How does Bates Numbering on exam papers reduce the possibility of cheating in universities?
April 26, 2011 6:38 AM   Subscribe

How does Bates Numbering on exam papers reduce the possibility of cheating in universities?

I believe I understand the concept of serializing artifacts and how it improves referencing and retrieval of documents, in law firms and education. But I just can't figure out how it prevents cheating in exams?

Here's a case study I found about Rangsit University (Thailand): "As part of its strategy to diminish the possibility of cheating amongst students, the university serialised the exam papers so that they could track them being handed out and subsequently returned. This process was performed by first printing the exam papers, manually sorting them, and then stamping the first page of each paper with a Bates numbering stamp."
posted by gttommy to Technology (6 answers total)
 
Best answer: If your paper has a unique identifier and is checked back in, you can't smuggle it out of the room and share it with your friends who are taking the exam later on.
posted by decathecting at 6:44 AM on April 26, 2011


I wonder what "manually sorting them" means.
In big classes that had scantron exams, the multiple-choice type, as opposed to blue-book essay exams, I know that there are often several (say 5) versions of the test, with the same questions in a different order, or the same questions but answer options (ab/c/d/e) shuffled. Every student gets a numbered exam and matching-numbered answer sheet, handed out such that neighbors don't get identical tests. This prevents copying answers from the smart kid by just matching patterns, which is normally pretty easy to do with bubble tests.
However, I bet there's a name for this that isn't Bates Numbering (as I've seen this done with 100 exams numbered 1-100 sorted in groups 1-20, 21-40, ...) and with 100 exams sorted as 20 exams labeled 1, 20 exams labeled 2, etc.
posted by aimedwander at 7:03 AM on April 26, 2011


It is likely that Thailand universities use assigned seating. During professional licensing exams here in the US, there is assigned seating, proctors, and numbered tests which is all used to discourage cheating.
posted by JJ86 at 7:42 AM on April 26, 2011


I don't know about Thailand, but when I took exams ten years ago Japan, you had an assigned seat based on where you fell in the order of student numbers. You would also have to write your seat number on your answer sheet. I imagine that having the exams stamped by number in advance could add another layer of security so that students wouldn't be able to switch identities. It can also ensure that they know they get all the exam papers afterwards, so that loose copies don't end up circulating among students.

Here in Canada, we don't assign seats, but require students to have their student IDs on their desks during the exam, which we TAs go around matching against the person, name written on the test, and an attendance sheet. This serves the same basic purpose of matching student to paper.
posted by mariokrat at 9:08 AM on April 26, 2011


Best answer: I am a professor, and I number all my exams just so that I know I get them all back. I try not to have old copies of exams floating around for students to study from, as it makes it less fair for those students who don't get copies.

For a class of 40 people, for example, I will print 44 copies of the exam. 40 will go out to the class, one will be my answer key, and three are extra in case of printing errors. If more people show up than I expect, I notice because there aren't four copies (numbered 41-44), and I will see who doesn't belong. If I don't get an exam back at the end, I can check those turned in against the student names to see who didn't give it back (though this has never happened to me because not turning it in would be a zero). I then shred the extra copies and grade the exams. Next class, I hand back the exams for students to look over. If they have any problems with the grading, they note it on the front cover. I then record the grades, so if anyone doesn't hand the exam back, again they potentially get a zero.

I could do all this based on counts and names, but numbering makes it easier.
posted by procrastination at 9:20 AM on April 26, 2011


I used a system at my old university where exam questions and answers were entered into a database, tied to the course enrollment record (which in turn tied to individual student accounts, contact info, and student ID photos). Each exam was generated by randomly selecting X number of questions from the pool, with answers for each listed in a random order. The resulting exam was then printed with a cover page containing the student ID number and photo of the individual who would be taking that exam. The answer keys for each exam were generated by the database and automatically submitted to the scoring office for the scantron (bubble sheet) scanning and scoring.

It was really cool. Every student had their own personalized exam. Even if two students got the same questions, they would be in a different order with different dummy answers, also in a different order.

On the opposite end, I know a prof who regularly uses three versions of exams, color-coded, which students can keep for studying; but the final exam, also three color-coded versions, must be turned in. The trick? The final exams are all identical, just printed on different color paper - because it's easier to make one version of an exam than it is to make three, and by then the students are trained to think different color = different version.

In short, ANYTHING you can do to tie a specific exam to a specific student will reduce cheating, because individuals will be more likely to think that this exam was personally targeted to them, so any instance of cheating would be easier to trace.
posted by caution live frogs at 2:40 PM on April 26, 2011


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