What Happens if You Are Caught Cheating in a University Exam?

If you ask a university student how they are feeling, a lot of them will be stressed or talk about not having enough time to do work. This is especially the case when they have an exam, like an essay due. Which is why many students may seem tempted to cheat in a test. However, the question on everyone’s mind is, what happens if you are caught cheating?

If you are caught cheating, a disciplinary meeting is usually assigned. If you were caught plagiarising, your past essays and tests will probably be checked for plagiarism. From there, and along with other types of cheating, your punishment would be issued. This could be a fail on the assignment, module, or the whole course. It could also result in temporary suspension or complete expulsion from the university.

In the rest of the article, we will be further discussing the process that occurs when you are caught cheating, and what constitutes cheating.

What happens if you are caught cheating in a university exam?

If you are caught cheating, the most likely thing to happen is a disciplinary hearing. This is where teachers, will assess the ‘allegations’ put on the student along with any other evidence. This also constitutes a meeting with the student. From there, a decision will be made.

Evidence could be things like your test paper, or sources online which are believed to be plagiarised. Other parties like witnesses could be brought in.

What are the consequences of cheating in a university exam?

If you are caught for plagiarising, the teachers will look at your previous assessments, along with your current one. They will cross reference it, and if they find you have been plagiarising a lot in the past, this will be taken into account in the punishment faced.

The punishment could be being forced to resit the exam, and this could be seen as a ‘best-case’. Then it could be failing that assessment, then the whole module, then the whole course costing you a degree. You could be temporarily suspended or be kicked out completely.

This information can be found by clicking here to go to the Complete University Guide.

What is cheating in a university exam?

Cheating in university, is like cheating anywhere else. It is gaining an unfair advantage over other students by an unfair means. For example, the University of Reading declares cheating as “attempting to gain an advantage by actual, intended, or attempted deception and/or dishonest action in relation to any academic work of the University”. You can read more by clicking here for the University of Reading’s cheating policy.

Common examples of cheating are:

• Copying other people’s work
• Taking notes into an exam
• Using your phone in an exam
• Taking unauthorized things (like a watch) into the exam room
• Accessing unauthorized material that links to the assessment.
• Communicating with others

These are only a few examples, but you should refer to your university’s rules.

Can you get kicked out of university for cheating in your exams?

Getting kicked out is a real possibility if you are caught cheating. This could usually be if upon review of previous work, you have been found to be plagiarising on a number of tests. Other situations could be where you have been caught cheating in an exam room multiple times. Or, where you have been caught accessing unauthorized materials related to the test beforehand.

It may not always be permanent, and could just be a temporary suspension, but this is still very serious and costly. It is for this reason that is highly advised to not cheat on tests.

Can you resit your university exams if you are caught cheating?

It is possible to do a resit if you are caught cheating and is sometimes mandatory. When putting everything into context, this could be a ‘best-case scenario’ and could really save you. Especially if you have learnt from your mistakes.

However, the resit may not always allow you to receive full marks. Sometimes, the university cap how many marks you can gain, or a percentage you can earn. This can severely slow you down and affect the number of credits you gain.

With everything considered, it can obviously be seen that it is definitely not worth it to cheat, as the consequences can be severe.