Splord said:
If the teachers don't change the test everytime, then they deserve to be fired.
I'm not Mr. Goodytwoshoes myself, I have cheated in academic situations, but at least I had the dignity to prepare my own cheat sheets.
BTW, OP, what is the subject of the test?
It's an operating systems class. The format of the class is that you get a couple papers to read each week plus a project (writing a thread scheduler in C although the instructions basically walk you through it). The tests are 100% of your grade though and they're just short answer questions on the readings and project.
He lets you type the answers on a laptop and email them during the test and its on the honor system for you not to furtively google the answers. So realistically the only need to crib answers would be if you didn't bother to do the classwork at all and you're so out of your element that you can't even google your way to good answers in the time given.
Given this guy's apparent laziness and stupidity in the group we're in together I wouldn't put it past him to not have done the project. And he'd most likely direct copy my answers (potentially even if they don't match the questions, I only have my answers, not a copy of the test itself). Which would be an unacceptable risk to me since the professor himself has a copy of my answers he can easily compare if he notices.
The actual outcome of the situation wasn't all that exciting. When he first asked me for the answers I just sent him a short email with some general pointers towards what to study (nothing that he couldn't have gotten by asking the prof the right questions). Then when he wanted to meet up to "study", which I assume was a last ditch attempt to get a look at my answers, I just evaded. I don't intend to turn him in unless he really pisses me off with something else (like bugging me for the final answers excessively), since frankly I'm not vindictive enough to send someone through an academic kangaroo court.
The reason I posted in the first place was that I was curious how people would react to the situation. And the range of responses was actually quite interesting. For example, my mother was fixated on the risk that this guy would somehow turn it back on me if I turned him in, basically that taking a moral stance wasn't worth even the most remote potential threat to oneself. Other folks just recommended doing nothing on the grounds that it wasn't worth the hassle I'd incur in the process.
One friend of mine actually came up with a clever solution that would leave me anonymous and fuck the cheater in the ass totally: Supply him with a set of fake answers and then email that same set of fake answers to the professor anonymously. Of course writing fake answers would involve spending effort, so like I said not worthwhile unless I was more vindictive.
I used to do that shit all the time.
