How to Cheat in Online Exams, Proctored Tests or Quizzes

When it comes to conducting online exams, most educational institutions are faced with the problem of cheating by students. This has become a tasking issue, especially with the use of proctor software or apps like Zoom or Google Meet to handle online exams.

While proctoring is used, there are loopholes that students exploit. We do not advocate or encourage cheating, and this post is for informational purposes. If you are wondering how to cheat in online tests, you will be amazed at how hard it can get.

While we do not, encourage it, students have discovered how easy it is to cheat in online exams, tests, and quizzes with the right information. While it is hard to cheat proctored exams, we will examine the options students use.

Based on our 11-year experience in Homework help services, we have noted a number of ways that students use to bypass the systems. The following sections explore the various ways students cheat on online tests.

Whether proctored, multiple-choice, essays, or quizzes, you can cheat online exams and tests through screen sharing, virtual machines, or consulting friends.

How to Cheat in an Online Exam

As we have noted above, universities and colleges are now embracing online courses and students have taken this as an opportunity to cheat during online tests. Most students search for how to cheat in online exams at home, even if it is not possible sometimes.

This is because the students take those tests while at their remote locations and it is difficult for the institutions of higher learning to monitor the activities of their online students.

Even though some colleges and universities are devising new methods of combating cheating on online tests, students have come up with ingenious ways to cheat during online tests.

You can cheat in online exams by sending screenshots or sharing your screen with friends, using gadgets to contact outsiders, or having someone do your exam. Students also cheat in non-proctored online tests by hiding books or copying from peers, especially if the exam is being monitored.

Let us explore some of the most common ways students do it.

1. Sending Screenshots to an Expert

This is sending questions to an online answering service. This is the most common and perhaps the safest way students cheat on their exams, especially if they are not proctored.

In this method, students simply get an expert from an essay writing service, and provide them with the necessary information and the course materials to study.

This is possible when the exam is shared on apps such as Zoom or Google Meet among others.

That gives him or her a task to study the entire course, and understand it as if he/she was a student in the class. Then after that, students send questions by taking screenshots of the questions to the hired expert.

In fact, there are some situations when students build trust to the extent that some students send college login information to have others log in and do their exams for them. This is very risky, and only a careless student can really do that.

2. Screen Sharing or Mirroring to cheat

Screen mirroring/sharing is a way in which students can utilize more than one monitor while working, in this case, while doing an online test.

Since online courses allow many students to take one test from multiple remote locations, such candidates have the freedom to utilize several monitors.

In such a scenario, some students use one monitor to access the exam questions while the other monitor(s) mirror the contents of the main monitor. This allows the student’s friend to access the test questions simultaneously and come up with answers.

The issue of screen mirroring/sharing has been known to be one of the myriad ways students cheat during online tests. It is easy and effective because it all happens simultaneously. The student or candidate is perceived to be online at their workstation.

However, another person who is more knowledgeable concerning the test is taking the test on their behalf. Because of how rampant this form of cheating in online tests has become, institutions have come up with some solutions.

One of how institutions of higher learning have tried to combat screen mirroring/sharing is by utilizing secure web browsers while conducting online tests.

However, secure browsers can prevent a student from going outside the exam environment. This is achieved by denying them access to display settings that enable students to mirror or share their screen’s content with other monitors.

Another method that can be used to prevent this form of online test cheating is by using proctoring software.

This software allows screen mirroring with the live proctor and therefore enables the online examiners to monitor any activity that is taking place on the monitors of their candidates.

Though this is the case, screen mirroring/sharing continues to be one of the methods used to cheat during online tests.

3. Cheating with Technological Devices

In today’s world, technology is developing at a swift pace. New gadgets and devices are being developed and released to the public continuously.

Such technologies have enabled humans to achieve things that were otherwise unachievable a few years ago. Recently, devices like Smartphones have enabled students to cheat during online exams.

According to some companies that conduct online examinations such as Prometric, some students are using tiny and undetectable Bluetooth devices during online exams.

Also, smartphones are also used by students to cheat. Today, some advanced scientific calculators are programmable. Students can store data and formulas and use them during online exams to help them score highly.

On the other hand, candidates have also admitted the accusation to be true.

