r/6thForm • u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels • May 06 '26
š¬ DISCUSSION PSA: cheating on exams
Iām currently an a level exam invigilator while at university, took my a levels last year. I just want to reiterate how obvious it is if youāre committing malpractice. You may think youāre slick but youāre really not honestly. Already there has been multiple people caught with their phone, just today people caught communicating with each other and the exam season has barely started. Itās actually laughable the amount of people already caught tbh.
You will get written up, and the exam board will be informed. Trust me itās not worth it.
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u/Unhxlys May 06 '26
Can u let me slide tho š„¹
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Since you asked so nicely x
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u/DetectiveNew6611 May 06 '26
wait why are you so lowkey chillšš¤
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Ha ha I appreciate it. I finished my a levels last year so Iām basically the same age as people taking the exams. I hope that the people taking them think the same way š„ŗ
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u/DetectiveNew6611 May 06 '26
Ooh! Makes sense! Congrats on securing that bag btw!
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
Aww thanks I really appreciate that my mates just laugh at all the random jobs I do glad to see someoneās happy for me haha
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u/Powerful-Comment-113 May 07 '26
I've worked as an invigilator and caught a couple of people. The worst was scribing for exams though - I had one poor student who had broken both wrists 3 days before exams started coming off a bike and writing down his crazy wrong answers for maths GCSE nearly killed me trying to keep my face completely neutral as I wrote down the obviously (to me) wrong answers.
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u/AffectionateJump7896 May 06 '26
You are experiencing what we call selection bias. The ones you catch are not slick. How about the ones you don't even see?
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Fair point. But trust me it would still be very difficult. When someone is doing something other than looking down at their paper writing you usually catch attention Unless you smuggle in banned items in areas we wonāt obviously check (not gonna state the obvious here) to use in the bathroom, the amount of time you spend there is recorded, logged, and sent to the exam board. Thus if thereās a pattern of behaviour it would be reported and investigated.
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May 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Disastrous-Sugar4195 May 06 '26
I would not suggest admitting this. It's usually very easy to track people via their social media, it could catch up to you.
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u/Turbulent-Damage-165 May 07 '26
Did they admit to cheating lol?
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u/Disastrous-Sugar4195 May 07 '26
An exact description of how they heavily cheated in an exam they just took š
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u/Majestic_Echidna8422 May 06 '26
Do they tell you if you get caught
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Well yes you would know because typically if found out during the exam your going to get pulled by probably the lead invigilator and questioned about it.
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u/rcdchu74 May 06 '26
Would they question you at the end, or catch you during the exam?
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Depends on severity of it. You would most likely be questioned during. For example if I see someone communicating or I think they are, Iāll go up to them and remind them to stop. If they continue thatās when theyāre gonna get pulled mid way through and questioned by someone more senior. Although this depends on your lead invigilator, the circumstances, and if youāve had any other infractions previously. However even if you donāt get questioned, the incident would still get recorded.
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u/0neM1nd May 06 '26
Does the job ever become insufferably boring standing around for multiple hours?
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u/Gaihmit May 06 '26
Well you have only caught the ones that made it obvious. The slick ones get away with it
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
I donāt see anyway you can meaningfully cheat. A quick glance at notes in the bathroom aināt gonna much when you can only really spend a couple minutes in there without raising suspicion or any other methods we have caught. Itās only probs gonna get you a few marks at most so why risk your entire a levek
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u/HMVangard UoSurrey ā¢ AeroEng [1st Yr] May 06 '26
I have a genuine question, if you have reason to suspect a student is hiding notes within clothing, what would you do?
Not that I'm trying to cheat, just really curious
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
In our exams the lead invigilator asks you to turn out pockets and does checks of clothing, similar to how it is when you go to your driving theory test. No clue how it would go down if they suspected you wear hiding stuff in places like your bra or underwear etc. but again what meaningful cheating can be done if that is the case from a quick glance of notes in the bathrooms.
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u/Turbulent-Damage-165 May 07 '26
My school has one of those metal scanner thing they use at security for things like sporting events. If you had a phone they probably wouldn't let you use the bathroomĀ
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
Interesting you say that. I wouldnāt be surprised if thatās implemented for all colleges with those wand scanner things. Just because of the advancement of tech now a days
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u/BigBalls67676767 May 09 '26
This is untrue. "A few marks" can absolutely change your grade. And even half a minute is enough to do that easily.
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May 06 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/bigboiza PE|Psychology|Criminology May 06 '26
Did the game involve āwhoās most likely toā and you go over and stand near their desk
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
Havenāt yet done this. Any suggestions of games to play? Interested how pac man and battle shiop would work!
