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sitting someone elses exam

how easy would it be for someone else to sit an exam for you at your uni? for example at my uni they just give you a seat number and you sit down. on the paper you just write your name and sign it (anyone can fake a signature right?). we never need to show our student id or write it down. our lectures arn't even in the exam room, not that they would know us anyway

i've finished uni not so i'm not actually planning on getting someone to sit an exam for me, obviously, more just wondering how easy it would be for other people at different unis

Reply 1

jus-mi

14

wow what uni do you go??? at our uni, you write your student number never your name. Then during the examination the invigilators walk round marking of the number and whilst they do that they check your ID card ....you can't sit an exam without your ID card sitting on the right hand corner of your desk....

Edit: we never had to sign anything either

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

SirMasterKey

18

Original post by jus-mi

wow what uni do you go??? at our uni, you write your student number never your name. Then during the examination the invigilators walk round marking of the number and whilst they do that they check your ID card ....you can't sit an exam without your ID card sitting on the right hand corner of your desk....

Edit: we never had to sign anything either

This, although you can sit without your ID card providing that you have some form of ID.

Reply 3

fallen angel9

Well there's already a seating plan put up outside the examination hall before you go in, so each student I.D has been assigned a different number. When you're in the hall you have to have your student I.D card on your desk and then they come round during the exam and check. So it would be quite difficult unless you looked like the person on the card. :P

Reply 4

username360639

14

Original post by SirMasterKey

This, although you can sit without your ID card providing that you have some form of ID.

Oh, am not in university yet, but in college we have to have our student ID cards on the table so it is easily readable for the invigilators walking around, writing down your name and ID number, if you don't have your ID then you must have some sort of proof that you are this person, normally on the exam entry, but jus-mi is correct normally you have to always have your ID card in an examination

Reply 5

jvasos

9

technically u could, if u somehow got someone else's face on ur student card but then again you can only obtain student card from the university services, so highly unlikely u could pull it off. Also everyone else from your module will be like who the fu*k is that sitting in John Doe's seat....its a risky game to play

Reply 6

miranda13

OP

10

Original post by jus-mi

wow what uni do you go??? at our uni, you write your student number never your name. Then during the examination the invigilators walk round marking of the number and whilst they do that they check your ID card ....you can't sit an exam without your ID card sitting on the right hand corner of your desk....

Edit: we never had to sign anything either

we write our name in the corner and fold it over so you can't see the name, so it is all marked anonymously. it's really stupid as well because when they hand out the seat numbers to tell you where to sit half the time they don't even mix them up so you end up sat next to the people you walked in with. it does make sense to have to see your id card

this is liverpool uni btw

Reply 7

ByronicHero

20

Mine is the same as above.

Reply 8

DeadBySunrise

7

At Cardiff we fold over the name section as well. We also fill in a separate registration form which is collected at the start by invigilators, who also check our ID cards at this point.

They separate subjects out as well, so you're sitting in a line of people from your course but sandwiched in between students from another course.

Reply 9

River85

17

Original post by jus-mi

wow what uni do you go??? at our uni, you write your student number never your name. Then during the examination the invigilators walk round marking of the number and whilst they do that they check your ID card ....you can't sit an exam without your ID card sitting on the right hand corner of your desk....

Edit: we never had to sign anything either

This is pretty much how Durham, and most other universities I would would expect, do it.

At Durham you take an available seat, place your campus card (has photo on it) on your desk, write your anonymous exam code on the exam paper (never your name or signature) and begin.

However, we are still allowed to take an exam even if we don't have our campus card/ID. I haven't done this myself but when it happened to friends the invigilator would reprimand the student and tell them "make sure you bring it next time". So it's possible to sit someone's exam, providing you have the person's anonymous exam code, but the invigilator would be within his or her right to refuse the student or make the student stay behind until identity is confirmed. Whether they can be arsed or not is another matter.

Reply 10

ByronicHero

20

In case anyone didn't know and was interested the reason you use the code is so your paper is anonymous when distributed between markers so they can't preference their own students at all. At least this is the case in my experience. There may well be other reasons.

Original post by River85

This is pretty much how Durham, and most other universities I would would expect, do it.

At Durham you take an available seat, place your campus card (has photo on it) on your desk, write your anonymous exam code on the exam paper (never your name or signature) and begin.

However, we are still allowed to take an exam even if we don't have our campus card/ID. I haven't done this myself but when it happened to friends the invigilator would reprimand the student and tell them "make sure you bring it next time". So it's possible to sit someone's exam, providing you have the person's anonymous exam code, but the invigilator would be within his or her right to refuse the student or make the student stay behind until identity is confirmed. Whether they can be arsed or not is another matter.

This happened to a mate of mine, he was just allowed in as well. Another mate who forgot to enter the number on the front in the exam time was made to wait until the end, go to the office and submit a form in order to be allowed to write it, lol.

Reply 11

Bobbler

My boyfriend's coursemate did a resit for her identical twin at A level, I couldn't believe it when she said :| Then she got caught cheating in her uni exams by writing stuff on her leg.

