Is it cheating

flowerpower
flowerpower Registered Posts: 3 New contributor 🐸
in Chat and off-topic discussion
Advice please someone.
A really good friend of mine has seen a Simulation a week before they are due to sit it. I also know they had it in their possession for at least 3 hours.
Is this classed as cheating as its a skill test and not an exam so the rules are different.

Comments

  • welshwizard
    welshwizard Registered Posts: 465 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    I beieve this goes against the AAT Guidelines and should really be reported. The provider (college etc) could lose their licence to run AAT courses. The student could also end up being stripped of membership and any qualifications already gained.
  • katsutlieff
    katsutlieff Registered Posts: 459 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Sorry I'm with Welshwizard on this. If someone has been shown a live simulation a week before sitting it it should be reporting to the AAT. I know it leaves you in an impossible situation.
  • mark130273
    mark130273 Registered Posts: 4,234 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    well you know you cant talk about exams till a certain time after the exam ,so others dont get wind of whats on it ? so skill tests are the same....

    your """"""friend""""" and i quote again """""friend""""" ,should report it to the proper people ?
  • SandyHood
    SandyHood Registered, Moderator Posts: 2,034 mod
    Accounting stands or falls on its integrity and honesty.
    Accounting qualifications depend upon the same.

    There is only one possible answer.
    Report this action.

    Everybody who has an MAAT, has a worthwhile qualification that a prospective employer understands is worth something.

    If anyone can qualify by cheating, the qualification is devalued. An employer who has had a member of staff who cannot do the things that the AAT qualification says you can that employer will no longer value the qualification as an endorsement of what an MAAT can do.

    Unless such cheating is stamped out everyone working towards their AAT qualification could suffer.

    The integrity of an accountant should be above reproach.
    Sandy
    sandy@sandyhood.com
    www.sandyhood.com
  • fatandforty
    fatandforty Registered Posts: 553 Epic contributor 🐘
    flowerpower wrote: »
    Advice please someone.
    A really good friend of mine has seen a Simulation a week before they are due to sit it. I also know they had it in their possession for at least 3 hours.
    Is this classed as cheating as its a skill test and not an exam so the rules are different.

    How on earth did they manage to get hold of this simulation? It is definitely cheating. Our tutor had our last simulation in her possession at least a week before we were due to sit it and there was no way we would have been allowed to know what it contained. It is a small exam and the same rules apply.
  • flowerpower
    flowerpower Registered Posts: 3 New contributor 🐸
    They are a distance learner and will be sitting Skill tests through work so the skill test has been posted to works address.
  • Buff
    Buff Registered Posts: 275 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    In answer to your original question "Is it Cheating?"

    I have always understood cheating to meaning :

    Willingly gaining an unfair advantage

    He has obviously had an unfair advantage, and, seeing as though he hasn't reported it himself, he has been more than willing - so, in my opinion, Yes, he's cheating.
  • Gem7321
    Gem7321 Registered Posts: 1,438 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    flowerpower wrote: »
    They are a distance learner and will be sitting Skill tests through work so the skill test has been posted to works address.

    The simulation is supposed to be addressed to the supervisor and the supervisor is supposed to keep it in their possession until the student is ready to sit the sim. So the college is also at fault for addressing it to the student (I assume) but it is still cheating.
  • A-Vic
    A-Vic Registered Posts: 6,970 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    Gem7321 wrote: »
    The simulation is supposed to be addressed to the supervisor and the supervisor is supposed to keep it in their possession until the student is ready to sit the sim. So the college is also at fault for addressing it to the student (I assume) but it is still cheating.

    Is it the students fault then if this be the case should he be penalised or should he just be made to resit a fresh paper next year
  • Gem7321
    Gem7321 Registered Posts: 1,438 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    The student would also have been made aware of these rules and should have notified the supervisor and the college immediately, because they chose to keep it in their posession I think they are at fault but I think disqualifying them would be harsh. I think they should made to sit a different paper.
  • blobbyh
    blobbyh Registered Posts: 2,415 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
    I notice you haven't been online since last week flowerpower so can you please give us an update on this as it'd be quite discourteous to stimulate this much interest without offering us any resolution?
    flowerpower wrote: »
    They are a distance learner and will be sitting Skill tests through work so the skill test has been posted to works address.

    This does shine a slightly different light on the situation as you kind of made it sound as though your friend had stolen the paper. Also, do you know for sure they've opened the simulation to read the questions in advance? You must be very careful about opening up a can of worms here that might not be so easy to close and that an internal investigation isn't unwittingly launched against an innocent person.

    This will go against all other advice on here but if you reported them and they know it's you, you'll no longer be friends. Is reporting them anonymously an option or would they still know it's you? While what they've potentially done might be ethically wrong, you could take a more pragmatic view that it's only a simulation and not the central exam where a much darker view would have to be taken.

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