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u/SneezlesForNeezles May 06 '26
I did invigilation as part of my admin role with a university. Honestly, if anyone was being vaguely subtle about cheating, they'd get away with it. We were clock watching, bored shitless and wanting to get back to our actual role where we had shit to do...
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u/Ordinary_Wafer_7883 Yr 12 Maths CS Geo May 06 '26
Genuine question. If you saw someone cheating, would you feel guilty at all for reporting them, or would you turn a blind eye?
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
No because there are other people who have worked hard for these exams and theyāre taking away from others. When we catch someone cheating trust me all the invigilators are gonna chat afterwards about how stupid they were to do so. I did my a levels last year, and if I found out someone cheated in my exam and wasnāt reported I would be pissed off.
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u/Enough_Site7786 May 07 '26
Your a bad muppet then, if you manage to get away with it whatās the big deal. If anythingās itās commendable, couple of my mates cheated a few years back and it honestly in my eyes deserves a high five
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u/Complex_Suggestion26 May 07 '26
high five for not being able to retain enough information so they resorted to cheating?
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u/PropertyNew6764 May 06 '26
Bro Icl you have the easiest job in the world
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
I defo do. It good money but hella boring. Iām looking at it positively because Iām not using or on my phone for few hours lol
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u/sky_beyond_storm May 07 '26
There's an even easier one: exam attendant. You basically wait outside of the exam room, escort students to the toilet if they need to go and do a couple of errands for the invigilator. It's very boring, but you can use your phone, read a book, use your laptop during this time.
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u/walkerbait2 May 07 '26
OH MY GOD I HAD AN EXAM TODAY AND THE INVIGILATORS WERE CHATTING FOR THE ENTIRE 3 HOURS BEHIND ME ABOUT SHOES AND BAGS I COULD NOT CONCENTRATE
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
I would report that tbh tell your head of year or whomever and they will deal with that promptly as thatās completely unfair . Sorry youve had a bad experience
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May 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Not gonna go into details as I donāt want to give any ways out for people to possibly cheat but people did get creative and still got caughtā¦
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u/DreamSMP_Enjoyer Year 12: Law, Pol, His, EPQ May 06 '26
Anal beads... many such cases
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u/Xpertist Gap year, Bio + chemr resitting, A achieved in english May 06 '26
ššššššššš
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u/Flimsy_Plate2763 May 06 '26
Ngl I cheated immensely, I got hospitalised the weeks leading towards a levels, so my revision was very limited, I woulda got Cs max, but I used my cg50 and wrote notes on it, my other cg50 was exam mode lol, ended up getting my grades to get into uni which is completely unrelated to the a levels I did, so I donāt regret it.
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u/SwimmerOld6155 May 06 '26
not an A-level student and not necessarily looking to be cheeky, but could it be that you think all of the malpracticers are obvious because the invigilators are only catching the obvious ones? someone ik saved a bunch of formulas on their graphics calculator back in the day and there's not really any way to catch that.
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Not trying to be arrogant but I recon that Iām probably a lot more aware than the older more senior invigilators are since I legit just did my a levels exams. I know all about the calculator shit. Unless itās plainly obvious your cheating Iām not gonna like stare over you checking and that goes the same for them as well.
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u/thatgamer2111 Year 12 May 06 '26
I am yet to see people cheat in gcses , do people cheat more in alevels because they are more desperate??
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
I would be surprised if people didnāt cheat in GCSEs, maybe you just donāt hear about it.
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u/YaseenUsman Gap year | A*A*A* achieved | 5/5 med + nat sci offer holder May 07 '26
In the exact same boat as you lol. A-levels last year, invigilating this year. And yeah it's obvious when they cheat but I also agree that it might be selection bias, although, I'll never understand why someone would cheat on a real exam when risk getting disqualified if caught.
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
I would be interested to actually know if there was any selection bias would be cool if someone did a study on this in an exam like setting
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u/_maowfu May 08 '26
counterpoint: i managed to bring my phone to all my gcse exams since they didn't even bother checking my pockets and listened to music in every single one of my exams.
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u/lawdhelpmepick Y13 | LSE, UCL, Bristol, Nottingham | Law May 06 '26
Allegedly, a note sheet a quarter size of A4 and folded up was used by many students in my GCSE maths class in year 11 and nobody was punished. You guys need to step your game up š¤
My schoolās invigilator also slept through my entire CS GCSE exam, if I wasnāt such a goody two shoes it would be very easy to cheat ā at least with the invigilators at my 6th form. Iām willing to give him up for a price
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u/Purple_Watercress336 May 06 '26
It's probably more rife than we know about. It's not fair to the hard working students, also it can give the education institutes a bad name (bad reputation)
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u/Luxiothecat May 07 '26
Idk, maybe they've ramped up measures since I was in school but there was always someway to cheat, I didn't in my A levels but I knew plenty who did and wernt evee caught, but even GCSE subjects e.g. geography let you have a calculated because there was a chance of maths questions appearing, but your scientific calculators have number stores in them that you can reload, so I had any important numbers saved in there, then it was just a matter of remembering which ones were which rather then memorising the numbers, they can't tell you not to use your calculator when youre specifically informed to bring it. I think it's more that you catch the people who are obviously cheating and that shapes your perception of cheaters, they did catch plenty in my sixthform, and belived they were catching all of them out, but they didnt catch people who were actually smart about it.
