My friend said he's going to cheat on the MCAT... should I be worried?

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Lacipart

Lacipart

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When I say should I be worried I don't mean about him getting caught, I mean I'm worried that he might pull it off and get an unfair advantage.

This guy goes to my school, seems like an average guy but has a pretty high GPA since he gets 100%s on tons of tests. He works for Campus Safety and a lot of my classmates and I assume he uses his janitorial keys to break into prof's offices before test day and get a copy of the final early. 😡


Anyway I took the MCAT is August and he asked if it was possible to cheat on it (half jokingly so). I said that it was totally impossible and over exxagerated the number of proctors and anti-cheating techniques they use in hope to scare him away from cheating. Which I clearly did since he took it in September and got an 17M :laugh: (no offense to anyone here who got a 17, but seeing this known cheater get a 17 just made my day).

Well, he got pissed about the 17 and rescheduled for April 5th. He hasn't studied yet to my knowledge but brags about how "now he knows how the system works" and how "in April he's going to dominate the test".
:idea: Should I be worried that he might actually manage to seriously cheat on the MCAT?
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He will get caught, so let him. 👎. Plus, with all the knowledge and speed at which that knowledge must be retrieved I doubt he will even able to, unless he has some pretty expensive SPY GEAR. (earpieces and glasses with digital displays)
 
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stop worrying about other people's lives and focus on your own. Nobody likes "tattle-talers." Sheesh.

You're making assumptinos that he can break into professor's offices. How do you know that the professor leaves the stuff in the office to begin with? Maybe it's on the computer. All you're really doing is making allegations.

Furthermore, if he is able to cheat on the MCAT, then my hat goes to him, because on an exam like the MCAT, security is pretty strict.

Just relax, life is always going to be unfair, just learn to deal with by not intruding in other people's lives.
 
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short of somehow hacking in somewhere and obtaining a copy of the test I'm not sure how much cheating you can do on the mcat. It's not like it's really feasible to write stuff on your hand. Even with a cheat sheet, most people wouldn't have time to answer questions and reference anything.
 
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This thread does bring up something I've wondered about. What if you could cheat on the mcat without getting caught. Like a friend somehow got all the answers, would you cheat? I'm not going to lie, it would be a tough decision, but I don't think in the end I could do it.
 
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Who cares there is no definite answer on that just opinions.

Just study for the MCAT lol.
 
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masterMood said:
You're making assumptinos that he can break into professor's offices. How do you know that the professor leaves the stuff in the office to begin with? Maybe it's on the computer. All you're really doing is making allegations.
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How do I know he cheats on tests? Please, a blind and deaf man could tell you.
- he tells everyone "Yea, I can get into any room I want to with these keys"
- he only goes to class on test days, and no one has ever seen him studying or getting notes from people
- on two separate occasions Professors have announced to the class (on test day) "I would like to remind everyone here that my office is off limits when I am not there, I have noticed things being moved around inside my office on multiple occasions... I have notified security and take this matter very seriously."

And don't call me a taddle tale since I not once ratted him out even though I would have to be an idiot not to put two and two together. But anyway, good point about not having time to cheat on the test, proctors non withstanding simply having time to cheat would be hard enough.
 
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Hahaha a typical anxiety, jealousy, and other unearthly matter of a pre-med. 😛

Now to put some of my thoughts on your provocations: cheating, hoping for a miracle, or other godly and ungodly interventions to ace the MCAT without studying for it is just won't happen (such things happen only in movies or in fantasies). Not sure what is he going to do in the test day, but if he is thinking to hack into the system, then allow me to point out some childish mistakes that he is going to make in his life which will lead him to get banned from AAMC forever.

This exam is fairly new on the computer, so the software hasn't been perfected at all. It has some downside to it, but I am sure the board is working really hard to get rid of any known bug to make it more friendlier and easier for everyone.

Now just for entertainment sake, let's say your friend is a fantastic coder and understands every bits of bytes on ASM language patterns of the software where he can reverse engineer it with ease...he can easily find that hidden Opcode that analyzes the correct answer from the incorrect ones (FYI I don't think MCAT shows you what you get wrong and what you get right at the end of the exams, so the answers are not stored hidden in the programs. They are simply sent to AAMC by the exam sites where they are analyzed and graded. However, GRE, DAT, and other similar tests have this interface installed in their softwares for conveniences, so one can easily void the test, if needed be, by looking at the scores)...and lets say upon finding that specific code, he can reverse it for his own advantages.

Having done all these, in lets say few minutes (the best cracker reverse a software in few minutes if all the tools are available to him/her), how in the world is he going to get away from the proctors who are constantly monitoring your stations via digital camera (color) as well as monitoring your activities via spy softwares that are installed in the computers. Not to mention how they constantly (every 5 minutes interval) walk back and forth to see if everything is going smoothly for everyone. The moment you minimize the software by pressing Windows+D (if the short-cut key isn't disabled) to sleuth around the desktop, they will immediately come to you and will ask you what is happening.