She's a bad person :P

Reply 12

Cirsium

19

Original post by jus-mi

wow what uni do you go??? at our uni, you write your student number never your name. Then during the examination the invigilators walk round marking of the number and whilst they do that they check your ID card ....you can't sit an exam without your ID card sitting on the right hand corner of your desk....
Edit: we never had to sign anything either

Original post by fallen angel9

Well there's already a seating plan put up outside the examination hall before you go in, so each student I.D has been assigned a different number. When you're in the hall you have to have your student I.D card on your desk and then they come round during the exam and check. So it would be quite difficult unless you looked like the person on the card. :P

I think you all over-estimate how far we (invigilators) will go to check you're the right person. I have to check ID cards, but I am incredibly rare in that if somebody doesn't look like their ID card I do mark them down as "no ID". But there are soooo many people who look nothing like their photo at all. It's often third year male students and you think okay so in the space of three years you've bulked up and grown a beard, maybe this is plausible. But if somebody is looking down at their paper while you're checking, with their hair over their face, you can't just be like 'hey can you look at me so I can check you are who you say you are?'. I hate to say this, but Asian students are the worst for that. At least if you're Caucasian then you can get so far with things like hair colour, but I swear some of the Chinese girls who just happen to be deep in thought with their hands over their face when I come around are actually taking other people's exams. Not a lot I can do about it though. I always mark them down as "No ID" but I don't know anybody else who does.

Reply 13

tvdx

12

I'm at Manchester Uni, and we have to have our Student ID card (or some other form of photo ID). We are preassigned seats, and there is an attendance slip where you write your name, student number, date, information about the exam (what module/subject etc), your seat number and then you sign it. On the exam paper you write your student ID, seat number and the date, then in the top right corner you write name, module/subject and sign it. The invigilator comes round and checks your signature against the one on the back of your student card and takes your attendance slip. Its a hassle for sure.
I think you could get someone else to sit the exam for you, providing they looked like you.

Reply 14

HugoDuchovny

16

Try pollyjuice potion

Reply 15

Cirsium

19

Original post by River85

This is pretty much how Durham, and most other universities I would would expect, do it.
At Durham you take an available seat, place your campus card (has photo on it) on your desk, write your anonymous exam code on the exam paper (never your name or signature) and begin.
However, we are still allowed to take an exam even if we don't have our campus card/ID. I haven't done this myself but when it happened to friends the invigilator would reprimand the student and tell them "make sure you bring it next time". So it's possible to sit someone's exam, providing you have the person's anonymous exam code, but the invigilator would be within his or her right to refuse the student or make the student stay behind until identity is confirmed. Whether they can be arsed or not is another matter.

At Bristol we just have to make a note that they don't have ID and then if they do suspiciously well in that exam relative to the other exams or relative to their coursework then they will start checking handwriting between scripts etc.

Reply 16

mabrookes

14

You have to have your card here. You fill in your uni number on the paper not your name, but they make you sign an attendance slip as well (slightly pointless I feel, they will know was there in the end no matter what).

If you don't have your card they take your details etc, and you can be kicked out for it (the exam!) or be given a mark of 0 even after taking it.

Reply 17

miranda13

OP

10

clearly liverpool are just very trusting with this then

Reply 18

River85

17

Original post by Bekaboo

At Bristol we just have to make a note that they don't have ID and then if they do suspiciously well in that exam relative to the other exams or relative to their coursework then they will start checking handwriting between scripts etc.

Makes sense :holmes:

What about typed scripts? When someone is allowed to use a computer due to disability, for example?

Reply 19

hobnob

14

Original post by Bekaboo

I think you all over-estimate how far we (invigilators) will go to check you're the right person. I have to check ID cards, but I am incredibly rare in that if somebody doesn't look like their ID card I do mark them down as "no ID". But there are soooo many people who look nothing like their photo at all. It's often third year male students and you think okay so in the space of three years you've bulked up and grown a beard, maybe this is plausible. But if somebody is looking down at their paper while you're checking, with their hair over their face, you can't just be like 'hey can you look at me so I can check you are who you say you are?'. I hate to say this, but Asian students are the worst for that. At least if you're Caucasian then you can get so far with things like hair colour, but I swear some of the Chinese girls who just happen to be deep in thought with their hands over their face when I come around are actually taking other people's exams. Not a lot I can do about it though. I always mark them down as "No ID" but I don't know anybody else who does.

I think a few years ago, a Chinese student at York(?) got caught letting somebody else sit some of his exams (obviously assuming that to the invigilators, Chinese students would all look more or less alike). But as far as I remember, he mainly got caught because the student who actually sat the exam was - and presumably looked - six years older than the student who was supposed to be sitting it. So the student was expelled and his accomplice was charged with something or other.
Unless it's glaringly obvious that it's not the same person, though, I bet invigilators will do what you do and give candidates the benefit of the doubt, simply because it isn't worth risking a confrontation and all the bother that's bound to follow unless you're certain that it really is somebody else.

Edit: Sorry, I seem to have got two cases mixed up. This is the case which happened at York. There was another, similar case involving a Chinese student, but that must have been at some other university. Clearly my memory isn't what it used to be. :p:

(edited 12 years ago)

sitting someone elses exam

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