Some undergrads admit to cheating in online exams during pandemic, despite safeguards and stiff penalties

University students who cheat at examinations during the Covid-19 pandemic may be happening more often than not, going by interviews conducted by TODAY with more than a dozen current and graduated students in the past week.

As Covid-19 forced many exams to be conducted remotely online for significant parts of the pandemic, some students said that they found ways around the universities' efforts to deter such dishonesty.

There were those, for example, who said that they cheated because they did not want to be put at a disadvantage to others who did.

The question arose of how common academic cheating is, after news last week that 11 law trainees had been caught cheating in their Bar exams, prompting a High Court judge to question whether there is a "culture of cheating". Six of the trainees were named by the High Court on Wednesday (April 27).

The students interviewed by TODAY said that cheating was easier at the start of the pandemic when universities had to find ways to set up the remote exams at short notice, which sometimes meant a lack of precautions taken against cheating.