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.

I only do the odd shift here and there and we get the first hour paid to set up the room which only takes about 10 minutes. Then we chat and catch up, they are all retired and I am a single mum so quite lonely at home. I love the interaction.

I really enjoy it as an adhoc role and like to see the kids progressing.

Also an invigilator. The pre exam announcement (if they listen to it) gives students a final chance to hand anything in before the exam starts. If they don't, then they need to deal with the consequences. Where I work, students are taken to out of bounds/staff only toilets whoch require a code or card entry.
It's impossibe to 100% stop any cheating and unless we see or hear something, there is no evidence. We had an A level student last year who was suspected of cheating which.was reported to SLT
and exams officer but there was no physical proof. She didn't do very well.
Had two BTEC students who were caught trying to cheat, module marked as zero.
It could just be kids making things up but it doesn't hurt to make the school aware. I met someone, in a different job, who left her invigilating job in a private school due to the school not reporting cheating. She said most invigilators did leave and the one who raised it with the school was laughed at so reported the school to JCQ.

What do you mean by “check them”? We aren’t allowed in the toilet with them! And we can’t physically frisk them or ask them to remove shirts.

Exactly. The students can also have additional needs, extra time, support issues, anxiety. You can go stripping them off when they are already on high alert in an exam situation.

Some schools do Bluetooth checks in the exam room. And there are mobile signal blockers which I believe some schools use too.

Mobile signal blocking surely can't be sensible! We use it for communicating usually via Whatsapp, the school wifi isn't great so that would cause a lot of problems for invigilators!

@Vinorosso74 agreed! My previous school used walkie talkies though...

I am considering the Bluetooth check though.

There’s actually an official report:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/malpractice-in-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2025-exam-series/malpractice-in-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2025-exam-series

Another problem I encountered was at a Sixth Form College. They expected candidates to prepare their oral exam sitting on a chair in the central concourse so chatting students etc passing by. And absolutely no possibility of ensuring the confidentiality of the exam or the ability of the poor candidates to concentrate. When I complained they said that was the only place they had so I'd have to manage. I said fine, I'll go home then and report the situation to the Exam Board. Miraculously they then could find a quiet room for preparation and for the exam. The mind boggles!

One of my group cheated in university finals. She had written notes on her arms and legs and told them she had a UTI so needed to go to the toilet a lot. She made a great song and dance about how hard she'd worked to get her first afterwards. I cut contact after that. I actually threw up when she sent me photos of the notes on her body on the exam day.

I don’t think it’s common but it does happen. Dc yr 12 has recently disclosed to me that his friend cheated in his gcse exams (but didn’t get caught. Big London independent school).

I would mention it to the school like PP had suggested - to the head of year and exams officer

I wasnt aware even analogue watches were banned!

I can’t imagine how useful looking at a phone for a few minutes would actually be to a lot of exams. We don’t have multiple choice exams, much of the written papers are essay based, a quick google of soemthing isn’t likely going to enable you to write a well written long prose answer if you don’t understand the material. I can’t imagine you’d remember many of the exact maths questions to effectively google and write down the answers.

Seems to be a ridiculous amount of risk for very little gain.

They check students at our school with a wand before they enter to look for phones, watches, ear buds. This is after mobile phones were discovered some years back.

all phones and all watch types are not allowed. Clear pencil cases only. No calculator lids. Only clear water bottles no labels on them. I suspect they sweep the toilet cubicles before the exam starts to look for notes and devices.

DC have said that they are aware of a pupil who wrote answers/notes on arms and legs for mocks and went to toilet.
so whilst the school can try to eliminate methods of cheating they’ll always be someone who finds a gap if they really want to cheat. Also short of asking the child to roll up sleeves and or show their legs no idea how they can eliminate that and surely there would be safeguarding challenges.

i didn’t know this either but a quick google search says some smart watches are made to look like traditional analogue watches.

I wonder what happens if the wall click isn’t visible from certain desks.

The wall clock will always be visible- that’s part of the regulations as well!

We project the time onto the wall in huge text so it's visible to everyone. Also giving out warnings when 30 minutes to go etc.

They aren’t allowed any indication of time elapsed or remaining unless they have a prompter, except for 5 min before the end.

@Eccle80- I thought the same unless the poster is invigilating IB in which case they do get a 30 minute warning. But the same poster also said it only takes 10 minutes to set up a room so I’m not sure what they’re invigilating as there’s no way you can set up a big hall in that time!

If they're not allowed to know the time, how can they ensure they are not spending too long on one question?

It's a long while since I sat exams, but I was advised to take time to read all the questions and to give equal time to each answer. Although, my exam papers all required essay style answers - no multiple choice questions.

We can tell them the time if they can't read the clock but not how long is remaining.
One school I work at givea a 5 minute left announcement, the other doesn't.

I also work at 2 schools and 1 gives a 5 minute warning and the other doesn’t. We’re not even meant to tell them the time, just direct them to the clock, which is digital in one school and analogue in the other. Not allowed to tell them how much time is remaining. ( I think the rationale behind it is that you could tell them the wrong amount).

Neither school I work in gives a 5 minute warning, I think on the basis it might be distracting to some students.

@QuietlyWonderful they have a clock, and a board with the start and end times for the exam, so they can use that to plan time

That seems very unhelpful.

There’s a clock in the room tho with start and end time written next to it in a WB. Or there has been in every exam I have seen (= a lot).

Today it’s often a digital clock as so many YP struggle with analogue.