Instructors should take steps to prevent students from cheating on exams.
To begin with, instructors should stop reusing old tests. A test that has been used even once is soon known on the student grapevine. Students will check with their friends to find out, for example, what was on Dr. Thompson’s biology final last term. They may even manage to find a copy of the test itself, “ accidentally” not turned in by a former student of Dr. Thompson’s.
Instructors should also take some commonsense precautions at test time. They should make students separate themselves—by at least one seat—during an exam, and they should watch the class closely. The best place for the instructor to sit is in the rear of the room, so that a student is never sure if the instructor is looking at him or her.
Last of all, instructors must make it clear to students that there will be stiff penalties for cheating. One of the problems with our school systems is a lack of discipline. Instructors never used to give in to students demands or put up with bad behavior, as they do today.
Anyone caught cheating should immediately receive a zero for the exam. A person even suspected of cheating should be forced to take an alternative exam in the instructor’s office. Because cheating is absolutely morally wrong, it should not be tolerated.
