“Catching Cheating Students”, 2019-12-29 (; similar):
We develop a simple algorithm for detecting exam cheating between students who copy off one another’s exams.
When this algorithm is applied to exams in a general science course at a top university, we find strong evidence of cheating by at least 10% of the students. Students studying together cannot explain our findings. Matching incorrect answers proves to be a stronger indicator of cheating than matching correct answers.
When seating locations are randomly assigned, and monitoring is increased, cheating virtually disappears.
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