While most candidates will prefer using high-tech devices to cheat during online exams, others will opt to use more traditional methods such as writing on their palms or using cheat sheets.

The cheating side of Tech and Gadgets

Here, we are not arguing against emerging technologies. Technologies are good because they help human life to be better and more comfortable. However, technology can be used for both good and bad reasons.

Using technological devices to cheat during online tests is applying technology in a bad way. Institutions of higher learning are trying to combat this form of cheating during online tests.

One of the most effective methods that can be used to combat cheating during online tests using technological devices is applying auto proctoring together with live proctoring.

This helps prevent candidates from cheating during online tests because proctoring technologies record a test-takers head movements, keystrokes, and eye movements while they are taking their exams online.

It is also possible for proctoring technologies to record audio during online exams. It is possible to differentiate between the voice of the test taker and other emerging voices that can help the student cheat during online tests.

4. Impersonation or Using a Friend

Since students take their online tests remotely, they can easily recruit another person who is more knowledgeable to take the tests on their behalf. That is why remote proctoring is done by examiners to nab them.

In such a situation, the candidate will just recruit another person and they are good to go. Online ID authentication such as face ID and biometrics can be used to prevent impersonation.

How to Cheat in an Online Proctored Exam

Now that we have discussed the most common methods used by students to cheat during online tests. However, the methods above work well when there is no proctoring.

Many students have noticed that proctoring technologies are used to combat several forms of online cheating, especially when exams are done from home.

Several institutions of higher learning are using proctored exams to prevent candidates from cheating.

However, no technology is foolproof. Students can still cheat during an online proctored exam.

You can cheat on proctored exams by intercepting a video feed or a projector to share questions with another person, applying virtual machines to share questions, or hiding a phone to get answers. Students also cheat proctored online tests by hiding books and writing formulas on their bodies among other non-technical ways.

Below are some of the technical and non-technical ways candidates can cheat during an online proctored exam.

1. Intercepting Video Feeds

This is one of the technical methods of cheating during an online proctored exam. It involves keeping software between the proctoring software and the webcam of your computer.

During proctored exams, the proctoring software relies on the webcam to monitor the candidate’s actions and activities that may signal cheating during an online exam.

When the proctoring software attempts to pull a live feed from the candidate’s webcam, the software intercepts it and provides a prerecorded feed from a “virtual” webcam. Software like ManyCam can be used for this purpose.

This is an effective technical method because candidates can prerecord themselves taking the actual test and use software like ManyCam to fool the proctoring software. Students can record themselves browsing the internet and doing what is considered acceptable while partaking in an online exam.

Ensure that no one else is within the prerecorded frame. After recording the footage, they send it as their default video feed. After doing this, they can cheat however want while doing an online exam.

2. Using an External Projector

The idea of using an external projector is a variation of using multiple monitors to mirror your main monitor. In this case, the candidate will ensure that the projected images face away from the webcam.

Those images should be only visible to you and your knowledgeable friends who are located on the other side of the room.

The images projected should prompt a discussion or research by your friends and in the process signal you an answer simultaneously.

However, candidates should avoid any unnecessary movements that can arouse suspicion during the online test.

If more than one candidate is using the same computer to take their online exam, ensure that there are no digital leftovers such as browser cookies or using the same IP addresses.

3. Using a Virtual Machine

This is a very technical approach in which a candidate can run two operating systems at the same time within the same computer. In such a scenario, one OS runs the computer while the other OS can be minimized just like a computer program.

Here, your computer will behave like two computers, and a knowledgeable friend can sit in the opposite direction and take the test for you. The webcam will be run by the main OS while the test run by the OS in the background.

You should not worry if you have never heard of virtual machines. It is something that is technical and it will require you to learn how it works and its applications.

These are used by students who cheat on lockdown browsers during assessments and tests by creating a virtual gadget that is functional yet not physically present.

4. Other Non-technical Approaches to cheat

While most people regularly think of technical and technological ways to cheat in a proctored online exam, the most effective may be non-technical ones. Those approaches include using an actual textbook or a smaller laptop.

Since the proctoring software uses the webcam to monitor your eye and head movements, you can place a textbook or a smaller laptop on the main laptop and use them to search for answers.

