Should I tell the truth?

[Anonymous]

Truth be told when it happened I was extremely happy I was writing down the questions like there was no tomorrow, I felt such a relief but when I got home I did feel guilty. This lecturer is a perfectly nice guy he has students round his home to meet his family and stuff. It may have been a lapse of judgement on his behalf but in the same sense I did think it highly inappropriate. I am very by the book and have never cheated on an assignment in my life, part of me wants to because I will be guaranteed a pass, the other part of me is like am I rejecting my principles? The pressure of my final uni year has gotten to me and I have seen this opportunity and don't know whether to take it . . . . . . .

[Almac]

Let me give you a bit of advice, chill out before you make yourself ill, there are far worse things happening around the world.

[Genersis]

A lot of my old teachers in secondary school probably would of done this if they had access to the test papers before the exams.
The only reason your lecturer could was because he's marking it too, i'd guess.

Unfortunately, i'd think teachers and i'm guessing lecturers jobs are in the balance when it comes to how many of their students pass. Also, the college would pressure the lecturers as they pride themselves on pass rates.(The chances of them losing their job's not helped by all this unstable economy stuff)

Also, some teachers know the tests are not a good measurement of a persons skill in a subject, and they may help the students who may not have their ability reflected in the test results MORE than those who would.

And the last reason that i can think of as to why they may do this, is that they simply wish the best outcome for their students to give the students a better future, even if it means cheating.

Either way, i wouldn't be too angry with your lecturer.
Just make sure that you do actually know what you need to know, rather than using your notes from the lecturer to pass the test and then never actually learning what the notes say.
I would feel a little guilty though, if i was one of the ones to get this special treatment, mind.:redface:

[TommyinKY]

As much as I feel that people should be honest, I think that you should take this and run with it. By sharing those answers he has obviously seen something in you that he feels would be a benefit in the field you have chosen to pursue. If you feel guilty for using the answers then I suggest that you pour over your materials anyway make it a goal to really understand them even though you know the answers. Live up to the faith that he has in you and let it be an incentive to become better.

[pellaz]

after the test; as you walk out the door; dont talk to the class mates just keep walking. Do not out the teacher because good or bad this is his job, income, living. Be the professional you aspire to be and look the other way.

Be sure and return a favor sometime in your life as a noncommittal act of random kindness.

Your ethics and morals today are not his so no big. Take what he is giving you and run. Few times in life this happens to your benefit, usually the other way around where someone steals from you.

[Anonymous]

I think I am going to keep it to myself, I also thought about hinting to other people what would be on the test but I dunno. Things like this have happened in the past like lecturers "going through" certain questions and they happen to come up I have just been taken aback that I have inside knowledge.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Hi,

I have a problem and I am in somewhat of a sticky situation. Basically I have an exam in January at university and it is the most frustrating and awful subject ever, I do all the required work and reading but yet it is still hard. Other people on my course have no idea what is going on and although I do know some knowledge I don't think in the exam I would do fantastically the exam is worth 100% of my grade.

Basically myself and three others went to see our lecturer for a tutorial and he showed us the exam paper we would be getting in January, all of the questions an he even went through how to answer them and what to put. (snip)

I wonder if this wasn't the real test?

How many other students have gone to him willing/able to ask for help?

I have no idea what the subject is, but if it is especially difficult the point of the 'test' may not be the test itself but the willingness of the student to seek out answers/help.

I had a lecturer that poised a particularly difficult 'ethical' question - one that doesn't have a 'real' answer and demanded an answer from us. The test was not the question, but how we sought the answer to the test.

He was not testing us on our ability to answer the unanswerable, he was testing our resolve and our willingness to admit we do not know everything, he was seeing how far we were willing to go to admit our ego(s) wasn't large enough to handle the question. No matter how we answered, being no 'right' answer, those of us who got the passing grade were those of us who came to him outside of class hours and admitted we needed 'help'.

It was a test of character, not a test of intellect. Perhaps this lecturer is testing your character?

[pellaz]

I also thought about hinting to other people what would be on the test.

I think it is Really important you dont say anything.

[Academic]

I was drawn here by this question, I have an interest in the area of academic honesty.

If you take advantage of this situation you will devalue all the effort of all those who have done real work to gain academic distinction at whatever level. You will devalue all the hard work of those who will in future make the effort to achieve academic excellence at any level.

The work that universities and colleges do has been devalued enough in the last few years by government and other interference, you wouldn't be helping by taking advantage of this situation.

You asked for advice, here it is. Report this to the authorities at your institution and live with the consequences. They're unlikely to be harsh on you, you're protecting the integrity of their product. The consequences for your lecturer will be harsh, he may lose his job. This will protect the many people who may lose their jobs or find jobs difficult to get when it emerges that they've got worthless degrees.

If you really want to get a degree without work there are numerous degree mills out there who will sell you one for a very reasonable price.

Failing this, come back to us in January when you've actually sat the exam and let us know if what he showed you really were the questions. If it turns out the paper has different questions than the ones you've been led to expect what are you going to do? When you walk into an exam there's nothing to beat knowing your subject.

To those on this thread advocating dishonesty, frankly words fail me.

[Craig]

I think you shouldnt feel guilty. Another thing, is there a chance he might trick you and give you an exam other than the one he showed? This is a possibility to consider I think.