Why Campus Students Cheat in Exams

By Njeri Mickeydan Kioko

A campus student cheating during exams. Pinterest photo

Integrity as my mother always puts it is; doing the right thing when no one is looking. In other words, it is upholding your morals and principles when not subjected to any form of scrutiny or judgement.

Campus is littered with the phrase “degree ni harambee”. This qualifies cheating in exams as a normal happening. Bottom line, campus students do actually cheat in exams. Some individuals would dare get involved in this forbidden act with the hope of getting away unpunished and improving their grades. In campus, unlike high school, there are no tight schedules to hold you hostage all day in the brick-and-mortar classrooms. Neither are there too many assignments in each of the seven plus units that you take per sem. To be precise, time factor cannot be held accountable for the failure of any student. With more than enough time for personal study, revision and group work, what really motivates a comrade to cheat in exams? Well, let’s find out.

Pinterest photo

First is lack of confidence. When false evidence appears real, the best one can do is panic not because it will solve the problem, but because being calm and collected is overrated. Lack of confidence in oneself can crumble all the efforts put together to bring out the best of a person. Some comrades are afraid of their abilities and would always consult a third party for assurance. When ‘I will fail, I do not know, my answer is incorrect’ throbs in their minds, they won’t hesitate to reach out for Mwakenya or the AI in the smartphone just to confirm their thoughts.

Secondly is external pressure. In stance when one’s parents together with the lecturer gang up against them, life stops being smooth. The ride becomes rough and bumpy. You grades always under a microscope makes you feel as if you are in a microwave. When parents and teachers literary force their students to attain first class honors, how they prompt them to try the cheating by all means just to make them happy. Pressure has a habit of cracking things.

Pinterest Photo

Thirdly are poor priorities. When you wrongly prioritize your activities, while letting laziness take the lead, then definitely expect failure. The ‘last minute rush’ syndrome knocks in without your permission and you eventually work yourself up to match the rest in that short period. Cramming really helps at this moment… But what happens when you get into the exam room only to realize that three quarters of what you read cannot be retrieved from your rain archives, yet you have targeted a first-class honor?

Lastly is the emphasis on the grade. Not only does one go to campus to acquire academic excellence but also learn how to live with others. What we learn in class should be a basis of our actions in the job field. How do you get to master the content in your faculty of study? This is humanly possible if there is emphasis put in it such that in the end you are able to express the content in an environment outside the class. But when the grades matter more than complete understanding of the content, then the issue of half barked students will haunt us to our graves. Hence, you should rather cheat to secure a future with that grade than if it were compared to the content. How often do you cheat? Are you a sainted campus student or the typical campus student?