Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Cheating in GCSE exams - how common?

34 replies

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 08:45

I have name changed because I have mentioned DD's school in previous posts.

Dd sat 2 GCSEs early in year 9 last summer, this is school policy. Yesterday she mentioned that in her Spanish written exam there were people with their notes next to them on their chairs, floor etc. This came up because we got the school newsletter and 2 kids had got A* for both GCSEs. She said she was one of the few who didn't cheat in that exam. She did admit though that the teacher did give her a bit too much "help" in the oral exam.

The teacher has since retired but was renowned for the number of As her class received. I feel sick at this. I know in my other child's school they err on the side of caution and are incredibly strict in all exams and assessments. I don't know if it is a maverick teacher or if this is widespread in the school. Has anyone come across it?

I don't feel I can complain because it might affect all the results but I am really annoyed.

OP posts:

Chlorinella · 20/12/2013 08:49

Im surprised at this .
At my DC school they need clear plastic pencil cases on the tables , no bags or books allowed in .
No phones allowed in , and teachers patrol up and down between the desks
I thought that was the normal way to do things

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 08:51

Yes, they had the exam in the classroom with the teacher invigilating. It was very short. I was gob smacked but DD is adamant that took place.

OP posts:

Chlorinella · 20/12/2013 08:54

The teachers also check the pupils as they go in .
Not in a class room , but the performance hall or the studio

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 08:56

Yes that happens for exams the whole year group take at school and for ALL exams at DD1's school. Obviously not for this one.

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 20/12/2013 08:57

Sounds odd. This was an actual exam, not a continuous assessment piece of work? For some of those, I think notes are allowed. But if that was the case your DD should have been clear about what was allowed, so either way its not right.

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 09:04

I think they were allowed a plan of 40(?) words. But people had written it out and then put it on the floor so they could copy it out. Some openly had it on the desk or next to them. Teacher saw but turned a blind eye.

OP posts:

olivo · 20/12/2013 09:08

I would raise it with another teacher, personally. I am a teacher, and I would act fast if i thought another colleague was allowing students to cheat. I know the teacher is no longer there, but maybe systems need tightening up. Many teachers work hard to help the students get their best results, but it is unfair for some to bend the system.

Sorry, rant over.

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 09:19

Olivo, I will try and do so. I hope it was just a one off.

OP posts:

Lancelottie · 20/12/2013 09:24

They're policed to the hilt at DS's school.

We have reason to know this, as DS is the kind of child who mutters to himself when thinking, and he has been hauled out of assessments for it (the school accepts that he wasn't communicating, but is still not prepared to take the risk of appearing to cheat).

The 40-word plans had to be submitted in advance and signed off by the teacher here.

ErrolTheDragon · 20/12/2013 09:26

Actual exams surely ought to have more than one invigilator - not just to check up on each other but in case someone needs to leave the room or suchlike.

rudolphdrops · 20/12/2013 10:19

Strict at dd1 school, it seems very unfair on your daughter who's completed the assessment they correct way but may score lower than her cheating class mates.

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 11:24

Yes, dd is dyslexia and I paid for a private tutor for a year. She got a B which is very good considering she sat 2 years early. The teacher did give her a lot of help in the oral so I guess she cheated as well if I am honest. She got a low mark in the written component. She was just a bit miffed as the two who got A* are in her group and fawned over in the school magazine and at least was blatantly cheating as he was seated near her.

Maybe the teacher just lost it and didn't care anymore.

OP posts:

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 11:24

Dyslexic stupid phone!

OP posts:

OddBoots · 20/12/2013 11:29

I've not heard of notes being taken in to exams where they aren't permitted but I have heard talk of a compulsory breakfast club on exam days and the revision done during that club being surprisingly close to what is on the exam paper.

stressedofstreatham · 20/12/2013 13:26

In Spanish this is a controlled assessment. They prepare a topic in general for a couple of weeks, then they get the actual 5 or 6 questions two or three days before (in English !). They can prepare this word for word and then have to go in and write it up in timed conditions. For higher level this is approx 300 words. This seems bonkers to me and they even are allowed a dictionary with them too. There was a thread about this a few weeks ago. Given how much they can prepare in advance, the member of staff should be checking the dictionaries are 'clean' and patrolling. However according to dcs we know these assessments take place often in the spanish lesson slot, so maybe the actual teacher invigilates. Surely all this tests is whether they can use google translate sensibly and whether they can learn 300 words off by heart. Or following what you are saying effectively sneak notes up their sleeves. No wonder the world thinks we are rubbish at languages.

HaleyDunphy · 20/12/2013 13:41

Happened to my German class when I was at school! The teacher mouthed the words to us all while the tape was recording in our individual speaking assessments. I can't lip read for shit, and actually said "What?" So I don't know how that was never picked up.

Anyway, it all got a bit too awkward for me so I didn't look at him throughout the rest of it. I didn't do so well, but quite a few others did and said it was thanks to his 'special' input.

Coconutty · 20/12/2013 13:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Pissedoffatschool · 20/12/2013 15:18

Sitting early is common in my area unfortunately - at DD's school they do all "option" GCSEs as one year courses. She will have 6 GCSEs in total by the end of year 10, 2 options this year plus English Lang and maths. I think it is madness.

OP posts:

Bearleigh · 20/12/2013 22:21

One my son's friends, T, sat French 2 years early and got an A*. He told my son the teacher insisted on helping in the oral by mouthing the replies. T is a bright and honorable boy and doesn't like this at all. He also feels very uncomfortable about the controlled assessment/learning by rote bit. My son is delighted he's doing iGCSEs so he doesn't have to do the controlled assessment as he actually wants to learn the language.

wasuup3000 · 20/12/2013 22:30

My daughter was talking about having aqa exam board notes which seemed allowed for english literature but also noted a lot had writtem on their hands and were not caught. Apparently the pre exams notes on the aqa eb paper were legal and above board though....

lainiekazan · 21/12/2013 12:20

Ah, this is where I'm with Michael Gove and think the best thing is to bring back O Level style final all or nothing exams.

Ds is horrified when I tell him that you walked into French O Level and turned over the paper and there was a piece to translate into French, and a piece to translate back. And you had no clue what vocabulary would come up. And I still remember the essay I had to write. "A tiger has escaped from the zoo." My essay consisted of several people shouting, "Au secours!" and "Il est tres mechant!" [avec les accents, naturellement!]

Complaint no. 53 is kids retaking exams. Ds busts a gut to get a top grade in a one-time only effort, but his cousin gets the same grade on her third attempt. I know it's not officially cheating, but either all schools offer the opportunity to do numerous retakes, or none should.

Lancelottie · 22/12/2013 14:05

Lainie, our unseen translation was about evenly divided between those who luckily knew that a pompier was a fireman and took it from there, and those who thought it might be an apple tree and produced some very bizarre stabs at the rest of the passage.

lainiekazan · 22/12/2013 14:40

lainiekazan · 22/12/2013 14:45

Worse was German A Level where you had to talk through a series of pictures. You had to turn over card A or card B. My pictures on card B were of a bloke throwing a cigarette out of a sports car window into a gas main. The card A people fared no better upon seeing someone mowing a lawn and getting a stone stuck in the blades. Doesn't bear thinking about.

Lancelottie · 22/12/2013 14:50

Hmm. I think I could manage 'Pass auf! Argh! Hilfe!' D'you think that would do?

Flip

1 2