STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

classmate fishing for exam answers -- help!

Farrah · Marc Jacobs

I have been and I don't envy you. This is what I did: I told my classmate that while I would love to help I would not want to put either of our grades or standing with the university in jeopardy. This would clearly happen if we collaborated on an exam on which we received specific instructions against collaboration with classmates. I wished her luck and told her that I hoped there were no hard feelings.

In the end she told me she understood, but I still think she was a little pissed. I felt badly for about 2 seconds though. When it comes to school, unless it is a group project, I only look out for number one. You have to be selfish because it is a serious offense to be accused of academic dishonesty. Good luck on this situation and B School in general!

Hermes

Farrah wrote:
You have to be selfish because it is a serious offense to be accused of academic dishonesty. Good luck on this situation and B School in general!

I ditto this. At the tail-end of completing my MBA, a group paper was assigned/submitted. One of the guys who was in my group plagiarized his content, it was discovered by the professor, the whole group was held responsible, threatened with not being awarded our diplomas, and we had to re-write the paper and await a decision. It was a complete nightmare and it delayed the receipt of our diplomas. I had to go through the graduation ceremony while the whole nightmare of this paper and my diploma was pending...

Don't go there - it's not worth it.

Kelly · Hermes

The farthest I'd go is to say "I think that's discussed in chapter 8" or whatever. Otherwise, you can always say you don't understand it either - that's what I always do. Yeah, it pisses people off, but not as pissed of as I'd be if they discovered I'd helped! And even if the professor never found out, you'd have that on your conscience. Just say you can't or won't help the guy. It doesn't sound like you have a friendship on the line (not that even that would be a good reason to cheat like this). I've been in that position more than once - I just say I don't understand the concept either but I try to be as friendly as possible. You never know when you'll need that person for notes or something.

squishy · Coach

Farrah wrote:
I have been and I don't envy you. This is what I did: I told my classmate that while I would love to help I would not want to put either of our grades or standing with the university in jeopardy. This would clearly happen if we collaborated on an exam on which we received specific instructions against collaboration with classmates. I wished her luck and told her that I hoped there were no hard feelings.

In the end she told me she understood, but I still think she was a little pissed. I felt badly for about 2 seconds though. When it comes to school, unless it is a group project, I only look out for number one. You have to be selfish because it is a serious offense to be accused of academic dishonesty. Good luck on this situation and B School in general!

i could've written this. you might feel bad for the guy, but you'll feel worse if you did help him out. plagiarism is taken so seriously, and i know quite a few people who were suspended/expelled for much smaller offenses. if he's intent on getting answers, he'll move on to someone else. it shouldn't have to come from you.

if he gets pissed... well, quite honestly, screw him. you could've done way worse by tattling on him :)

BargainQueen · Marc Jacobs

I agree w/everyone, dont help him. If you have to respond to his email just tell him to ask the professor if he needs something that is unclear explained and/or that you didnt get it either. I would probably just ignore his email and if he asked me about it later, say that I was so busy studying, that I havent had a chance to check my email.

Good luck!

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

Thanks everyone!

D -- you're right -- I'm not going to jeopardize my academic standing just to help his lazy butt. I figured out the answers without help, he can too.

(As a side note, I've already handed in the test, but he got an extension, so I can't say I haven't figured out the problem yet.)

I think I'll just tell him the problems are based on ones from the text book and he should try to figure it out from there. Honestly, short of giving him the answer I can't think of how I'd help him figure it out. And that's also not my responsibility -- he can email the prof.

Kelly · Hermes

Starstuff wrote:

(As a side note, I've already handed in the test, but he got an extension, so I can't say I haven't figured out the problem yet.)

sure you can. Just tell him that you didn't figure it out and know you got that one wrong :)

subwolley · Kate Spade

Yeah, just say no. What's the worst that could happen? You'll finish the semester and never see him again. Say no.

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

yeah -- I guess I could but I really don't want to make myself look stupid for him just to get out of giving him the answer. I feel like women do that frequently enough (make themselves look dumb to get other people out of embarassing situations). Also, I did do well on the test and I don't think I should have to pretend I didn't.

Also, the program is fairly small. This is the third of 4 classes we've had together, and I'm still in my first year, so I don't want to burn a bridge already.

He emailed me this morning and I haven't responded yet, so he has probably had to submit the test already. Oops. I'm going to email him and tell him to email the prof.

dangergirl · Kate Spade

i agree with everyone else - don't help him anymore than giving a general idea of where to find out the info. i've been in this situation before with people asking me for all my notes/references etc, who i know are happy to get everyone else do the work for them. if you help him out loads this time, he'll probably expect it next time too. you figured it out yourself, he should have a go too

theotherjess · Chanel

I'm kind of a chicken but I'd probably just ignore the email and then pretend I never got it if he said anything.

NCshopper · Hermes

I'd say no too. You can say no however you want: saying "I'd love to help you on this, but I can't" is pretty clear-cut, but would be up to his interpretation what you meant by it and I seriously doubt that he'd push on the issue once you said that.

But by all means, however you decide to phrase it, definitely make it clear that you can't/won't help on this--you don't want him pestering you in the future about stuff like this and you want to keep your nose squeaky clean.

lynnie · Chanel

I'd say no, but be light about it. it's not worth creating an issue over, imho. something like, "oh, i'm not really sure, but the professor could point you in the right direction. good luck!"
side note, but i met one of my good friends this way! i thought he was trying to cheat off me (wanted to straight up copy all my notes) but turned out he was in the marines and had to miss a bunch of classes. I let him copy my notes the one time, but we ended up studying together for the rest of the semester. he ended up hooking me up with two of my jobs in college, and is now in i-banking in nyc.