Cheating in academic or licensure exams carries the risk of getting caught and being disqualified outright from taking it if not earning a failing mark.
Traditionally, students cheat in exams by looking at the answers in a classmate's test sheet. Cheaters also write down review notes or answers to potential questions on tiny pieces of paper that they hide and discreetly look at when the teacher or proctor is not looking during a test. Others write down notes in the palm of their hands.
In today's high-tech living, some examinees resort to gadgets to cheat in medical and job exams. In India, there were reports of rampant cheating using devices for such purposes sold online. The gadget is a micro earpiece hidden in the ear and wirelessly linked to a hidden mobile phone via Bluetooth. With that, the examinee can secretly call someone outside through the device to get answers to exam questions.
One student who had been studying at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College in Indore for 11 years had one last chance to pass the General Medicine exam in March. During the exam, an invigilator squad frisked 13 examinees to take away their devices.
The said student and another examinee were caught with hidden cellphones and secret Bluetooth devices in their ears.
His earpiece was surgically implanted and disguised as skin but still was detected in the surprise check by vigilant proctors who know the cheating modus, Allthatsinteresting.com reported. He was allowed to proceed with the exam but how he fared was unknown.
Early this month, 28 men were caught trying to cheat in the Indian Army exam for civilians held at a school in Nandambakkam, Chennai. Test supervisors noticed the cheaters to be uneasy and upon inspection found their hidden Bluetooth devices, according to Indiatoday.com.
The 28 cheaters were turned over to the local police for investigation and will be barred from applying for any post in the Army, the report said.
A crafty cheating scheme was recently shared on Twitter by a law professor at the University of Malaga in Spain.
Yolanda de Lucchi's post shows BIC ballpens carved with notes that were used by one of her students to cheat in an exam.
De Lucchi said the student used a needle to carve the notes on the pen's transparent body, Fox News reported. The notes can be seen against the black background of the ink inside by rolling the pen. The professor, who was impressed with the cheating style she labeled as art, did not say how she caught the cheater and what happened to him.
Photos of a recent class mid-term exam at the Bicol University College of Engineering went viral on social media as the students were shown how they don't cheat during a test.
Mary Joy Mandane-Ortiz, a professor of mechanical engineering, asked her students before the exam started to wear headgears that would prevent them from looking at their seatmate's test paper, BBC News reported.
The students gamely made a variety of contraptions. They covered their heads with a bandana, egg trays, paper bags, blankets, motorcycle helmets, witch hats with strips of cloth hanging on the rim, a cardboard centurion helmet, folders, a trash bin, etc.
One student tied two hangers with clips together and wore them in such a way that each are on one side of his head.
Then papers were clipped on the hangers to serve as flaps that blocked his views to the left and right.
If there are creative ways to cheat in exams, there are also innovative methods not to do so as Mandane-Ortiz's mechanical engineering students displayed in the viral video.
