Dd has been accused of cheating in an exam where she didn’t

[Mumsknot]

Dd (adult) is taking a professional qualification which comprises of a number of exams. She is near the top of her class and has been working v hard to get this (and paying for it herself). She’s always been a v diligent student.

The first exam she wrote (in an exam centre), she sat right at the front in front of the invigilator. She finished the exam and apparently left a lot of gaps. Only 1 in 20 pass this specific exam (it’s not needed to pass the whole course but she was still hoping to get it as it looks good if you do).

48 hours later she received a letter from the exam markers to say that her script was suspicious and they were going to investigate. The invigilator and dd had to give a statement (which they both did). The invigilator said dd was right in front of her and there was absolutely no cheating. DD’s gaps are enough for her to fail but apparently look suspicious (whatever that means).

dd was distraught as the sanction can be that she is kicked off the course and not allowed to write any of the exams and the thousands she has spent are wasted. I told her not to worry (which I regret now!) because I was sure the process just needed to be followed and she would be fine. In the meantime she’s having to sit all the other exams and not doing as well as she should as she’s been totally thrown by this.

Then yesterday she received another email saying that she now has to go to a face to face interview. Investigations only go to interview if they need to take them further. Apparently there are 2 in the whole hall they have pulled up. She is allowed to take someone with her but annoyingly it’s at a time I’m giving a big presentation that I can’t get out of so I can’t go.

She absolutely did not cheat. What is odd is they haven’t even said what the accusation is so she doesn’t even know what to answer to. It was a live translation and everyone in the same room heard the same thing and there were boards between candidates so they couldn’t copy each other anyway so I can’t see how she could have cheated anyway!

does anyone have any experience of this? I’m just wondering now whether we need to be more on our front foot. They sent their policy on ‘malpractice’ and at the end it mentioned they won’t cover the student’s legal fees which is making me wonder if we need to be more aggressive on this?

Sorry should say - I didn’t do further education in this country so I’m not familiar with how these sort of things work!

I don’t really get (and maybe you don’t either) what cheating they are saying took place? How would having gaps look like cheating?

Did she have her phone on her? Possibly they think she had questions in advance or discussed the paper? Was it an open book exam?

Sounds like they gave the same answer to a question or two that are wrong so they have to investigate. Would definitely not be normal for a parent to be in a meeting with them.

I don’t get it either. Not open book no. It was an exam where they play an audio file and she has to write things down. She has an exceptional memory so where she couldn’t get stuff down instantly she left gaps to see if she had time to come back. She didn’t have enough time to come back so she knew she failed and there were gaps in her work. They are saying the ‘gaps’ are suspicious but I’m not sure why or how!

They advise bringing someone to the meeting. Then sent a policy on not paying legal fees which made me wonder if it’s more serious than we think (I’m just not familiar with how things work in this setting).

Do you mean literal gaps of blank space on paper, or metaphorical gaps in her knowledge/missing obvious points from the answers?

If she is being accused of something she needs to know the details. If I was her I would make contact with them and ask for clarification what is she actually being accused of?

Is she autistic or anything? Not exactly the same but I once was questioned at school because my answers were basically word for word what the textbook had said. Nothing came if it and it was just a school test not further education but if I got pulled for that now I’d say well that’s how my memory works and show my diagnosis paperwork

Actual blank gaps. So like if you’re listening to something and writing it down but can’t write it down quick enough. So leave a gap to come back to finish it but run out of time to do so. As mentioned, most people fail this exam as it’s v hard.

They won’t answer any questions. They say their investigation needed a written statement (which she did). She hoped that would be enough but they aren’t satisfied and now need a face to face interview. Hopefully she can ask at the interview what she’s done wrong.

I’m just starting to get concerned that this isn’t as simple as I think and I shouldn’t have faith in the process and we may be missing something!

So a tape was played of someone speaking in a foreign language, and students had to write down the translation in real time?
If your DD couldn't immediately recall what something meant, she left a gap in case she remembered later/had time to guess something before the end of the exam?

It seems an entirely reasonable approach to this type of exam - leaving gaps makes sense.

Have they actually said this is the issue?

Or is it something like she was wearing a smart watch etc

Edit - cross post

She has an exceptional memory - can remember stuff word for word and if she had time, would have managed to fill in all the gaps. I’m wondering whether that is making them suspicious as it’s clear she could go back and fill in some gaps but not all of them as she ran out of time and maybe other people’s brains don’t work that way!

I’m v dyslexic so I’m finding it hard to help!

Yes that’s exactly it @Seeline

Surely anyone that's done so much as a pub quiz leaves gaps in this way, to come back to?!

This happened to my sister. Except she did Cheat. It was a coding exam and she and another student had the same answer. She couldnt understand as the code is the answer so it would be the same

Anyway she went to meeting, denied it, and they just advised on the policy and said on her way. It wasnt a big thing just asked questions about it. They tell you how they know someone cheated and go from there. But she worried over nothing and if your daughter didnt cheat then she will be ok

Since it’s a professional exam, perhaps she could bring someone from a union if she’s in one? Or a tutor from her course? The tutor would know how well she’s been doing in general. Does she have any evidence of her previous work or mock exams?

Maybe she’s got no mistakes on the questions she filled in but gaps is suspicious but I would think fairly common.

Was the other student who was accused sitting next to her? If not, they can’t be saying that she’s copied someone else’s work, especially if there are dividers between them.

Also strange that the invigilator hasn’t been believed too.

They really should tell her exactly what she’s been accused of before going to the meeting.

Perhaps she left similar gaps to the other student?

They need to tell her what she’s been accused of before she’s expected to turn up to defend herself.

She needs to look at the institutions policies in these situation and see what representation she needs to bring and allow that to inform her response and approach to the situation. Can she not move the meeting? It shouldn’t be a summons. If it were a workplace she’d be allowed time / ability to move meeting time in order to bring a representative.

They need to be able to conclusively prove cheating and it sounds they can’t - your daughter really needs to understand her rights her in order to push back

Thanks all - this is really useful. She spoke to her tutor and he is going to come to the interview with her which is great so thanks for that suggestion. I’m not sure where the other student was sitting but I will find out.

I asked if she could move the meeting - she asked them and they said no, they gave her 2 times and that was enough. It’s really putting a cloud over all her other exams which she’s trying to do while this goes on!

Her gaps probably match someone else's gaps. That could be because they found the identical questions hard or they might have been copying from her.

Awful, how silly. Glad her tutor is going with her.

I think the gaps being suspicious means the same gaps as the other person. If it's literally impossible for them to copy then the exam board must think they both had access to the same means to cheat (for example wearing a listening device and small headphone would work if you had someone on the other end giving you correct the answers).

If I were her I would take all my other results plus all my previous exam results from life and I would also take every revision guide, page of notes, scribbles etc she did in prep for any or all of those exams to try and show she had been preparing for and taking exams in good faith and successfully for years. I think it would be a lot more suspicious to see a script with a mixture of gaps and correct answers from a previously crap student.
Might also be worth a quick chat with a lawyer before just in case.
Hope she's OK.

i wonder if she’s put the answer and blanks in the right order at the wrong number - and someone else has too.

eg
Scotlands capital city: (blank)
Englands capital city: edinburgh
Wales capital city: london
Frances capital city:( blank)

Did you get anywhere with this, OP @Mumsknot ?