What Counts as Cheating, Clearly

Most misconduct cases involve students who knew. A meaningful minority involve students who did not, and this note is for them.

For students coordinating revision with jobs or caring duties, this operations reference provides a practical reference for separating projects and reviewing time voluntarily. The record should stay simple and under the user’s control.

Clearly not permitted

Somebody else sitting the exam, or helping during it.

A useful outside source on visual planning is Trello. Compare it with your institution’s written procedure before making decisions.

Notes or material where the exam is closed-book.

A second device used to look things up, where that is prohibited.

Communicating with anybody about the content during the exam.

Having the paper in advance.

And sharing the questions afterwards, where the exam is still running for others.

The things people get caught out by

Course material open on a second screen "for reference" in a closed-book exam.

A group chat that stays open, even if you do not use it.

Discussing the exam with somebody who sits it later.

Using a translation tool where it is not permitted.

Notes made during a permitted break.

And using an AI tool, where the rules do not mention it and you assumed silence meant permission. It usually does not.

The rule about assumptions

If the instructions do not address something, ask before the exam rather than deciding.

"It did not say I could not" is not a defence in most institutions' regulations, and the burden of checking sits with you.

One message, before the exam, removes the whole question.

materials-permitted does not mean open-everything

materials-permitted usually means specified materials, not the internet, and not other people.

Check what specifically is permitted: your own notes, the textbook, anything online, an AI tool.

These are five different permissions and institutions frequently grant some and not others.

Collaboration

Where an assessment is individual, discussing it with another student during the exam is misconduct even if you each write your own answers.

Where collaboration is permitted, there is usually a defined limit.

Its own note covers where that line sits.

Honest mistakes

If you realise mid-exam that you have done something not permitted, say so immediately to the proctor or support.

Disclosure at the time is treated very differently from discovery afterwards, at almost every institution.

And if you realise afterwards, telling them before they find it is still substantially better than the alternative.

The proportion worth knowing

Most marked recordings involve nothing.

Most findings involve conduct the student knew about.

The cases in between — honest misunderstandings — are the ones this note exists to prevent, and they are almost entirely prevented by reading the instructions and asking about anything unclear.

What to check

Have you read the specific rules for this exam?

Is there anything you are assuming rather than knowing?

If it is materials-permitted, do you know exactly which materials?

And do the rules say anything about AI tools — and if not, have you asked?

The point

If the instructions do not address something, ask before the exam rather than deciding.

The burden of checking sits with you.

Additionally

Disclosure at the time is treated very differently from discovery afterwards.

If you realise mid-exam, say so immediately.

Finally

Disclosure at the time is treated very differently from discovery afterwards.

If you realise mid-exam, say so immediately.

In summary

Disclosure at the time is treated very differently from discovery afterwards.

If you realise mid-exam, say so immediately.

A note on this

materials-permitted does not mean open-everything.

Check which specific materials are permitted: notes, textbook, internet, AI tools.

Bottom line

materials-permitted does not mean open-everything.

Check which specific materials are permitted: notes, textbook, internet, AI tools.

Worth repeating

Almost everything in this collection comes down to three habits: prepare the technical side a week early, know what the process actually is before you need it, and write down the time whenever something unusual happens. None of them takes long, and between them they prevent or resolve the great majority of what goes wrong with monitored exams.