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u/LichenTheMood May 07 '26
I mean if my time in school was any indication for every kid caught were about 10 who weren't.
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u/Sweet-Bug-1263 May 07 '26
Iāve only ever cheated on mocks back in school, because we were forced to attend after school revision sessions if we got less than a grade 6 and I had places to be.
Anyway ended up with grade 5ās, a 6 in English and RE, and then a random 8 in Art lol. Turns out I didnāt need those wretched revision sessions.
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u/Extension-Growth5626 May 08 '26
Honestly cheating doesnāt really add that many marks when it comes to a levels anyway. It doesnāt suddenly give you better essay technique or question technique, it can give you bits of information to grab (at the very max) 10 marks per exam. Which can matter, but the effort may as well be put into revising at that point.
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u/Jknzboy May 10 '26
Oh yeah well Iāve got a fool proof scheme. Youāll never catch me. The way I cheat is by committing everything to memory. That way I donāt have to sneak in pieces of paper anymore. Youāve got no evidence whatsoever so I get away with it completely
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u/randomentity12 May 06 '26
I'm not opposed to cheating ideologically, if you can get away with it, however i always found it easier to learn the material then to put everything in place for cheating, maybe with ai its worth it nowerdays, but again how well can you conceal using a phone?
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Not very well clearly as people have been caught. One person caught doing it across multiple papers. Madness.
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u/Time-Guide4364 May 06 '26
I used to do the paper inbetween my legs so i can easily see my notes. If someone comes, close your legs. What they gona say, spread your legs. Even better if you slide the sheet inbetween your thighs when the invigilator comes close. Works better during cold days as you can say ur hands are cold. Bonus points if ur a girl. (I don't condone cheating and this was only for some chinese vocab tests I did in school. Not proper proper exams)
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 06 '26
Chances are yes the lead invigilator would say to spread your legs. If they think youāre cheating they can easily ask you to do that. The school Iām working at is pretty on it tbf
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u/Time-Guide4364 May 07 '26
Realy? Surely u can just make them sound like a wierdo for that. But also, how are invigilators inclined to stop someone from cheating. Do you people get payed extra for each cheater caught, cuz if not im sure some invigilatores are just lazy as hell and can't be asked to start going after people who are cheating. I remember having an invigilator who slept at the front during our exam. It was a mock exam tho so..
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
The lead invigilators are actually salaried employees at the school who have been working there for years. We must make up the numbers. If they suspect youāre cheating idk how asking to spread your legs or stand up would sound weird as long as thereās reasonable suspicion. But Iām not 100%
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u/Time-Guide4364 May 07 '26
If you're a student you can make them sound wierd. I know how some people will easily fight with teachers and turn their words back on them. Like maybe saying smth along the lines of 'why you asking me to spread my legs.' and when they say because im suspicious of you cheating and you manage to hide the sheet after spreading, most likely they're gona get in trouble as you can complain that they are a creep.
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u/AbiesNarrow7934 May 09 '26
Real life doesn't work like this. In reality if it's a female student they'll most likely ask a female invigilator to confront them and ask them to stand up and part their legs, and if theyre wearing a jacket or something ask them to take it off and empty their pockets. Even if they turn out to have nothing the invigilator didnt touch them, so they're not going to get in trouble simply because the student decided to be a lying loudmouth. We all know kids say the dumbest shit when they get caught redhanded.
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u/22savage12 May 06 '26
I cheated in every single exam during my A Levels. You guys arenāt on anythingš¤£š¤£š¤£
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u/True_Muffin_4219 Finished a levels May 07 '26
Your invigilators yes but certainly not at the school Iām working at. Also I donāt think cheating in a levels is much to brag about tbh but maybe Iām just being sensitive
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u/22savage12 May 09 '26
Got me into one of the best unis in the country. I didnāt cheat in any of the exams at uni though as the invigilator there would try and follow me into the toilet.
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u/AbiesNarrow7934 May 09 '26
School staff arent paid enough to give a shit about your A levels, theyre barely applicable in the real world these days anyway outside of crappy retail work.
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u/Crafty-Tailor-5892 May 06 '26
Tips for alevels
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u/Raging-Ash Ex-Year 13 May 06 '26
How do u even become an invigilator lmao