Cheating scandal in AP Statistics
May 3, 2013
A cheating scandal has arisen at Edina High School as five students in AP Statistics are facing punishment for allegedly storing answers to the final exam on their calculators.
The exam, which sources within the class report as a 2007 AP multiple-choice section, is freely available on the Internet. Sources agree that the accused cheaters supposedly found the exam and copied the answers onto their calculators, which they consulted during testing.
Mr. Mace, the sole AP Statistics teacher and the test’s administrator, declined to comment for this article.
Sophomore Michael Thompson was in AP Statistics the hour after the cheating. “Mr. Mace had me do two [extra] problems to make sure I didn’t cheat,” Thompson said. “He wanted to check, just to make sure.”
While the students’ punishments have not been disclosed, student sources agree that the perpetrators have been suspended.
This is not the first instance of students finding answers online in AP Statistics. As the class often utilizes materials available on the Internet for its assessments, many students from previous years admitted to checking online for answers to upcoming tests.
“Last year, I looked up a test online,” said one junior who was in Mr. Boone’s AP Statistics class last year. “I felt awful about it, though.”
Many more agreed on the condition of anonymity, suggesting that few students have gone through the popular advanced math course without at least glimpsing the answers in advance.
“I never explicitly looked anything up, but yeah, I saw the answers sometimes,” another junior reported. “I mean, my friend says, ‘Here’s Form D for today’s test,’ and I don’t take it, but I see a couple.”
While one junior referred to her behavior as “cheating”, others disagreed. The tests’ online availability, as well as a lack of clear instructions against viewing them, leaves this behavior in questionable grounds in terms of academic integrity.
“If you’re looking up a test that you know the form of to memorize answers for the next day, then yes, that’s cheating. But if you’re finding tests online to practice on, I wouldn’t call that cheating,” an AP Statistics student from last year said.
Assistant Principal Jenny Johnson said she “doesn’t know” of a district policy banning either teachers or students from using tests available online. District administrators gave few details on this matter for the time being, citing data privacy laws.
More updates on this story as it develops.
Ted • Jun 5, 2013 at 9:18 pm
I agree with the other students. This is not on the kids they are the smart ones here they used the resources to the best of there abilities and “beat the system” If anything it’s the teachers being lazy and not making there own test. If the teachers really cared they could easily stop the cheating by making their OWN test!! it’s that simple.
Tanner Morrison • May 30, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Students should not be punished for using resources available to them. If the teacher really cared about kids cheating, he would actually take the time to make the tests himself. You can’t put the students at fault for the mistake of their teacher. Students shouldn’t be memorizing answers, but it is a good idea to study online tests. This is a very controversial topic but in my opinion, the teacher needs to start making his own tests to prevent this.
Molly • May 28, 2013 at 9:24 am
I don’t think it is cheating when they simply use the online tests to practice. I understand that AP teachers use past exams because it prepares students for the final AP test. However, their actions become cheating when they put answers into their calculators. An easy fix to this would be putting the CAS’s in test mode.
Sohrob Benvidi • May 16, 2013 at 11:57 am
the Teacher should have put a phony test out on purpose, just to mess with cheating students, that would show them.
Ahmed sharif • May 10, 2013 at 11:02 am
The Teacher should have used a test that couldn’t have been easily accessed online