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Original poster

Mock exam "cheating"???

32 replies

Badbadbunny · 22/05/2017 17:04

DS has just finished his end of year 10 "mocks". In virtually all subjects, the exam was either the "sample paper" for the new 9-1 course, or the Summer 2016 paper from the AQA website.

DS revised "properly" for the exams using the text books, revision guides and revising his work done in the past couple of years. He did it the way he'll be doing it for the proper external exams, so good practice for the real thing.

He says that a lot of his classmates had printed off and learned the mark schemes from the AQA "assuming" the exam would be either the sample paper or the 2016 paper so didn't revise anything they didn't expect to be on the paper. It's one thing knowing that there'll be a certain question on a particular topic, but actually having access to the official mark scheme is going too far.

DS is (rightly in my opinion) quite annoyed that they've effectively "cheated" and will no doubt get good results - better than those who didn't "cheat", so it makes the whole process unreliable and unfair.

Surely this can't be the right way of doing it, can it? Don't the schools/teachers realise that the sample/past papers and mark schemes are so freely available on the internet? I can't believe the school just glibly print them off the internet to use. Surely the schools/teachers should at least make their own by randomly taking questions off different past papers or a mix of past and sample papers?

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 22/05/2017 17:30

You're wrong teen, the summer 2016 papers are freely available on the aqa site (chemistry for example here)

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/chemistry-4402/past-papers-and-mark-schemes

TeenAndTween · 22/05/2017 17:26

I think that purposely finding papers that aren't on the official sites (and I'm guessing here that the summer 2016 aren't yet as they are usually held back for a year?) is getting close to 'cheating' but unless they were told not to it isn't.

However pupils that did that and only revised the contents of those papers will have done themselves a disservice in the long run as instead of revising all the content they have only done bits.

So your DC shouldn't mind if he has done less well, because he has prepared better for this time next year.

PurpleDaisies · 22/05/2017 17:20

We don't use papers that are available online for this resin but I'd dispute your use of "revising properly". The most effective way of doing well in exams is doing as many past papers as you can and marking them using the official mark scheme. You get to know the style of question and the buzz words they're looking for.

The boys that learned the markscheme will have done artificially well but they still would have had to memorise the content.

TheDonald · 22/05/2017 17:17

I've just logged on to ask this exact question.

Dd has her first y10 exam tomorrow. It's literature paper one. She's been told by her friend in set three that their teacher has been only teaching them about two specific themes for a couple of weeks so she's pretty confident they will be doing the specimen paper.

She has of course left it all to the last minute so tonight she's just learning quotes relevant to that paper.

It's a big gamble but it won't work next year. Hopefully she'll start revising more than 48 hours beforehand then.

I'm uncomfortable with it. I agree it's not fair on those who have been revising for weeks but they will be better off long term.

NannyOggsKnickers · 22/05/2017 17:15

This is a difficult one. I do wish the papers weren't available online. I've had issues this year with people who have done the only sample paper with their tutors. Writing your own papers is difficult at this point as we don't 100% know what to expect.
To be fair though, I've found that in my subject the kids who have printed off the mark scheme and the papers have fared not better than I thought they would. The mark scheme is just indicative content, not a full answer.

They are also shooting themselves in the foot because the mock are supposed to be formative assessment to help them with the final exam. 'Cheating' now is pointless and stupid.

PedantHere · 22/05/2017 17:13

Our school uses papers which are not accessible to the public (only accessible to registered exam centres).

redexpat · 22/05/2017 17:10

Im torn. In priciple I think youre right, but part of me thinks that he worked hard and they worked smart. Will they be able to do the same for the actual exam? If not then he will well setup for the real thing.

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