Is this cheating?

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Each week, we have an online quiz. The teacher said that using your textbook or looking up answers on the internet is considered cheating. She gives us an unlimited amount of tries on the quiz.

So, would it be cheating to simply guess and keep trying until you get a decent score? It doesn’t sound like cheating, as I am not stealing anyone else’s answers.
 
MyPseudonym said:
Each week, we have an online quiz. The teacher said that using your textbook or looking up answers on the internet is considered cheating. She gives us an unlimited amount of tries on the quiz.

So, would it be cheating to simply guess and keep trying until you get a decent score? It doesn’t sound like cheating, as I am not stealing anyone else’s answers.
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If she’s giving you UNLIMITED tries, than no its not cheating. All she specified is that you can’t use your textbook or the internet to get the answers. She must see some benefit in rereading the quiz and answers until you get the correct answer. Maybe she feels by repetition, you retain the information.
 
You would be cheating yourself. the purpose of your assignments is to help you learn the material. The purpose of the quiz is to help you check yourself and your knowledge leading up to a test.

Failing to learn the material and do your best in school-- including on the quizzes-- is indeed a form of cheating. It is related to the sin of sloth.

You should make a serious effort to do your best on the quiz.
 
1ke said:
You would be cheating yourself. the purpose of your assignments is to help you learn the material. The purpose of the quiz is to help you check yourself and your knowledge leading up to a test.

Failing to learn the material and do your best in school-- including on the quizzes-- is indeed a form of cheating. It is related to the sin of sloth.

You should make a serious effort to do your best on the quiz.
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I’m not sure about this- one of my teachers does the same thing, and often repeated guessing is the only way to get a good score (though she doesn’t forbid us from looking through the internet or textbooks, and I use a combination of both methods). Going over all the information available is a waste of time- there are just too many resources. By learning what’s actually on the quiz first, you can get a much higher score. Not giving yourself every advantage makes competition almost impossible, even if you’re a very good student. Is it still cheating if it’s expected?

I would agree that students need to do their best to learn the material, of course. But in some classes, the quizzes are a learning tool, not an assessment. MyPseudonym will have to figure out what the best way to learn the material is in this class.

I don’t know if learning material is always the point of school, though, especially modern schools. Some required classes are genuinely worthless, and the only way to get through them is to just focus on your grade or consider them an exercise in patience… 😦
 
As a retired teacher I assure you that you are definitely cheating yourself as this is not a method that will help you master the material. Eventually you will be tested in the classroom and your guessing technique will come back to haunt you as there is a great probability that you won’t remember the correct answer from among your guessing answers. Do yourself a favor and read and study the material. Use the gifts that God blessed you with to the best of your abilities. The only thing in life achieved without effort is failure.
 
mountee said:
As a retired teacher I assure you that you are definitely cheating yourself as this is not a method that will help you master the material. Eventually you will be tested in the classroom and your guessing technique will come back to haunt you as there is a great probability that you won’t remember the correct answer from among your guessing answers. Do yourself a favor and read and study the material. Use the gifts that God blessed you with to the best of your abilities. The only thing in life achieved without effort is failure.
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Is it a sin for me to guess on quizzes if I always get A’s on tests? I have a very good memory for classroom purposes, but learning ALL of the information available is time-consuming and inefficient, and it will probably lower my grades.

I didn’t think the OP was really asking about efficiency, and it doesn’t seem like we have enough to go on to judge whether it’s a sin in this case. 🤷
 
I would say as the above people have said. Is not necessarily cheating but through random guessing you are only cheating yourself.
 
MyPseudonym said:
Each week, we have an online quiz. The teacher said that using your textbook or looking up answers on the internet is considered cheating. She gives us an unlimited amount of tries on the quiz.

So, would it be cheating to simply guess and keep trying until you get a decent score? It doesn’t sound like cheating, as I am not stealing anyone else’s answers.
Click to expand...
School has two purposes (in my view):

(1) To get good grades so that the more desirable superior opportunities that are open only to those with high grade point averages will be open to you later.

(2) To master skills and knowledge so that you can, when your education is over, you can earn enough money to support yourself and your family, and, if you wish it, to earn an abundance of money so that you can have luxuries and enhanced economic security.

Sometimes these 2 purposes coincide in a given activity assigned by a teacher. Sometimes they don’t.

So, don’t take your teachers as your guides. Be your own guide. Set your own goals and then do what will get you there. A few years from now you will never see these teachers again, and will never even think about most of them ever again. Likewise, they will have no memory of you, most likely.

Use school (and other opportunities) to get where you were you want to be. Be ethical. But don’t be a follower of teachers and coaches. But your own Leader (under God).
 
MyPseudonym said:
Each week, we have an online quiz. The teacher said that using your textbook or looking up answers on the internet is considered cheating. She gives us an unlimited amount of tries on the quiz.

So, would it be cheating to simply guess and keep trying until you get a decent score? It doesn’t sound like cheating, as I am not stealing anyone else’s answers.
Click to expand...
If, at the end of day, you know your subject or what your teacher is trying to teach you then it’s fine, try not to get too intellectually attached to your ‘guess’ until you’ve verified that it’s the correct answer.
Years ago, a student argued with a nun about whether or not we should say “it’s me” or "it is I’ on the phone, he said that it didn’t SOUND right, she answered that that was because he was used to doing it wrong.
 
Why not ask your teacher if random guessing through multiple iterations is what she had in mind when developing the quiz?
 
Thanks for all the replies. The quizzes are just short, 10 question quizzes.

She says she gives us multiple chances so that we can learn from our mistakes.
 
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