear launch missile officer), then ethically I don't see much of a problem to it. But a risk is a risk, and you should definitely consider the personal consequences as a possibility. Any initial guilt you have may stay with you no matter the outcome. I think about the students who took tests legitimately and did worse. I still feel guilty about tests I've cheated on that had nothing to do with the career I was planning to go into and never got caught for.

Disclaimer: I wrote this as a response to the title, not the post. I now realize the OP might be talking about something slightly different.


----------



## Charmander (Sep 5, 2012)

I don't really get multiple choice exams anymore, though I'd always be too conscious to peek at someone else's answers in school unless I hardly knew anything.
When I did a computing course, I was good at one module and used to give my friend the answers for it, but I was awful at the other one so he let me copy all his coding, which is essentially cheating but we never got called out for it. There's no way I could cheat at my new university though. I'd rather fail and retake than risk being kicked out.


----------



## visualkeirockstar (Aug 5, 2012)

I cheat in high school.


----------



## CatThatWalkedByHimself (Jan 18, 2015)

About the only cheating I've done is googling answers to HW questions. But I actually try to learn why the answer is correct, because those questions tend to pop up on the tests. I know that I could figure it out if I put in the time, but sometimes, my time could be spent on better things. 

As for looking at MC questions, the average curve of the tests dissuades me from doing so. Now if I knew that a person from whom I'd cheat from had straight As, I'd be tempted. But honestly risk/reward is not worth it, as I'm always well prepared for the test. So getting an 92 instead of 88 is not worth it to me as the risk is getting a 0 on the test (best case scenario). 

To answer your question. The stuff you've done seems to be harmless enough. But only you can decide whether you should feel guilty or not, which you obviously do. 

It's in the past now, just decide not doing again if it bothers you.


----------



## Common Misconception (Jun 4, 2012)

BobDylans115thDream said:


> I don't think you should worry too much about cheating as long as you're not doing something very risky and as long as you actually understand the course material. I think a lot of people cheat a little bit in their own ways. Just make sure you _actually _understand the course material, as this will actually be relevant to your career. But, I mean, if you can bump your mark up from an 88 to a 90, why not? The person beside you might do that, so there's no problem evening the playing field in my opinion.
> 
> Just for the love of god, do not get caught!


I agree with this. I don't think you should beat yourself up for what you did. As long as you know the course material, it's not a big deal. Hell, I've even glanced at my neighbors exam before, and I just felt bad afterwards. It made me learn to just study more, and not feel the need to do that in the future.


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Those don't sound so bad. I've seen far worse. Twice I had 2 Chinese girls (different sets of girls) sitting behind me whispering the entire time during the exam. One of those times, one of the girls picked up her exam paper and held it up so the others could see. 

Chinese students in accounting classes cheat like m----- f-----s. So blatant. Not to be trusted one bit. 

I was all ready to rat them out but didn't because I was stressed about my own exam.


----------



## thecrazy88 (Feb 27, 2013)

Cheating in college/university is a lot riskier, but I'm sure a lot of students do it. I've never cheated, even if I knew I could get away with it, I'd feel too guilty about it.


----------



## Zyriel (May 20, 2011)

Doesn't matter, as long as you know the curriculum. Now if you don't in the end you're only cheating yourself out of a better education. Which if followed, starts down the line of playing false, creating a shallow image with no substance. Lies upon lies without a real foundation, which is probably why people end up in positions they don't deserve due to their bull****. Eventually that bull**** catches up with them though lol, and there is no one for them to turn to, since most won't put their trust in someone that can't be relied on.


----------



## Anti89 (Jan 10, 2015)

i have written down math formulas on the back of my calculator case several times throughout my school career (high-school and college).

For one extremely hard chemistry class i once had a tiny piece of paper with information in my jacket pocket that i would casually look at when the teacher wasn't looking (it was a huge lecture room).

Overall though i prefer to be prepared for tests or exams and study beforehand, than rely on cheats. When i do cheat, its out of desperation and i usually do poorly or fail those exams anyways. 

Its better to know the material than cheat, because you will feel confused and lost with later topics.


----------

