Professor's ingenious trick to catch cheaters in exams exposes 14 students and sparks fierce debate

When reminiscing about college, many recall fun lectures, quirky professors, dorm shenanigans, and wild parties. But exams and the drama around them are also unforgettable. While some students stress over studying, others choose to cheat—but not all succeed, especially when a professor has clever tricks up their sleeve. Five years ago, Reddit user u/Mwxh shared a story about how their professor outsmarted cheaters during an exam with a clever plan.

The student mentioned that during one of their engineering finals, about half the class seemed to need a bathroom break. It was fairly obvious that most of them took the break to look up answers on the phone in the bathroom. "I remembered that there was one particular problem that was only barely related to the stuff we went over in class where part A was fairly easy but I had no idea how to do part B. I didn't fret over it too much though, since that part was only 5 points out of 100," they wrote.

While many walked away from the examination room under the impression they'd gotten away with cheating, they later received an email from the professor about his "diabolical plan to catch cheaters." He had been aware that students were using Chegg, a website that has answers to many homework questions, on their bathroom break. "He explained that he was tired of people going to the bathroom and looking up answers on their phones, so he made the question I mentioned earlier as a trap," they mentioned. Turns out, the trick question was made to be "impossible to solve." 

"About a month before the final, he got a TA with a Chegg account to ask the exact question, which was distinctly worded to be unique. He then created his own Chegg account and answered the question with a wrong solution that seems right at first glance but is fundamentally flawed," the student wrote. Eventually, the professor was able to catch 14 cheaters among the 99 students who took the exam. Those who wrote down the wrong solution they found on Chegg were given a score of 0 and were reported to the university for "violating the academic honor pledge they signed on the front." The professor also made sure the cheaters' names were shared with other professors in the department. 

While the professor's revenge plot seems to have been effective, some Reddit users were concerned about the genuine students who might've wasted their time on the problem. "If I start on that question and get nothing else on the test done, my performance was directly hindered by the professor's misguided attempt to catch cheating students," said a Reddit user. "I get the idea here but I can definitely imagine spending way too long on this unsolvable question and it'd mess up the rest of my timing," pointed out u/blastcage.

Others seemed to be impressed by the professor's brilliant method. "This is Amazing. I've seen some stories like this and it always makes me glad I don't use Cheg for tests. Honestly, if you're cheating on a proctored test, you deserve to get caught. Study like everyone else," stated u/sassyandsweer789. "Brilliant. I teach at a university myself. This trick I will shamelessly copy if I think it prudent!" chimed in u/Zwartebeer. "I'm glad to hear of so many professors taking cheating so seriously. I had clear evidence of cheating as a TA and the most the professor would let me do was take 25% off of their grade," added u/flavroftheweek