<p>There may be unscrupulous doctors but those reports are reviewed by health professionals at the school and honestly it’s not as simple as writing a letter. I agree you can get a letter claiming allergies for an air conditioner in the dorm but it’s much harder to fake and then have substantiated a major disability.</p>
<p>^^except no where did the OP reference “major disability”… :)</p>
<p>^S/he says “major disability” in the first post. How is having a supplement an leverage to get into a top UC?</p>
<p>Thank you for all the insightful and straightforward comments. </p>
<p>I have decided to not report it. </p>
<p>My intentions to report were to be fair. I wasn’t trying to gain something from it or to stop someone from reaching their goals or dreams. </p>
<p>It was this statement by this person that caught my attention:
“All you have to do is put you have a disability in the additional comments. They’ll give you a supplement and as long as you answer it they’ll accept you.”</p>
<p>Maybe I misunderstood what he meant. Perhaps I interpreted it wrong. Nonetheless, it simply isn’t fair to applicants (the person in question included) to find that they’ve been reported based on suspicions. I ask others for their opinion because I want to be cautious. I don’t want to do something rash and ignorant, especially when it concerns someone else’s future.</p>
<p>As for the cheating and why I can’t report it: in AP classes we use old, obscure AP exams for tests and quizzes. After exams were over, this person tells us he studied the old AP exams and memorized the answer key. AP exam teacher hears this and at this time student in question gets suspended. All his teachers get notified of the incident. This is part of the protocol at my school when cheating occurs. So what’s the problem then? All other teachers continue to use old AP exams available online (though most people cannot find them easily). People report this issue but teachers don’t do their end of the job. His cheating continues again and again. </p>
<p>Perhaps there’s something he doesn’t want to tell people. Maybe he does have a disability. Maybe he feels embarrassed about it and feels compelled to cheat. I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. I can’t prove that he doesn’t have a disability. I can’t just go up to a GC and tell him “I don’t think he’s telling the truth,” because I can’t know that for a fact. I can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt (o crap mock trial’s affected me so much) that he’s lied. </p>
<p>It has nothing to do with me at this point. I’m leaving it at that.</p>
<p>A girl was caught cheating during one of my econ tests.</p>
<p>But I didn’t see it because I was too busy taking the test.</p>
<p>Therefore as far as I know, no one has ever been caught cheating.</p>
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<p>Part of my studying for AP tests and classes is doing lots of the released questions. I can’t believe that this is an uncommon strategy.</p>
<p>For the final of one of my AP classes a couple years ago we were given the MC section of an old exam (a publicly available one). Most of my studying the night before had been an analysis of the very test I was given the next morning. I hadn’t memorized answers, so I still had to read through the test. </p>
<p>In addition to myself, a couple other classmates had also studied the old exam, and naturally the topic came up in conversation after we finished the test. Word got out to some of the next year’s class that the final was just a released AP exam, and they memorized the answers. When the teacher figured out what happened after the test, she rewrote it and had the students in question retake it.</p>
<p>If your teachers continue using these questions, it wouldn’t surprise me if many of your classmates are doing the exact same thing as this guy you’re talking about. They just aren’t stupid enough to tell anyone.</p>
<p>If you have actually witnessed cheating going on, you have an ethical obligation to report it to either the teacher or a trusted official at your school. With regards to what you are “guessing” may be going on with his application, there are two parts to this – first, focus on yourself and don’t let negative energy get to you right now; and second, if you have strong suspicions then I agree, what you can do is go to your guidance counselor and ask to talk confidentially. But do not go to the specific UC.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it’s a physical disability. He seems like he has problems… and should apply for a mental institute instead …</p>
<p>Whoops. Didn’t even see the part about cheating!
I’m against reporting people on mere suspicion, but if you have proof that this kid is cheating, there’s no shame in saying something.
Regarding the disability, though, I stand by my former statement. If he’s lying, it’ll catch up to him soon enough.</p>
<p>two options. Just forget it. </p>
<p>Or, and do this only more or less if your own peace of mind/unquenchable thirst for vengeance demands it…</p>
<p>Leave a one-time, (anonymous may actually be more stylish/intriguing but some people discount anonymous allegations out of hand, so your call), written report, for the student’s guidance counselor (who has a surprising amount of sway over their future), or if you’re really incorrigible, the admission office you know they applied to. </p>
<p>In it, do the following.
