Cheating in GCSE exams

[examworries2026]

Name changed for this. I wanted to explore the likelihood of this happening and see if anyone has experience of this, either from what their DC have said or if you’re a teacher or work in a school.

My DS16 is taking his GCSEs in a few weeks. He said that during their mocks they obviously aren’t allowed their phones (his school use those pouches anyway so technically they’re not supposed to have them during the day) but he said a few people have burner phones in their pockets.

During the exams they ask to go to the toilet and then spend a few minutes looking up answers etc.

I have no reason to doubt my DS but I can’t understand how this can be allowed to happen. Found it really shocking. Has anyone heard of this or similar? How common is this? Any invigilators on here who could shed some light on the likelihood of this happening?

Probably irrelevant but this is a highly rated traditional boys’ private school.

If they are caught they can be disqualified from all of their exams. If the school does not declare when they have caught students cheating, they can lose their license to host exams. The stakes are high. Cheating will happen, but the school should be looking out for suspicious behaviour. And it will waste time in the exam - realistically, will they be able to look up enough to make a massive difference to their results? Not sure.

Sure, I get that the stakes are high. I’m interested in how common this actually is.

i thought this as well - referring to your last point - surely it’s far more stressful and time consuming!

I don't think it's common.

I've heard of people getting done for cheating twice in the last two years.

They had all their exams with that board cancelled.

Also, do people think I should mention it to the school? Am obviously reluctant to do so as it’s a serious allegation (although I wouldn’t mention any names) but I’m shocked and concerned that pupils would even attempt this and it makes me mad tbh.

Is that people you know or because you work in that sector?

My DC go to a state school and the child who attempted this in DDs year was caught and did not get their GCSEs. It is much stricter than when I was doing exams in the 80s. They are all reminded they cannot take phones or anything with text on it into the exams just before they go in. It shouldn't be common.

100% I would mention it to the school.

I’ve a friend who has worked on a number of projects to do with how public exams are run. She said cheating is surprisingly common (though she didn’t quantify it) and is getting more sophisticated. Eg people have been caught using technology including hearing aids, with someone remotely giving them the answers, and also with smart glasses technology again so the test paper can be transmitted to someone outside the exam so they can feed answers back. She said it’s very difficult effectively to detect and tackle.

She also said that certain cultures don’t regard there with being anything wrong with encouraging and supporting your kids to cheat in exams. To the contrary, a “good parent” is seen as someone who would give every possible advantage to their child, including helping them cheat. And that they’re almost baffled by the suggestion that a parent wouldn’t do this or that it’s morally wrong. 🤷‍♀️

If that sounds racist all I can say is she’s really not a racist (she’s actually pretty left wing liberal), but this was what they found on the projects she worked on.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@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

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.

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

They would be cheating themselves in the long run.

Thanks for all the responses. It’s good to hear your views. I didn’t know that schools had scanning devices. Perhaps that’s something to check with ours. It’s good to hear from an invigilator as well @MissyB1

I think I’ll quiz DS again on it gently to get my facts straight then have a word with the school.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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 🤷‍♀️

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.

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).