What would you do if you know that a student impersonated another student for an exam?

Question

I'm taking my last class for my business admin undergrad. It's a strategic management course. It's a large class of 50 or so students. We only meet once a week. As such, the instructor doesn't really have the opportunity to get to know the students' names.

We had an oral exam yesterday. This one girl pretended to be someone else. She pretended to be "Mable Smith". I'm thinking to myself, "You're not Mable Smith! Mable Smith is that girl sitting on the corner of the room."

I recognize the name because I've been in other classes with Mable (the real one) in previous courses.

What would you do if you know that someone took an exam for someone else?

Answer 1

If you are really sure that this person wasn't just another person named Mabel Smith, I would definitely let the instructor know what you do. It is NOT true that everyone cheats, and those who do hurt not only themselves, but others as well. You can either talk to the professor, or send him/her a note. Don't extend it any farther, by saying WHY you think this happened. Just give the facts. Something like:

"I was very bothered by something which happened in class during our oral exam yesterday. When Mabel Smith was scheduled to present, another individual spoke in her place. I know Mabel Smith well because we have taken Accounting, Management and Statistics together, and Mabel was sitting in the back of the classroom while this other person (whose name I do not know) spoke. Mabel is the tall brunette woman who usually sits in the back of the classroom. The person who took the exam as Mabel was shorter and a redhead. I just thought you should know."

At my school, our online records have pictures of each student, so this would be difficult for someone to do. When I first started teaching, though, I had an odd experience with that. A lot of my colleagues at my first jobs had serious racist tendencies. When I started, I was told, "Watch out for the Chinese students. They send other people in to take their exams for them because they know you can't tell them apart." I ignored it, thinking this was more racist nonsense. Then, on the day of the final exam, an Asian woman came in and sat down, and she looked completely unfamiliar to me. I take pride in knowing my students by name, but I didn't even recognize this person, and the old warning popped into my mind. At the end of the exam, this person came up to me and said something, and her voice was immediately recognizable as that of one of my regular students. It seems that she usually wore a huge amount of makeup, but by the end of exam week, she hadn't slept, wore no makeup, and had not done her hair, and she honestly looked like a completely different person! I was so ashamed of myself for even having entertained the thought that that racist warning might be true!

Answer 2

Everyone cheats. Tell on them or not its up to you. You are asking me what I would do. I would not tell on them and just turn my head. I don't really care how they get their grades as long as I take care of mine (unless there is a curve on the grading in which you will benefit if Mable fails). Mable Smith will not succeed in life if all she does is let others do her work. She might live a decent life, but trust me, she will not accomplish anything.

So don't worry about Mable, you just worry about your self and everything will be fine.

Answer 3

Personally, I would tell on them... I know some people would call me a "snitch" but who cares what others say. It's not fair that you had to show up and go through with the test, whether prepared or not... & this person had someone else take it for them. Telling is the right thing to do trust me & you'll gain respect from the instructor. i hate people who cheat their way through school.... in the end, they won't get anywhere anyway. but i remember a girl who would go on one of the teachers computer and go into the grade book to change her grade. i told the teacher on her, sure i snitched... but i felt better because i deserved my a+ and she had to do NOTHING but cheat her way to it - which is so unfair. plus what if she was changing my grade to be worse? i didn't let her get away with it!