Hidden study notes – Academic Integrity

code | scenario | smart strategies | consequences

Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters

1. It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:

(b) to use or possess an unauthorized aid or aids or obtain unauthorized assistance in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work;

Wherever in the Code an offence is described as depending on “knowing”, the offence shall likewise be deemed to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.

Scenario – Hidden study notes

During finals in first year, you are struggling to find the time to complete all of your course work and study for your finals. You are about to write your last Management exam, and the instructor has indicated that no study notes are permitted inside the exam room. Just before walking into the room, you panic and are convinced that you are extremely unprepared. You make the snap decision to hide your study notes in a washroom stall next to the exam room, with the intention of taking a bathroom break during the exam to refresh your memory.

During the exam, you are escorted to the bathroom by a TA who waits outside the stall while you go to the bathroom. You seem to be taking a long time and the TA thinks she hears papers rustling inside your stall. Once you leave the washroom, the TA enters the stall you were in and finds your notes related to the course material being tested on the exam.

The Issue

When you consulted your notes during the writing of the exam, you were using an unauthorized aid, which is strictly prohibited. You are compromising the integrity of your work and obtaining an unfair advantage over all the other students in the course.

Smart Strategies

Writing tests or exams
Remember that you are asked to sign-out of the exam room when you go to the bathroom. You are also usually accompanied by an instructor, Chief Presiding Officer (CPO), or TA.

Range of Consequences

For a discussion of consequences see Key Consequences.