Important: this article was written for teachers, not cheaters. The information here is the fruition of weeks lurking on "cheat" sites, and most of the tips are actually in the cheaters' own words. The more familiar you are with the methods, the easier you'll find it to spot them.
Get Advance Copies Of The Exam
- break into teacher's office
- hack into the teacher's computer
- bribe the copyist
- bribe teh teaching assistant
- consult test banks (most commonly maintained by fraternities and sororities). These are copies of tests gained either legally from professors who let students keep tests (this one is not cheating - it's the professor's fault for repeating questions), or illegally by people who don't return tests or take extra copies while they're being passed out.
- if there is more than one section of the class, question people who took the test in an earlier section. You could bribe several people to memorize just a few questions each and then get together to reconstruct the whole exam afterwards. This can be worthwhile if you share the answers (and also the risk and cost) with others.
- buy the exam answers from someone else who does any of the above.
Copy A neighbour's Answers
- Sit next to the person whose work you want to copy. If there are different versions of the test, either mix them up while they're being passed out (so you and your seatmate end up with the same version) or sit diagonally behind (so you can read their anwers) the person you want to cheat from.
- Several people can cheat by sitting in a "Flying V" formation, where the person to be cheated from sits at the head of the V and the cheaters fan out behind in diagonals.
- You or someone else can "accidentally" drop a paper on the floor so someone else can look at it.
- Walk up to the front to ask the professor a question and peek at other people's tests on the way up and back. Another excuse for "travelling" is going to the toilet.
- Use a small mirror to "adjust contact lenses" while really using it to peek and cheat.
Cheat Sheets
Students have come up with a large selection of places to hide cheat sheets.
- On the desk or chair. The night before, write the cheat sheet on the desk you'll use. Either write in pencil (this is hard to spot and easy to erase) or whittle an eraser to a point and write using the eraser. You could also write on the back of the chair in front of you, the floor, or the desk edge.
- On food or drink. Bring a bottle of water or soda into the class with you - the kind that has a label that is easy to peal off. Before going to the class, write the answers on the liner, and reattach it to the bottle. Any time you need an answer, take a drink of your soda and you will see some answers. Do not do this with a clear or light colored beverage! (NOTE: other mentions of hiding cheat sheets in food items are common: in chip or cookie packages, computer-printed fake labels, a piece of tracing paper inside a gum wrapper that gets chewed with the gum after it's used).
- On hands and arms. You can write on your hands or arms and hide it from the teacher with your hand position or with sleeves. The webbing between the fingers is a good place to write answers.
- On the ankles. You can cross your leg over your knee and pull down your sock to view your answers.
- On your Legs. This is getting a little more risky now, as lifting a skirt and looking at your legs is more noticeable than looking at your arms.
- On your skirt. Tape the cheat sheet to the inside of the part of your skirt that covers your behind. Every time you need some information just lift the front of your skirt enough so you can see the crib sheet and whatever information you need. The nice thing is that the teacher can't really do anything, because if they accuse you of cheating by this method you can always call the instructor a "pervert." The odds of the teacher reporting a cheating incident like this are pretty slim because the administration will ask, "How did you determine that she was cheating?" What would they say? Whatever they say, though it is true, will make them look like some lowlife child molester, and who wants that?
- Fingernails: I used to use mechanical pencils to write on my bare fingernails. Formulas, verbs, quotes, you name it, and I wrote it on my nails! If the teacher came by, I would curl my fingers under or put my hand in my lap. If worse comes to worse, you can rub off any evidence with one swipe of a sweaty (or spitty) fingertip. Females also report writing crib notes on the underside of false fingernails before attaching them.
- Shoes: Write some facts on the bottom of your shoes.
- Hat: Hat: write notes on it in pencil to read during the test while your head is down. The teacher can't see your eyes looking up at your visor because the visor blocks their view. The pencil then erases or rubs off rather easily so that you can wear it on non-test days, too, to throw off suspicion.
- Shirt: Wear an open flannel shirt to school. Have answers secretly taped to the inside, and when the teacher isn't looking, just open it just enough to seethe notes. Or use a "cheating shirt"-a tiedyed or other print shirt with information worked into the designs.