<p>This is very surprising to me (especially with UVA’s Strict Honor Code), but a friend of mine recently told me that many of the fraternities and sororities at UVA have old copies of tests and such from classes. Can anyone else validate (or prove false) the truth behind such claims, as this greatly deters me from applying?</p>
<p>It’s not pure truth, it’s not pure false either. Cheating isn’t rampant, but it does happen, and you don’t need old tests from your frat to accomplish cheating. Most professors change their test anyways, and in some schools (most notably SEAS) upperclass students will pass out old tests anyways. Bummer of the electronic world now…</p>
<p>Do you consider it cheating to take practice SAT tests from prior years?</p>
<p>This sort of thing is said about different student organizations, Greek and otherwise, at schools around the country.</p>
<p>@robertr</p>
<p>I do not, as they are available to everyone. It is expected to take these practice tests, and it does not violate any rules by taking them.</p>
<p>@DeanJ</p>
<p>That’s disheartening to hear.</p>
<p>It’s the truth. College is college, kids would rather party, hangout, sleep, eat, play sports, etc than study. Come crunch time, it’s an option many take. I think less cheating occurs at UVa than other schools, but to say it doesn’t happen is blatantly false.</p>
<p>
It should just tell you that someone who whispers about this as a UVa phenomenon is deliberately trying to affect your opinion of one school instead of making you aware of something that is widespread.</p>
<p>By the way, [here’s</a> a discussion of “test banks” that originates from a student at another school](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/404864-test-banks-cheating.html]here’s”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/404864-test-banks-cheating.html).</p>
<p>What I understood the OP to be disheartened by is the fact that he/she has heard about cheating at a school like UVA which has a very well-known honor code. Maybe what was (once) valued so highly by its students is not as much any more. That would be the true disheartening fact I think.</p>
<p>I’m upset that this is occurring at UVA, however I’m equally upset to see that this is happening nationally. If there’s one thing that I won’t stand for, it’s cheating.</p>
<p>I’ve taught at UVA since the 1980s, and my teaching assignment often includes large undergraduate lecture classes. I’ve encountered cheating/plagiarism occasionally over the years, and doubtless some students successfully get away with it, but it’s certainly not routine nor does it seem worse now than it was two decades ago.</p>
<p>In the cases I’ve handled, honor violations are typically desperate or impulsive rather than carefully premeditated. A student will get overinvolved in the social scene, or depressed, or simply disorganized about managing the workload, and start skipping class/ missing assignments/ not doing the reading. Then belatedly the student finds that he or she can’t easily catch up, so starts cutting corners. Possibly there’s more systematic cheating going on but if so I don’t know about it.</p>
<p>Honor code or no, sensible professors design assignments and exams so as to make cheating difficult. In my classes, it is moderately helpful to have copies of old exams, but I distribute these freely to everybody in the review sessions. The actual content of the exams is different from year to year so people still have to study.</p>
<p>I’ve talked to former graduates about this and I don’t think today’s classes value the honor system any less. In fact, I think with the extra help the electronic age, cheating is either caught more or teachers can nearly eliminate any possibility of cheating. It’s unfair to say people cheat more today than they used to, there’s no way to factually prove that statement either way. Students still take it very seriously and I know that when I was taking a test, I was always scared to even look around the room at any point during the test. Kids overall these days probably have less values than way back in the 1800s, but it’s stupid to say we don’t take it as seriously as the guys who create the system. </p>
<p>On another note, a lot of students think the system is flawed. With that, how can they be forced to follow it? (ugh, I hope I didn’t just open the can of “student self-goverance and the failure of the honor system” worms)</p>
<p>…the OP’s statement is true (about certain organizations keeping copies of old things) – certainly this is true in the engineering school.
if you search you can find lots of comments from me about the disheartening situation we had with the intro CS class this semester…</p>
<p>Hazel: ??</p>
<p>Also, it’s hard to draw the line on cheating sometimes. For engineering classes, there was often a right answer and wrong answer including an equation. Professors highly, highly encouraged group work on homework/projects. If Johnny had a problem he was stuck on and there was an equation or two, and he asked Kimmy to explain it, Kimmy often gave the answer right off the bat because there’s no way of explaining how to do it without showing the equation. Is that cheating? He didn’t copy and he explored his options on his own before consulting, so e-schoolers say no. Most College kids would say yes. Most outsiders would say yes. Most people freak out at the thought of one kid being so stuck he resorts to copying so he can get something down on the homework, and 90% of the time learns it later anyways through more studying or more reinforcement. Brings us full circle back to the “some teachers really are out to fail kids, or at least make them hate life so much they quit their major”. <em>le sigh</em></p>
<p>Also why having the Honor Comm. so College-stacked doesn’t work anymore. Yeah we had our token e-school rep(s), but usually they’re College-breeds anyways. I wish the E-school had our own Council, buuuttttt that’ll never happen :rolleyes:</p>
<p>shoe, I’m PMing you… i don’t need to air dirty laundry but there are some serious things that happened resulting in a lot of serious administrative action and honor charges and trials on a very large scale… that’s all you really need to know from a public forum i suppose…</p>
<p>I heard about the whole Physics thing. Ugh…that class…ugh…
The e-school, when it comes to Honor stuff, is all messed up. And the “forum” they held this year was with a panel of the same ole typical e-school reps. I can’t even begin to think of a fix for some of the cheating issues, other than encourage less drinking (i’m actually giggling at even suggesting that) or don’t make some majors “do or die”. I, for once, am out of ideas/solutions/clever remarks when it comes to the issue of cheating/Honor System</p>
<p>That is true and very unfair, unfortunately. While we can practice old SATs, class tests from previous years tend to be duplicated if the professor can’t be bothered; usually the professor is busy with his/her research anyway. The honor system is very inconsistent at UVA… for instance, at an intro CS class I took, there were at least two instances of cheating in the final. The professor simply called them out to move to another table. No further action was taken.</p>
<p>“Encourage less drinking?” Haven’t you seen that UVA has dropped out of the top 10 party schools? What is going on down there in Charlotsville? UVA used to be a lock at No. 1 year after year.</p>
<p>
I can’t even remember a time when UVa made it onto one of those lists. Perhaps you are hearkening back to the 1970s?</p>
<p>I’m not saying today’s students don’t know how to have fun, of course. Just that the days of Easters are long gone.</p>
<p>I think the key thing to remember is that when cheating occurs, it’s often only known to students. Students are responsible for reporting each other, that’s the beauty of self-governance. If one student sees another “cheating” or “lying” in some way, but decides it doesn’t warrant a report, isn’t that a success in the student-governence scheme of things?</p>
<p>^^ OTOH, if it is a case that is seen by multiple students…one may decide not to report on the belief that someone else will do it. Or in the case of where one student witnesses and chooses not to report, it may be out of lack of precise knowledge of the act. I know that the single sanction is serious business and I think many, if not most students, feel anxious about being responsible for a student’s possible expulsion.</p>