Reasons Why Students Cheat at School

They say cheating during the examination is already part of being a student. It suffices student’s life since it can never be avoided, especially you really don’t know the answer to the question and you do not want to fail the subject. And in some situations, you are left with no choice. Cheating is an act of asking support for others since no man is an island and nobody knows everything – such a silly philosophical views but it has a point.

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I freshly remember our Advanced Math teacher when he had told us that “Cheating is an art” and all of the class started to laugh insanely. We did not expect that he would be saying such silly words as a teacher, but hearing those words from our teacher made me conclude that every one of us experience or let just say have already tried cheating. 

I am an Engineering student and I cannot lie and pretend that I never tried cheating even once. Since it’s really normal as a college student and there is no need to be ashamed of about it. I don’t want to fail and waste time for tuition fee in a private school is really high and if I fail it will just add burdens to my parents. 

There is a saying that “It’s better to cheat than to repeat” and as a student, I could say that it has a point, but in the end, cheating is intrinsically evil no matter what means or purpose it was intended for. 

Note: The information below is based on my experiences and surveys (Question and Answer) to my friends and colleagues. 

1. Did not study – the most common reason why student cheats during examination and it is because they did not exert effort reviewing and studying their notes. Sometimes it is caused by laziness and procrastination.

2. Don’t know the answer – you have studied your notes, but unfortunately, answers were not on your notes so you do not have any choice but to ask help or answers to your seatmate or friend. Shits do happen unexpectedly and it’s better to take risks than having zero (0) score on the exam.

3. Not interested in the subject – we have our own favorite subjects and most of the students are weak at mathematics subjects and oftentimes mathematic subjects are quite boring but some do really love math. It really depends on the student.

4. Lack of self-confidence/ get faltered – some students lost their self-confidence and get faltered during the examination. As a result, they cheat and prefer other answers that what they have written already. Some get nervous and result in a mental block. 

5. It becomes a habit already – cheating becomes a habit if a person has passed a certain exam without ever being caught. It also happens often if that person cheating is being tolerated by his/ her classmates and even by the teacher itself.

6. Temptation – students get tempted to cheat most especially if the one looking after the students during the exam is not attentive. This also happens when you know that your seatmate knows the answer and he/ she always get higher scores during exam than you.

7. Want to have high score/grade – out of desperation to be on top, sometimes you do whatever it takes to have a high score and beat everyone, even if it means to do the wrong thing. Sometimes it is because you are maintaining your grades for your scholarship and you do not want to lose it.

8. The teacher did not explain it well – the teacher was not able to lecture the class properly, for he/ she lacks the expertise or sometimes the teacher is not dedicated and passionate about his/ her work so the student ends up not learning.

9. Boring subject/professor – lack of interest and boredom makes a student feel lousy.  Once they don’t like the subject or professor they tend to sleep and do other stuff not related to class. 

10. It was a surprise quiz – since it was not announced and you were not paying attention to the class while the teacher lectures the lessons so you don’t have a choice but to sneak a glance to your seatmate who has already an answer.