This is because the small laptop or textbook will be below the plane of view from the webcam’s perspective. Candidates can also use sunglasses to cover their eye movements.

Though we have discussed the various ways of cheating during an online proctored exam, you should try to uphold academic honesty. Cheating in an exam is not good.

How to Cheat Online Multiple-Choice Quizzes

Most of the exams that are given to students during online tests are usually multiple-choice tests. This is because they take less time than open-ended questions or tests requiring students to come up with essays in response to questions

In such a case, there are various ways in which students can cheat on online multiple-choice tests without getting caught. They can even do this during an online proctored exam. The following are some of the ways students can achieve this.

1. Applying a projector screen

As we have noted, examiners use proctor software to monitor candidates’ activities that may signal cheating in an exam. They achieve this by utilizing a computer’s webcam.

Proctor software, on the other hand, can easily detect the activities of your screen such as screen mirroring. This is the reason why candidates should opt to use an external projector to mirror their main monitor to a friend who can help them cheat.

The projected image should face away from the webcam while the candidate can see his helping friend. Once the external projector mirrors the questions, the friend can signal the answer to the candidate.

Since it is a multiple-choice exam, the friend can write on a placard whether the answer is “A”, “B”, “C” or “D” and covertly show you the answers for you to fill in.

2. Using a Virtual PC

This applies specifically to proctored exams where the software focuses on the activities of your webcam and web browser on your host operating system.

Since the software focuses on your host OS, you can use the parallel OS to Google all the answers and select the right answers from the multiple choices.

However, using this method or even attempting to use it requires that you have the technical knowledge of running a host and parallel operating system simultaneously.

3. Hacking the correct answers

This is a very technical method of cheating on an online multiple-choice exam. Before we proceed, it should be noted that this method does not always work in all scenarios.

Again, proctoring software can detect your screen’s activities if you have not fooled the webcam by sending prerecorded footage of you doing the exam.

Hacking the correct answers will require the candidate to highlight the multiple-choice answers and run them through online coding software. The software will detect multiple-choice options in terms of codes.

The correct answer will contain ones (1s) and zeros (0s) while the rest will contain other coding texts.

After detecting the correct answer in the coded format, go back to the actual webpage containing the multiple-choice options, and select the correct answer.

As we have noted, this requires technical know-how. Other methods can be used to cheat on online multiple-choice exams.

They include using writers from writing websites who are fast enough to research the correct answer and send it to you simultaneously and using another person to take the exam for you.

4. Searching the Answers Online

This is a very useful and powerful way to cheat on your multiple-choice questions. The process is simple. Just copy the entire question and paste it into the Google search bar, and check the results of the search.

If students are lucky, there will be an answer on the many websites that post answers to questions online. A website like Quizlet, Chegg, Brainy, and Course Hero do post thousands if not millions of answers online.

And in most cases, your questions may be posted on these sites. If not, students may get a website that discusses the exact issue one is being asked on the multiple-choice question. That way, a student can read and get the answer.

The only challenge with this method is that it consumes a lot of time, and students try to be very quick. Also, some exams block copying or even highlighting. In that case, students try to bypass the limitation by manually typing the question into Google Search.

However, this takes even more time. To reduce the time, some students tend to use test banks to cheat by getting the answers and posting them as theirs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the aforementioned methods help students to cheat on online exams worldwide. While proctor software is used to protect against online cheating during exams, different ways can be used.

But this is risky and we discourage it. Read our guide about Blackboard detecting cheating and the tools most universities use to prevent cheating and handle online exams.

Very few educational institutions are using Zoom or Google Meet to do exams. Others use Proctor to detect cheating, which works pretty well. This is because cheating in Zoom exams is easy as there is no proctor.

Though this article focuses on how to cheat on online tests, it should be noted that cheating in any type of exam is academic misconduct and a punishable offense. Students should practice academic honesty.

Online learning has become mainstream and more colleges and universities are embracing it.

Thousands of students are now enrolled in one or more online courses, and the demand for online assessment is on the rise.

The increase is also because institutions of higher learning are trying to serve the increasing number of students and online courses help serve more students.

In the first section, we explained how to cheat on a non-proctored online exam. The second section explored how to do it if an exam is proctored. The third explored the options to cheat in multiple-choice exams.