If no one finds out and you do get away doing what you have initially planned to do, the videos, the logs from the softwares, and other hidden stuffs that they might have installed around the facility, will be deeply analyzed if they suspect something (a guy I know from work got his USMLE step 2 exam voided by the board just because he did not put away his cell phone). Remember they get your fingerprint, and other identifications from you, so don't think they haven't a clue of who you are. They know or will know more about you than you know yourself by the time you finish with your exam. Trust me. 😛

Anyway whatever plans, the guy you call friend, is making to ace the April 5th exam, they are simply not going to work for him. I am afraid if he is not studying for this exam, he will not do well. Just expect another 17M or similar score again from him. However, If he did manage to do well in the exam, just assume that he secretly studied his *** off for it.
 
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The only other way I could see him pulling it off, was if he got someone else to take the test for him, using a fake id. I don't know how it would work out with the fingerprint. I mean how do you confirm that a fingerprint belongs to person A instead of person B?

Do they compare that fingerprint that you had during the MCAT at med. school? I highly doubt it.

Lol, this is all ******ed everyone just go back to studying and forget the wasted philosophical talks on situations that will never occur.
 
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"stop worrying about other people's lives and focus on your own. Nobody likes 'tattle-talers.' Sheesh."

Oh my. And how old are you ? "Nobody likes a tattle-tale".. is that what's it's come down to? You see, some people have, through the course of maturation, developed these things called "principles" or "ethics".

If you see someone else harm another person, and you keep quiet about it, you bear a portion of the blame for the injury that person receives.

Some people seem to think that "stealing" from a faceless corporation (ex- shoplifting), or "cheating" on a test (again, bucking the "system") is somehow different from going onto the street and robbing a loaf of bread from an old lady. Well... not really. A guy that cheats on all of his tests and gets away with it, and makes it to medical school because of the cheating, is obviously not going to make a very good doctor.

Sure, there are doctors out there that cheat and steal too. Some docs are drug addicts, misusing their power. Some docs eff up their patients Rxs then lie to cover it up. Are you saying that if you were a doctor, and you knew a colleague of yours was engaging this behavior, you wouldn't do something about it ? If your answer to that is yes, you'd "mind your own business", then I'd be very very scared if you were to successfully matriculate. There's a reason medschools care so much about maturity and ethics of applicants. Hopefully all those folks get weeded out by the system before they ever make it somewhere...

But back to the OP: honestly, your friend does not sound intelligent enough to be able to successfully cheat the MCAT. So... no worries there.
 
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I tried to cheat on the MCAT, they caught me, and instead of pressing charges they decided to take 14 pts off my true score. It sucks
 
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I'm pretty sure that cheating on the MCAT in a way that would get you a score >30 is more difficult than studying for a few months.

Anyone who cheats and gets a great score deserves it. And they're probably smart enough to earn it legitly too.
 
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unsung said:
"stop worrying about other people's lives and focus on your own. Nobody likes 'tattle-talers.' Sheesh."

Oh my. And how old are you ? "Nobody likes a tattle-tale".. is that what's it's come down to? You see, some people have, through the course of maturation, developed these things called "principles" or "ethics".

If you see someone else harm another person, and you keep quiet about it, you bear a portion of the blame for the injury that person receives.

Some people seem to think that "stealing" from a faceless corporation (ex- shoplifting), or "cheating" on a test (again, bucking the "system") is somehow different from going onto the street and robbing a loaf of bread from an old lady. Well... not really. A guy that cheats on all of his tests and gets away with it, and makes it to medical school because of the cheating, is obviously not going to make a very good doctor.

Sure, there are doctors out there that cheat and steal too. Some docs are drug addicts, misusing their power. Some docs eff up their patients Rxs then lie to cover it up. Are you saying that if you were a doctor, and you knew a colleague of yours was engaging this behavior, you wouldn't do something about it ? If your answer to that is yes, you'd "mind your own business", then I'd be very very scared if you were to successfully matriculate. There's a reason medschools care so much about maturity and ethics of applicants. Hopefully all those folks get weeded out by the system before they ever make it somewhere...

But back to the OP: honestly, your friend does not sound intelligent enough to be able to successfully cheat the MCAT. So... no worries there.
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Please spare me the "i am holier than thou" speech. It's all about avoiding unnecessary trouble due to interefering with other people's lives. To you, if there is ANY connection to impacting your effort or others then that is enough. Well I'm saying is if that impact is so small and so insignificant then it isn't worth the effort to "rat on the person."

And yes, the very essence of it all would be "tattle-taling," forgive me for not using "professional" language or big words, I guess to you that means intelligence too eh?

Now, to your example of someone shoplifting and you (or me) seeing it. It depends to me how significant that damage is to me, the business that owns it, and to society.

If it's a 5 dollar pizza stolen by someone versus someone stealing a 5000 dollar tv (lets assume they're both from small local businesses), I really wouldn't carea bout the person who stole the 5 dollar pizza, but I may if that person stole the 5000 dollar tv.

