Causes of Why Students Cheat on the Test

Why do students cheat on a test?

As we all know, at some point in their lives most students resort to the method of cheating on a test. Nowadays, the demand for educated labor is higher and higher, there are fewer workers who can fulfill this requirement. This problem may originate from the students' ability to cheat on exams. As a result; the students sometimes view cheating as a necessary method to pass a test. There are three main reasons of why most of the students cheat on a test; the first reason is to do as perfect as they can on the test, another one is that students cheat when they lack confidence with their ability, and the most important one is to have good grades.

The first reason is that most of the students always strive for perfection; that means that they will try to get good grades no matter what it takes. Often, they have multiple assignments due on the same day and in some courses the students may have only a few opportunities to demonstrate what they know. Cheating can be a tempting path when they have difficulty managing their time; perhaps they think that it is too much work and not enough time; indeed, most of the students prefers to cheat in a test than to study hard before taking it, and compile a list of exercises to practice. Another reason is that sometimes student lack confidence with their ability. As a result, students think that they cannot do well on a test; either they are not smart enough, or they lack some skills they need. Not to study creates a feeling that they will fail, and their only option to do well is to cheat. In fact, most of the time students do not feel sure with themselves and is because of that, most of the time they resort to copy or to cheat on the test. If a student is not capable of taking the exam because they have not study they should at least talk to the teacher and explain the situation. Finally, the major reason which leads to the popularity of cheating on a test is that learners always desire to have good grades. Most students who cheat on a test usually have the big pressure under their shoulders from their parents about getting good grades. Similarly, if they see many classmates having high grades, they also want to get the same. Therefore, these pressures unintentionally cause students to value their good grades much more than their own knowledge. Eventually, they do anything they can to achieve good grades, even cheating on tests. In conclusion, we already saw three of the most important factors that influence students cheating on tests. We must remember that there are many other reasons which in all institutions are considered plagiarism and are often severely penalized; despite all that, most of the students do not feel fear and still doing it every day. We all know that cheating is wrong but students do not care about it and they are willing to take the risk of cheating on a test. The generation of the 21st century is not inquisitive to learn. In fact, they are more interested in wasting time preparing ´´support material´´ (Adams, 1996, p.101) as they call it, than to spend time trying to learn.

‘‘Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.’’ Albert Einstein