Is Using a Test Bank Cheating or illegal: Can you be Caught?

It is a ready-made electronic testing resource that lectures use in their teaching mission. The cool thing is the lecturer can customize it to their preference. The author tailored its content to a specific textbook.

The test bank provides a variety of questions in unique objective formats. For this case, the instructor should be careful in choosing the questions for creating an exam or a quiz. Also, the instructor decides the points assigned to each question. 

Ideally, using a test bank is considered cheating because you are getting answers to exam questions from a source that is prohibited under the academic dishonesty rules.

However, if you are using test banks for normal revision and studying before the exam, it is not cheating. Therefore, the time and how you use them determines dishonesty or not.

This is the case because test banks may produce some of the questions that might feature in the exam. That means students might be studying questions that they are likely to appear in an exam.

Such gives an advantage to those students who encountered such questions before the exam hence making them score highly.

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Instances when using Test Banks is Cheating

There are many ways that students use to cheat exams in school and tests. One of them is getting answers from some websites or a collection of answers from books.

While these sources may sometimes be for revision purposes, they are used for cheating when the answers are sought and presented by the students. The following as the ways in which test banks aid cheating in schools.

1. Copying the Answers

A test bank provides a wide range of knowledge to the user. Most of the multiple-choice questions that appear in this environment cover a vast area.

One can use it to get a clue of the kind of question that could appear in the final exam and prepare adequately.

Students can specialize by finding the answers to the questions that appear in the test bank and researching for their respective answers.

Consequently, they will specialize by studying them. When some of the questions appear in the exam, we may term it as dishonesty.

2. Posting Your School Questions

Test banks work through a preferred institution’s system. Once students access them, they can post them to the various educational forums and seek answers for them.

Such platforms could be Reddit, Quora, or course hero.

These platforms are resourceful in giving the right answer to the posed question. One can master those answers and eventually use them to prepare for the final exam.

Luckily, if some of the questions appear in the exam, one gains an advantage. That is cheating.

3. Getting Answers in Exams

One can cheat by searching for the answers during exams. Students find references that they use to handle certain questions in exams since they have a clue of the type of question that could appear.

Instances when using Test Bank is Not Cheating

Sometimes, having access to a past test does not imply that you cheated. We can relate that to some legal systems where it is not a crime to access past papers for practice purposes. Any work that is under your syllabus must be studied.

The only difference is the professor has the responsibility to alter the questions if he does want to students to know them in advance. Below are the instances that using a test bank is safe.

When using for Revision

Well, it is not cheating when you use a test bank for effective revision. Such involves accessing the questions and finding the answers in a usable and flexible way.  

One should practice how to answer exams questions appropriately. Effective revision is not reading the notes passively.

This is the same reason why websites like SparkNotes or Cliffnotes are used for revision. And just like test banks, using SparkNotes is not cheating, which makes them good for quick revision.

Furthermore, effective revision involves a thorough research and getting in-depth details that will make you confident when facing the real exam.

To study

One can use the test bank questions as a motivation to study and understand your course. You can review the questions and link them with other materials and notes to study and find the answers effectively.

The past quizzes give one insight into how lecturers frame questions. Create a perfect study routine that will ensure that you touch all sections that involve your course.

Use these questions to help you locate your areas of strength and weakness. Allocate more attention to topics that you are challenging you.  

To get Points when Writing

You can use a test bank to get points when you are writing. You can make references to a particular textbook and gather the right facts to write in your essays.

When you are looking for answers in the test banks, you gather the points well as you revise and write small points about a particular problem.

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How to use Test Banks Well

Test banks have a diverse selection of questions and feedback on a particular answer offered by students directly. Test banks are time-saving resources that professors use to develop tests for their courses.

Currently, most of the test banks do not rely on questions from a chosen publisher but they also have the real exam uploaded from the net. We should use the test bank for the following reasons:

1. Enhance Knowledge

As you use your test bank, aim at enhancing your knowledge through a detailed study. You can use the content of the test bank to sharpen your knowledge and later gain good marks during your exams.

Since test banks cover a wide area, you will gain a wide range of knowledge and skills. Exhausting the contents well will increase your grip on particular topics that gives you a great advantage as you face the exam.

2. Motivation

We use test banks to get ideas for the questions. One gets a hint of what type of questions can appear in the exam. One should use them to prepare for the exam and learn how to answer them in a real situation.

3. Feedback

Since test banks come with feedback assistance, you can take advantage to access references to particular textbook pages.

As such, it becomes easy to gather information concerning a particular concept.

In case one does not want to use the feedback option, turning it off is inevitable.

4. Crafted Assessment

It is always time-consuming for the tutors to fabricate the assignment. Since test banks have questions and answers from every section of the syllabus, it saves time for the instructor to create assessments.

Also, there is an allowance where the instructor can modify the assignment. So, while this is one of some common college essay hacks to do paper writing faster, it cannot be used when teachers go for unique assignments.

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FAQs on Test Banks

Can students use test banks?

Yes, students should use the test banks as a learning and studying tool. Most of the test banks come to help students to revise and study for their examinations.

There is nothing wrong with students using test banks as long as they are not applying them for cheating reasons. Institutions or students should therefore enhance their learning activities by adopting the test banks.

Can you get caught buying test banks online?

Yes. Some publishers try to restrict students from accessing the test banks. In response, they try to make them inaccessible. One should know the school policy about the test banks. If the school regulation prohibits their use, then keep off to remain safe.

The good news is that many institutions do not restrict students from using test banks for education and studying purposes. Liaise with your professor to understand the policy well.

Is test banks online legit?

Yes, test banks are legit and are useful learning tools for both instructors and students. It is up to students to use them for enhancing their study goals. Test banks carry the right materials to assist one to learn and study to understand some facts and pass exams.

Typically, test banks are legit programs that can uplift your educational standard if you use them responsibly. Always check their rating before you use them.

Are test banks anonymous?

Since one can access the test banks from online platforms, you can read and find out their details from their site. Also, you should read their profile well to understand what they stand for. Of course, they cannot be anonymous as long as a publisher’s created it based on a particular textbook.