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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

cheating on exam tomorrow

127 replies

elerng · 07/01/2021 21:06

DD has an 11 plus exam tomorrow, it is for a private school and academic scholarships will be awarded based on the results.

The exam has been sent to all parents today to print out for the child tomorrow. The children will sit the exam being watched by teachers via zoom, and complete the printed out paper. The parents then need to take the paper away and send it to the school.

DH and I have different views on if cheating will happen. I don't think parents will cheat, I have to believe all parents will respect the difficult circumstances however DH does think others will cheat.

So I guess AIBU to think parents won't cheat on behalf of the child?

OP posts:

Sinful8 · 08/01/2021 00:31

@Gobbycop

What a fucking stupid way of doing it.

Or a genius test, raise the same questions the interview and see if they can't answer them.

Weed out the dishonest

upthekyber · 08/01/2021 00:35

It's the 11 plus of course they will cheat all's far in love and the 11 plus it is the most pointy elbowed exam of middle class parents anyway.
Also remember how much it will
Save the parents in fees if they pass. Our local grammars are packed to the gunnels with ex private school pupils.

MrsWonderland · 08/01/2021 12:11

So...did you cheat? (honestly)

QueenoftheAir · 08/01/2021 12:56

It's inevitable that parents will cheat. They think they're doing their children a favour, and they think they'll bask in their children's glory (performance parenting).

However, it is unlikely to help their children in the long run. If the child isn't up to it without cheating, then the child is headed for disaster.

safariboot · 08/01/2021 13:03

There's money involved, there will be loads and loads of cheating.

But don't, because it would be considered criminal fraud. And I predict at least one family, from a lower class background of course, will be prosecuted and made a scapegoat.

wingsandstrings · 08/01/2021 14:49

A suspect a small proportion will cheat. Some people invest so much financially and emotionally in school entrance that loose morality and sense.
Even if they don't give their child the paper to look at in advance I am sure there will be many parents who look at the paper themselves, then get their children to review particular subject areas that appear . . . . and then justify it to themselves as not actually cheating because they didn't show their children the exact question.
My DD just did the 11+ online and the papers only showed online at the appointed time, after the parent had left the room (they were watching on zoom) and they even had to keep their mikes on to ensure parents couldn't be whispering answers from under the desk or something. At the end the parent had a 10 min window of time to upload pics of the handwritten sections. I guess there was an apportunity during that time to correct obvious errors but the opportunity to cheat wasn't huge.

Anon778833 · 08/01/2021 22:57

@safariboot - what are you going on about? ‘Lower class background’?

I assume you mean people who can’t afford the fees? FYI people who genuinely can’t afford the fees would need a bursary, not a scholarship. A scholarship is a kudos award with a token value. When you consider how much school fees actually cost.

MissMarpleDarling · 09/01/2021 01:38

They will cheat. Being totally honest if my kid was doing that test I think I might cheat.

HotSauceCommittee · 09/01/2021 01:58

Cheating is a terrible thing to teach one's children and would negate a great education, IMO.
I want my kids to be nice, with decent values, not little cheaters.

Acatnamedfox · 09/01/2021 02:17

This is so mental, why would they do it this way? Cheating is inevitable..

I’ll be honest I’d be sitting up all night wondering whether I should cheat too, on one hand, I wouldn’t, it’s wrong, it’s literally cheating innocent children out of a rightful place, imagine the Karma.
On the other hand, I believe if I’d had gone to a private school my life would be so different and it would improve my child’s life immeasurably, more than I could imagine and surely everyone else will so it goes back to normal testing, testing the best cheat..

But no the karma, but the opportunities and doors it could/will open.

But no it’s wrong..

mmgirish · 09/01/2021 02:23

Of course people will cheat!! My school have stupidly done online assessments that saw reading and maths ages shoot up by 6 years during remote learning. Some parents just can't help themselves. I've lost count of how many pieces of work submitted by my KS2 students that have been quite obviously done by a parent. It's a waste of everyone's time.

BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze · 09/01/2021 02:31

Of course they’ll cheat. There will be a few that cheat because they’re shitty people. Then there will be a lot that cheat because they realise this and will want their child to still stand a chance. Awful.

BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze · 09/01/2021 02:33

My school have stupidly done online assessments that saw reading and maths ages shoot up by 6 years during remote learning.

Sadly I’m not surprised. They’re really not helping their children or others at all though.

Namechangebuttercup · 09/01/2021 02:55

Is it cheating to get them to memorise the answers or is that just teaching?

Yeah, if you look at an unseen exam paper before the exact time exam starts, that's cheating.

Teaching is when you give the person the ability to answer what's on that unseen paper, no matter what the questions are.

DreamingofMonday · 02/02/2021 21:23

Hello

DreamingofMonday · 02/02/2021 21:28

Has anyone been able to get school fees reduced due to Covid?

WhoseThatGirl · 02/02/2021 21:31

They will all cheat. If they don’t want the child to realise they are cheating they might just do a bit of ‘revision’ beforehand. Or just edit some answers themselves. Some people will just tell their kid the answers too.
Lots of people believe teaching children to follow the rules is teaching them to be a mug.

ItsFriyay · 02/02/2021 21:38

I can’t believe a school couldn’t come up with a better way in which to administer such an important exam. Surely with all the tech available there would be link that cannot be accessed until the allocated start time.

modgepodge · 02/02/2021 21:45

Most of the private schools near me are not oversubscribed. The exam is a formality. In 4 years working in a prep school, I can only think of one child who didn’t get in to the private school she wanted, and neither I nor the head were surprised, and had advised the parents not to apply to that school (the only really academic one near us).

Also lots of schools have done pre tests in the autumn term, and interviews. One school near us who was supposed to do an exam in mid January just offered places based on that.

Scholarships are a different matter, and I do think parents would cheat. Academic scholarships are often 50% of fees; that’s maybe £70k over the next 7 years. That said, I imagine they are revoked if performance ‘slips’, certainly music and sports scholarships are awarded on the proviso the child is a member of orchestras, sports teams etc.

hansgrueber · 02/02/2021 21:46

Of course they'll cheat, claiming they were just encouraging their little dear, I can recall all kinds of problems with home-based coursework.
I amazed that they're able to print the paper 24 hours early, most exams in schools are kept in a mini Fort Knox.

Pebbledashery · 02/02/2021 21:47

Of course they will all cheat! How could you expect them not to?

Ileflottante · 02/02/2021 21:56

Wise up, of course they’ll cheat.

SillyOldMummy · 02/02/2021 22:13

People will cheat. It's like the prisoners dilemma a little bit.

Mostlylurkingiam · 04/02/2021 05:35

What a stupid way to do an exam! Why not send it our just before? Obviously people will cheat.

SD1978 · 04/02/2021 05:40

Absolutely they will. This is not going to be a true test for the kids

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