Have you ever cheated?

No, of course I've never lied, cheated or stole. Neither have I made a mistake. Ever.

 

So this poll is at:
8: yes
20: no
351: read the original message and did not participate

I once thought about doing a book on the 100 cleverest ways to cheat.
Then the ethicist in my household prevailed.
Then the thought wafted by that I could announce the intention to do the book and invite an offer from the American Association of University Professors not to do it.
Then the ethicist in my household prevailed again.

This was around the time that the amazing pencil caper was in the news. I think it was the LSAT test, given the same day at centers worldwide. A Hong Kong entrepreneur hired people with photographic memories to take the test in Saudi Arabia. Knowledgeable lawyers prepared excellent answers. The essence of the test and the answers was distilled into several thousand words, which were transmitted to Hawaii and reduced to microprint and applied to a pencil (which apparently looked grey to the naked eye). The pencils, with special eyeglasses, were sold to LSAT takers 8 or 9 hours before the best, for thousands of dollars each.

And then there's the one, perhaps an urban legend, in which someone with a laser pointer was 'writing' the multiple choice answers on the wall behind the professor, during the exam.

 

Was the GRE, but even with the glasses the answers were difficult to read . . . oops.

The citation I wanted to use not available from the source publication anymore, but google has this cashed version.



The Daily of the University of Washington

Friday, November 1, 1996 News

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FBI busts GRE cheating ring
Courtney Humphries
Contributing Writer

There must be an easier way into grad school.

Last week the FBI busted an elaborate plan to help students cheat on standardized tests for graduate school. The cheating system used changes in time zones and encoded pencils to deliver answers to students early.

George Kobayashi of California was arrested for organizing the scheme, which took advantage of the three-hour time difference between the east and west coasts.

The UW Graduate School requires the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for most of its programs but each department weighs the scores differently. Joan Abe, director of Graduate Admissions, said that it is impossible for schools to know when an applicant has cheated.

"There really isn't any way to identify who's involved in this," she said.

American Test Center, Kobayashi's company, charged students $6,000 for the service. A team of experts took the exams in New York City under assumed names. . .

SNIP
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Copyright © 1996 The Daily of the University of Washington



Lawrie Miller
BA in 4 Weeks
http://geocities.com/ba_in_4_weeks

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Lawrie: ...Was the GRE

John: Thank you. This is the LSAT story: 3 or 4 years ago, my wife was attending teachings by the Dalai Lama in Pasadena. In the basement of the auditorium, the LSAT was going on. Somehow a message was conveyed from the basement to the podium, asking if His Holiness and others would pray for the basement-dwellers, and this was done. I would dearly love to know if the results from that session were significantly different from the average.

 

The difference was significant, but it won't be measured in this lifetime....