Is using test banks considered Cheating?

USING TEST BANKS: Cheating or Not?

If a lot of you do not feel secure in buying and using test banks as basis for your academic studies because you feel like it’s going to cause you trouble, you must know that using test banks is NOT considered as direct cheating.

There are several reasons why using test banks is not considered as direct cheating. A lot of you may think that when you start using a test bank, it violates the policies of your school organization. Many may have even read about the same articles concerning the usage of test banks by students. But here are some facts you should know first before you conclude your initial thoughts about test banks.

First, you should know what test banks are and what kind of information it can give. According to the Oxford University Press, “it is tailored to the contents of an individual textbook.”

test bank is a ready-made electronic testing resource that can be customized by lecturers for their teaching.

Feedback is often provided on answers given by students, containing page references to the book.

Giving emphasis to the first and last sentences, in the first sentence it was said that

test banks are resources that can be customized by lecturers for their teaching,

meaning that lecturers aren’t advised to copy the whole questions from the test

banks, and that they can completely revise the whole question if ever they want to.

Meanwhile in the last sentence, it was said that answers are often given by students

with references. It was made clear that not only the test makers are responsible for

answering the questions but students who gave their own answers as well. The

clean part here is that references were given in which they provide supporting basis

and as well as additional reviewers for the people who would be using them.

With that said, it can be easily sort out in two ways in which it won’t be described

as cheating: 1.) Lecturers aren’t required to copy the whole question from test

banks so their knowledge would still apply with the usage of their profession in

that field of teaching. If lecturers do copy the exact questions and words from the

test banks because some of them are too fully-loaded to create their own, then it

would be of their choice, knowing that the answer keys can always be found

anywhere in the internet nowadays. 2.) Students are often the ones providing

answers and solutions for the test banks. We all know that students learn from what

they have read, what were taught to them, and what they have gained throughout

their previous activities. If in the test banks, they have indicated references to

where they’ve learned, they obviously want other users of test banks to learn and

not just copy everything without having to know how it was done.

Second, of course everyone knows what the meaning of cheating is, but not all we

know as cheating is considered exactly as cheating. According to the Webster’s

Dictionary, cheating is a way of being dishonest to have an advantage from others

in a game or examination, it is also a way to trick or deceive.

If you think deeper about the meaning of cheating, you can say that students using

test banks is not really considered as cheating. To elaborate this, when a student

uses test banks it doesn’t at all mean that he/she is tricking someone or deceiving

them in any way. It is also not an act of dishonesty since no rules were

implemented about students are not allowed to use test banks, so it isn’t at all

illegal. Having an advantage in academics is part of being a student in which they

have their own strategies to advance in their studies. Being gumptious, smart,

stern, talkative, etc… are ways of having an advantage, but it isn’t at all cheating,

is it?

Third, you should also lock in mind what the meaning of studying really is. Again,

according to the Webster’s Dictionary, studying is to devote time in acquiring

knowledge in any subject matter by reading books, attending educational courses,

and/or by simply reflections and analysis.

When students use test banks, it is also a way to study and gain information. Let’s

also add up the fact that learning does not only focus entirely on gaining

information by their own work of analysis and understanding, but it also evolved

throughout the centuries in which memorizing, pictographic memory, and other

ways of memory recalling were added as a new way of learning. A lot of students

also found this new way of learning much easier than understanding the whole

lesson. Since it has been that way for years up until now, many professors out there

have been implementing and promoting the skill of memorization.

Knowing that learning and studying have been revised and provocatively changed

over the centuries, a lot have taken a huge amount of effort to memorize and

skillfully remember what was written on the test banks as their own way of

skillfully adjusting and learning about the present curriculums.

Many of you may have already realized that a lot has changed over the centuries

when it comes to academics and learning. Not all can be understood in such ways

that they were taught, and not all were given the right way of gaining information

because some lecturers weren’t effective enough to implement the information in

to the students’ heads.

Not all that we have gotten used to are ways that we should be doing for the rest of

our lives. Some things change in a way that the world revolves around the sun and

acquires different changes every day. Not all are permanently addressed to what

was considered right or wrong. A lot of people should also realize that change is

inevitable, and that not everything they know will be carved in their lifestyles

forever. Labelling something as wrong without knowing the different ways it was

done will always be unjust. Prior to the defense of many, as long as it has not yet

been written in any of the rule books, it is practically safe to establish your own

ways of coping in your everyday lives.