Why'd my answers get marked wrong when I have the same answers?
Students copy answers from one another during examinations, which ruins the grading curve for everyone else and can even implicate innocent students who are caught in group chats. This dishonesty allows students to get high scores undeservedly while penalizing those who did not cheat.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 12.2× more often in r/Teachers than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using multiple scrambled test versionsDid this help you?
- 2Faking additional test versions to induce panicDid this help you?
- 3Placing an incorrect answer key nearby to trap cheatersDid this help you?
- 4Reporting the cheaters to the professor or academic departmentDid this help you?
- 5Sending a generic email recommending a second camera or mirror for remote examsDid this help you?
- 6Leaving the student group chat to avoid being implicatedDid this help you?
- 7Ignoring the cheating and minding one's own businessDid this help you?
- 8Letting the student's existing failing grade stand rather than issuing a formal zeroDid this help you?
- 9Putting access codes on assignments and changing them every class periodDid this help you?
- 10Using device management software to limit students to approved websitesDid this help you?
- 11Making classwork worth very few percentage points and basing grades entirely on in-class testsDid this help you?
- 12Switching back exclusively to paper and pencil assignmentsDid this help you?
- 13Only using online assignments for completion gradesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I had a kid say, “Why’d my answers get marked wrong when I have the same answers as [kid sitting next to him]?””source ↗
“This year, I’ve caught more and more students in my middle school ELA classes using AI or Google to answer every question on their online assignments.”source ↗
“The rest? They NEVER stop talking long enough to focus. They don’t finish their classwork, then go home and complain to Mom and Dad. I get angry or pleading messages asking me to give parents the access code so the work can be done at home.”source ↗
“I want these kids to learn, and I want to be there to help them instead of having them take the easy way out at home. But the anger and constant requests for access codes are killing my motivation.”source ↗
“Sitting here watch a student cheat”source ↗
“They have a second phone, they get twitchey when I walk through class, and they have less than 30% in the class.”source ↗
“Don't you love when the student waits until the last possible moment imaginable to show how accurate, organized and focused their work can be?”source ↗
“Our admin really entertains letting parents call us liars to our faces in front of them and does nothing about it.”source ↗
“I've always minded my own business since it hasn't affected me.”source ↗
“will likely ruin any curve we might've originally gotten (especially since Corp. Tax is known to be a very difficult class and many people who didn't cheat got around a 60).”source ↗
“See the problem with not reporting is you could be implicated/punished for cheating just because you’re in the chat. At least that would be my fear”source ↗
“They are actively cheating you and the other students in class out of points if their high scores hold up the curve”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4What tools detect cut-and-paste and LLM cheating on assignments?
- 4What to do when students deny cheating despite evidence
- 3Students cheating and filming with smart glasses
- 2How to help kids understand what test questions are asking
- 3How to teach students how to fill out Scantron forms
- 27How to stop classroom interruptions from photo and video documentation