Keep it very short. - Don’t imply even for a second that you want to get further involved or have any ill will towards the other student. - Don’t laundry list. Focus on the one or two most serious and factually grounded wrongdoings. - If you know of something that, if they investigated, they could find out for themselves that would prove the allegation, say it. - Say something to the effect of 'Please investigate this matter for yourself. If you don’t find evidence the student did something bad, forget I ever said anything and I’m sorry for my mistake and any trouble I caused. </p>
<p>Template: To whom it may concern, I heard something last week that is really bugging me. ___ was talking about his supplement and said something to the effect of “I can’t believe they really gave that to me, it’s such bull****, but I’ll take what I can get!” I really have no desire to get involved with this further, but I couldn’t keep silent because I hate to think that we live in a world were somebody can cheat to get ahead with no consequences when so many people work hard for their accomplishments. (optional, if you’re willing to sign your name: Something this serious will need more evidence than my word, but if there’s something else I can do, arrange a confidential meeting with me.) I leave it in your capable hands to investigate if anything bad has happened here. If it has not, forget I said anything, and I apologize for my mistaken impression and for your extra work. Thank you for giving my thoughts serious consideration, and for all you do at ____ school. </p>
<p>After that, FORGET it. You don’t have the resources to give this serious matter the investigation it deserves. Trust the competency and experience of whoever you pass it on to, and move on with YOUR life.</p>
<p>You may not know the whole story… unless you do (which you probably don’t), don’t. It may be something private.</p>
<p>@bigwords - my S had an AP Econ exam also… and he prepared the same way you did, to then go to class and be faced with that exam. He told his teacher BEFORE he took the exam. He was then offered an alternative test… again, a release AP exam that S had studied. S again told him BEFORE the exam that he had prepared using that exam. Eventually he did not have to take the exam as there was no exam the teacher could offer (and he probably didn’t want to write a new one).</p>
<p>OP, the answer is a resounding no. I agree with MommJ. You should mind your own damn business. Especially if his disability is not visible. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that if you did report him to the UC’s that it would qualify as cyber harassment.</p>
<p>it would be a legitimate choice to tell someone in authority simply that you have a bad feeling and why, and leave it in their hands to investigate. you just have to forget about it yourself whether you tell someone in authority what you know or not.</p>
<p>Universities usually do not accept a student’s disability without first getting a proof from a doctor or another authoritative body. So if your classmate has received supplements it is probably because he has admitted documents to that effect.
I hope you don’t mind me saying this but there is a lot of your own personal opinions in this question like he has previous history of cheating and stuff. You are entitled to your opinions but then they aren’t facts or are they?
SO report him if you want to be a good Samaritan.</p>
<p>I do not think the UC schools have a system set up to report fraudulent applications. The same goes for financial aid; I tried reporting this girl for blatant financial aid fraud and she was receiving priority registration for being “financial disadvantaged”. She drove both beamers and Mercedes to school and lived in a upper middle class neighborhood. Let me tell you what happened. NOTHING! The universities have little motivation to pursue these accusations due to the amount of resources to verify and do a background check on every application.</p>
<p>You sound like a busybody know-it-all. What happened to “mind you own business?” Man, some people on this site are just way too hardcore for me. Even if he gets into UC based on his lie, well, you know you’re smarter, more honest, and a better person than him. But there’s no need to snitch.</p>
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<p>Looks like the teachers are cheating here. Using publicly available* tests as their own classroom tests indicates that they are too lazy to make up their own tests, allowing the common practice of using old AP tests as practice for the AP test to result in the classroom tests being inaccurate indicators of student ability due to some students having seen the tests before.</p>
<p>*Teachers should generally assume that any old test is publicly available, so that at least some students will have seen it and used it for practice.</p>
<p>Studying from old AP tests is not cheating, and already having seen one is no more cheating than recognizing a homework problem on a test. Knowing in advance the exact old AP test would be cheating, but if you just did a number of them, and happened to remember exactly how to do the problem, so much the better.</p>
<p>My son’s math teacher, 7th grade Algebra I, tells students to study exactly that way. He’ll give them practice problems with the answer. Try to do it blank sheet. Check your answer. If you get it wrong, look at the answer. Understand why you got it wrong. Then redo the problem, blank sheet. Yes, you’ve seen the answer, but unless you understand how to do the problem, that won’t help you. It’s not like memorizing MC answers.</p>
<p>As far a reusing tests, the best teacher I know reuses old AP Physics E&M tests all the time. (He’s got 25+ years of them.) The kids know this. He’s up front about it. He tells them the idea is not to get an A in the class, the idea is to get a 5 on the AP Exam - so just go with it and try not to game the system. (He also taught them AP Physics - Mechanics, so they know how good he is. They’re also always seniors, so grades are not that important.) Writing good tests is more difficult than it seems, so reusing old good ones is not a bad practice, as long as everyone knows that.</p>
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<p>Sure they are. That is why Collegeboard posts them online. Our AP Euro teacher, one of the best in SoCal, gave each of his students exact instructions on how to download old the CB tests for practice. Our AP Art History and AP Bio teachers did the same.</p>
<p>(Google is your friend.)</p>
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<p>Our teachers generally gave students extra credit for compleitng the old CB test. Good practice.</p>
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<p>Perhaps, but most high schoolers get excited about this, not because of purity, but because such a student is perceived to have an unfair advantage.</p>