Could this be considered academic dishonesty?

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hemoglobincell

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So here's the scenario: my biochem. teacher allows students to bring a 1-page 1-sided "cheat sheet" to the midterms. We may put ANYTHING we want on them, including photocopied old tests (which she supplies) if we like. Well, I spent a while a made a really killer "cheat sheet". It was so good that one student, who had a pretty dense "cheat sheet" but not as good as mine, asked if he could have a copy. I didn't really think anything of it, and let him go make a copy of it. The teacher never said we couldn't share our cheat sheets or work on cheat sheets together. While he was away making a copy for himself and another student, I had second thoughts. When the two other students got back, one of them also had second thoughts and decided to use his own cheat sheet that he prepared. However, the other student used my cheat sheet. He insisted that he sees nothing wrong with it (to which I agreed), and that he had done it before. The cheat sheets could, after all, have "anything" on them and were free reign.

Yet still I feel anxious about it (the kind that makes me wish I hadn't done it). I feel that I have nothing to feel guilty about, because it wasn't "wrong" to let someone copy my unoriginal work (I had just made copies of the old tests as little tiny pictures), and even so, I technically had no real way of know how he would ultimately use that cheat sheet (after all, he did have his own).

I am really at a loss for why I feel so anxious. Even during the test I couldn't focus, I could only think about what would happen if, for some reason, this was construed as academic dishonesty. I have an acceptance to medical school in hand, am looking into buying a house in the area with my fiancee in the near future, so to have this come back on me would really suck.

So I guess my questions are:
1) Is there any way this could be constued as academic dishonesty? (by the way, no "credit" is given for the cheat sheets, but they are collected)
2) If this were an academic dishonesty, will this preclude me from going to medical school?

If you can't tell, I'm actually hoping most of you will tell me I'm crazy for worrying about this. Removing the emotion and "what ifs", I can't see any reason why it would be dishonest for the whole class to share the same cheat sheet...

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If you can put anything on them then you're totally fine.
 
You're cool. If your prof really gave a f*ck about the contents of your cheat sheets, she would either standardize them or check them before the test. If she doesn't care, why should you?
 
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:laugh:

1. no
2. it isn't so don't worry about it

oh...and seek professional help for your anxiety
 
Maybe you should just ask your prof (for next time), although I can see how this may be a bit awkward. I would say that you're fine, but then again, I have seen some pretty crazy policies.
 
So I guess my questions are:
1) Is there any way this could be constued as academic dishonesty? (by the way, no "credit" is given for the cheat sheets, but they are collected)
2) If this were an academic dishonesty, will this preclude me from going to medical school?

If you can't tell, I'm actually hoping most of you will tell me I'm crazy for worrying about this. Removing the emotion and "what ifs", I can't see any reason why it would be dishonest for the whole class to share the same cheat sheet...

1) No, it's not academic dishonesty.

2) Yes, if this was academic dishonesty, it might result in your acceptance being rescinded.

Generally cheat sheets work better when you made them yourself; having to hunt through tiny pages of 4-point font for a similar test question may not be a recipe for success if they haven't already gone through all the old tests before. For that matter, presumably your professor realizes that people can bring the old tests in and makes sure to test for conceptual understanding rather than simple regurgitation.
 
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jesus christ, I doubt your professor gives a rats ass. How well you do on tests for which your professor allows you to bring a "cheet sheet" or a notecard of formulas is not based on how amazing someones copied cheet sheet is.
 
ha, okay I thought you were talking about some sort of writing assignment...definitely in the clear when it comes to cheat sheets.
 
Dont want to scare you but all my prof that allowed us to have cheat sheets specific says you cant photocopy other and if you do they are going to report you and it will result in academic dishonesty and void the test etc....that is why they collect them.

However if your prof didnt say that he probably would just warn you at almost.
 
you "may put ANYTHING we want on them, including photocopied old tests"


where's the problem?
 
hah no its not academic dishonesty,you need to chill...that sux how you were distracted during the test though
 
Hi hemoglobincell,

As an engineering major almost all of our upper division professors allowed us to bring cheat sheets. This was simply because the tests themselves required more problem-solving than anything that we could look up to put on a piece of paper. We generally worked together to make a single super-cheat sheet that was the synthesis of all our cheat sheets. Everyone had the same sheet. No academic dishonesty.
 
I had a class like that once. There was a enterprising young student who managed to fit every note, problem, and old exam on the pages. He sold them for 5 bucks a pop. To a 200 person class :D
 
Not at all. If anything goes, so does copying it. All you did was save them time of copying it down from the notes themself.
 
Dont want to scare you but all my prof that allowed us to have cheat sheets specific says you cant photocopy other and if you do they are going to report you and it will result in academic dishonesty and void the test etc....that is why they collect them.

However if your prof didnt say that he probably would just warn you at almost.
Really? No, my teacher never mentioned this (or I would have obviously not allowed it to be copied).

She never said we couldn't photocopy each other's cheat sheets; she never mentioned it one way or the other. I'm kind of thinking along the lines of a warning, if anything, too. I would imagine that academic dishonesty would have to be a pretty clear cut case of plagiarism or cheating on a test. In this case, the copied cheat sheet is not for credit so it can't be plagiarism (and, if anything, the other student would be the plagiarizer since it was my cheat sheet that was copied), and it's also clearly not cheating because anything was allowed to be on the cheat sheets.

Anyway, thanks everyone for (partially) quelling my fears. I just cringe at the thought of throwing away 4 hard years and a medical school acceptance on a technicality.
 
I can see why you were worried, but from now on, try to relax and not worry so much about things like this. Otherwise, you will be driven mad. Just focus on your studies.
 
One of the points of a cheatsheet is to actually go over the material while making the sheet.
just getting someone else's is less effective.

To the OP, I'd say you're in the clear. Hope the anxiety didnt ruin your test.
 
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