Cheating In Exams: A Justifiable Behavior? A Case Study In Causes And Remediation

Academic honesty has been a perennial issue in higher education. Unfortunately, the advent of technological devices has spurred much concern regarding the inappropriate use of these tools and their impact on the ethical behavior of the students. This study is designed to (a) obtain an estimate of the extent of cheating in examinationsfrom the perspective of university students. And (b) to find out the ‘whys' which push the students to resort to cheating. The results, based on a sample of 100hundred students from the English language department indicate that 80percent of the students have cheated during their higher education examinations. 96percent of the sample admit that they will cheat whenever an opportunity develops. 90percent of the students held the perception that cheating in exams is caused by the academic overload. 50percent think that way the examinations are designed constitute the main cause of cheating: questions test memory rather than comprehension. The currents results might be applicable to students in other academic disciplines.