Quiz: How well do you know the cheating crisis affecting universities today?

A cheating crisis is sweeping universities. Recently, celebrities have been indicted and even pleaded guilty in connection to bribing and defrauding colleges to get their kids admitted. This is just the most public aspect of the crisis. In universities worldwide, essay mills are big business among both domestic and international students, who contract them to ghostwrite or complete assignments for them.

This is a problem that affects everyone, from students to educators and society at large. Think you understand the complexity of this issue? Take our quiz below to find out:

1. Which of the following universities are not involved in the recent celebrity college admission scandal?

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University of Southern California

Yale

Wake Forest University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Correct! Wrong!

2. Cheating at universities is a problem that only impacts domestic students. True or false?

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True

False

Correct! Wrong!

3. Which of the following does NOT constitute cheating?

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Paying an essay mill to complete an assignment

Faking a disability to take a standardized test with a complicit proctor

Copying an entire paragraph and then paraphrasing it

Answering an essay based on personal notes taken in class

Correct! Wrong!

4. International students are more likely to use essay mills than domestic students. True or false?

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True

False

Correct! Wrong!

5. Which of the following were NOT one of the unique factors researchers have found to drive international students to cheat?

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English as a second language

Family pressure to succeed

Unfamiliarity with Western academics

Influence from domestic peers

Correct! Wrong!

6. How much did the actress Felicity Huffman pay to a proctor to change her daughter’s answers on the SAT?

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US$5,000

US$10,000

US$15,000

US$20,000

Correct! Wrong!

7. What is percentage of recommendation letters for Chinese applicants to US universities that are fake?

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10 percent

30 percent

70 percent

90 percent

Correct! Wrong!

8. What was the FBI’s code name for the investigation of fraud in the celebrity admission scandal?

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Operation Varsity Blues

Operation College Fraud

Operation Copycat

Operation Elite Colleges

Correct! Wrong!

9. If software like TurnItIn fails to detect plagiarism, it is a guarantee of academic honesty. True or false?

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True

False

Correct! Wrong!

10. How many students worldwide may have taken part in contract cheating, according to research?

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One in 100

1 in 50

1 in 35

1 in 7

Correct! Wrong!

How well do you know the cheating crisis affecting universities today?

Very informed citizen

Looks like someone's been keeping up with the massive FBI investigation and the cheating crisis in higher education. Well done!

Can do better

The celebrity admissions scandal may be a tantalising bit of gossip but it pays to know more about the serious underlying issues it raises. After all, as a student, it's a win-win situation to know more about cheating and current affairs.

In the dark

The cheating crisis is one of the biggest issues in higher education today. Avoiding it altogether won't do you any good and you'll definitely be missing out on tips to avoid cheating!

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