Cheating in GCSE exams

Yes, my son told me this happened frequently at his school.

Hopefully nobody had a heavy period during those exams......

Definitely mention it to the school. I am an invigilator and we are hot on exam cheating. Any move out of the exam room to the toilet etc is monitored and recorded. I'm fact everything is recorded. The private schools are particularly monitored for this. Any cheats have all exams voided

Someone got caught cheating during my degree finals in 2000. They got booted out with no degree and no second chance.
we all saw it happen in one of the exams.
brutal but fair

I was an examiner/checker for oral exams ie remarking the schools exams which were recorded. However if I turned the tape volume up very high I could hear the teacher whispering the answers! I reported to the Board of course. Not sure what the result was but I guess the whole lot were disqualified.

Deleted as double post

Exams today are often shorter too. For example I had 2x 3hr papers for A Level maths, my dc had 3x 2hr.
It would have been really rare for someone to go to the toilet during an exam, so if multiple people are doing it, then I expect suspicions will be raised.

You need to say as if an invigilator cones and catches multiple people, in theory the whole consort could have their exams invalidated. It is very rare for that to happen, but it is an option for the exam board if they suspect widespread cheating.

I invigilate. They are reminded repeatedly as they go in and at the start of the exam that they can be disqualified if they have a phone, smartwatch, ear buds etc on them and have multiple chances to hand it in. We would also be alert to anyone reaching into a blazer pocket etc, and all toilet breaks are recorded with the time they leave and reenter. Hearing aids have to have Bluetooth turned off for the exam. Smart glasses maybe slightly harder to spot, but teachers see them when they are lining up and would notice someone who didn’t regularly wear glasses, and again we would be walking around and looking during the exam for any odd behaviour.

Whilst cheating is obviously never going to be impossible, I would say it isn’t easy, and there are a lot of safeguards in place. It may be worth you mentioning to the school in case they want to do further checks on the way in.

Someone pissed themselves in my O Level exams. I think people were too afraid to ask. Trying to remember scientific equations to the stench of piss was not great!

very few kids ask to go to the toilet during exams, it's often those who have got in a panic and need 5 to gather their thoughts (25 years teaching).

People I know.
Kids were dumb.
Kids got caught/reported.
Kids were banned.

Wasn't just one - several - because they were that dumb.

Also because they'd done something, completely innocent kids were also examined because some sharing of info was done. They could have been affected and their grades cancelled due to no fault of their own because of the way the cheating was done.

In the end they didn't disqualify these kids. I had no idea that this was even possible.

The moral of the story - if you know something report it. Otherwise there's a risk your own child might get caught up in things and be disqualified even if they don't actually cheat themselves.

I don’t remember anyone going to the toilet during O levels and A levels in the 1980s. We were too busy trying to get the paper finished in the time.
The youth of today have no discipline or self control if they can’t hold it for 3 hours 🤷‍♀️

Our school is very clear - you get disqualified for being in possession of items such as mobiles, ear buds, notes etc. There’s no need to show you were cheating with them - being in possession of them in the exam hall is enough.

A few years ago one student had a phone ping out loud from a pocket in an exam. At the end of the exam the invigilators asked all the students to empty out their pockets to see who had the phone. 18 students had phones on them - they were all disqualified. Doesn’t matter that some of those phones were turned off, forgotten etc - so even if a student has one with no intent to use it on their person, if another person screws up and everyone has to empty their pockets out at the end, anyone found with a phone / AirPod etc will be disqualified.

I have known a YP get DQd from all their maths GCSE exams bc of a phone in a pocket. For sure school can spot it. It’s not worth it – as others note, it can mean DQ from all the papers in that GCSE or even all the papers for that board – which if it is an AQA exam could be a lot.

@examworries2026 you need to report it. It may be fluff and bluster but if so, no harm is done.

DS left a phone in his bag which was at the back of the exam room, and nowhere near him, while sitting a public exam. The phone rang, which alerted the invigilator and he was awarded zero for the paper. He was allowed to sit the rest of his exams, I think they realised he was idiotic rather a cheater. He had to redo the exam in the retake session the following November.
It was clear there was no way he could have benefited from having the phone as it was not near him, but he broke the very clear rules and suffered the consequences. These things are taken seriously, and the consequences have to be seen to have been applied.

It's a lot of retired teachers I work with invigilating, they see things before they have even happened!

I work invigilating occasionally and we are trained to spot this, we can search the kids, you wouldn't believe what they try. Moving to different toilets, notes in the toilet itself, it's fascinating.

They would be cheating themselves in the long run.

My school had a device that detected mobile phones as they entered the exam hall.

I know someone whose DC took their phone into an exam in their blazer pocket. Blazer was hung on back of chair all through exam, never went to the toilet etc. After the exam, as they left the room, they put on their blazer and took their phone out. Spotted by an invigilator and reported. They were disqualified from the exam in question and did not get a GCSE in that subject, but I think there was a worry for a while that they might be disqualified from all the exams on that board (school recognised that they never used the phone or attempted to cheat, but had it with them during the exam).
When I was at school there were always rumours of people who went to the toilet during exams having notes hidden in their bra / tights etc to check stuff so I'm sure it's always happened. No idea how true it was. I suspect it's a small minority.

@LittleGreenDuck that is a reason to disqualify. Any decide on their person whether used or not, connected or not, is not allowed.

i have had a learner disqualified as well due to cheating.

if I was you OP I would report to the school and to be honest, if you know the names, name them. Doing it pre formal exams so action can be taken without them being disqualified. It’s not fair on your child or any other taking the exam that they are cheating. Call it out else where does this kind of thing end

A child in my DS’s year was caught with an earbud in his trouser pocket. Apparently not even connected to anything and had simply forgotten it was there, but I don’t know how true that was. Disqualified from that exam, I don’t know if there were any further ramifications.

I’ve been invigilating the exams for 6 years now. We are very good at spotting any shenanigans! We know what to look for, and we monitor toilet visits, including the time they go in and come out, we stand outside the toilet door. We watch what’s going on with blazers and pockets. I’m not saying it’s impossible to cheat, but it’s certainly not easy.

I know of a kid that was done a couple of years back at my children's school. He was disqualified from all the exams for that board. I was told he had ear pods in hidden behind long hair. The school took it seriously though.

We scan students who go to the toilet. The hand held wand type things you sometimes see at gigs. We are duty bound to report anyone found with a phone or smart watch on them during the exam.

Two years ago, one of our students got caught with a phone in a PE exam. AQA disqualified him from the whole qualification, not just that paper. He was lucky they didn’t disqualify him from all exams taken with their exam board in that series as that would have included both English and Maths.

I’d email school to let them know students plan to do this after getting away with it in mocks. It will give school the opportunity to speak to the year group about the severity of the risk they are taking if they decide to go ahead with their plans.