This reminds me of Aladdin and how he stole food simply because he was hungry versus stealing an unnecessary (and expensive) item.

With regards to the OP's scenario, I wouldnt' tattle tale at all, simply because I don't want to make things complicated for myself, especially if the kid is a friend of mine. Maybe if that kid wasn't my friend or he was seriously going to screw up the curve, then I might be a little more worried, but overall in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter.

You're thinking too "black and white" abou tthese things bro/sis, and you're not seeing the shades between them that are possible. Nothing is black and white, and you're just giving hypotheticals (either this or that)

"If you see someone else harm another person, and you keep quiet about it, you bear a portion of the blame for the injury that person receives."

Depends on what you think injuring others is. Clearly we agree that if someone harms another person, then we, as members of American society, have a duty to do something about it. But then again, our definitions of what exactly harm is differs quite significantly.

With regards to doctors abusing drugs...well once again it depends on what it is and how it might jeopardize the patient. If it's a drug that can only be had through prescription, then if it was something like 10% Benozyl Peroxide (acne cleaner only thorugh precsription) versus 10 pounds of morphine, then I might be inclined to do something about it especially if I may get in trouble.

This is a waste of time lol back to work.
 
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lol how does having janitor keys = being able to cheat on the MCAT?
 
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masterMood said:
Please spare me the "i am holier than thou" speech. It's all about avoiding unnecessary trouble due to interefering with other people's lives. To you, if there is ANY connection to impacting your effort or others then that is enough. Well I'm saying is if that impact is so small and so insignificant then it isn't worth the effort to "rat on the person."

And yes, the very essence of it all would be "tattle-taling," forgive me for not using "professional" language or big words, I guess to you that means intelligence too eh?

Now, to your example of someone shoplifting and you (or me) seeing it. It depends to me how significant that damage is to me, the business that owns it, and to society.

If it's a 5 dollar pizza stolen by someone versus someone stealing a 5000 dollar tv (lets assume they're both from small local businesses), I really wouldn't carea bout the person who stole the 5 dollar pizza, but I may if that person stole the 5000 dollar tv.

This reminds me of Aladdin and how he stole food simply because he was hungry versus stealing an unnecessary (and expensive) item.

With regards to the OP's scenario, I wouldnt' tattle tale at all, simply because I don't want to make things complicated for myself, especially if the kid is a friend of mine. Maybe if that kid wasn't my friend or he was seriously going to screw up the curve, then I might be a little more worried, but overall in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter.

You're thinking too "black and white" abou tthese things bro/sis, and you're not seeing the shades between them that are possible. Nothing is black and white, and you're just giving hypotheticals (either this or that)

"If you see someone else harm another person, and you keep quiet about it, you bear a portion of the blame for the injury that person receives."

Depends on what you think injuring others is. Clearly we agree that if someone harms another person, then we, as members of American society, have a duty to do something about it. But then again, our definitions of what exactly harm is differs quite significantly.

With regards to doctors abusing drugs...well once again it depends on what it is and how it might jeopardize the patient. If it's a drug that can only be had through prescription, then if it was something like 10% Benozyl Peroxide (acne cleaner only thorugh precsription) versus 10 pounds of morphine, then I might be inclined to do something about it especially if I may get in trouble.

This is a waste of time lol back to work.
Click to expand...

Well, that I do agree with :laugh: Especially considering the guy in question probably has no way to carry through with his hollow threats... so it's all kinda pointless.
 
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i've already taken the mcat and this guys plan is ridiculous. you certainly couldn't cheat by brining in notes or anything like that since there is simply way too much information as well as conceptual questions that you have to have knowledge of subject material to understand. so the only real way to cheat would be to somehow obtain the answers for the test. assuming you could even do that, you are under video surveilance the entire time, so again you would have to memorize 200 multiple choice letters in a row. I suppose that is possible, but I have no idea how you would even obtain something like that. bottom line, i would be shocked if anyone even came close to figuring out a way to cheat on this test, it's almost over the top strict.
 
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dd128 said:
This thread does bring up something I've wondered about. What if you could cheat on the mcat without getting caught. Like a friend somehow got all the answers, would you cheat? I'm not going to lie, it would be a tough decision, but I don't think in the end I could do it.
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Hahah, the time spent preparing for cheating could be well spent for studying. Studying will get you farther than just cheating. Honestly I don't want to have a physician who cheated on his MCAT doing any medical procedures on me. In real life medicine you can't cheat.
 
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This is a pretty old thread that reached it's conclusion and probably doesn't need to be revived. I think that a good conclusion to come to is:

Cheating on the MCAT is almost impossible
Cheating is wrong
Cheating hurts other candidates
Cheating will invalidate your score and prevent you from ever taking the MCAT again

(Also, Chubs and jgberken were just joking. We know Chubs didn't actually cheat on the MCAT)
 
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