For context… this did not happen at Monash nor am I a Monash student. I just want to get peoples opinions and reactions on this.

So, I study biomed and anyone who studies biomed knows it’s a challenging degree. Content is difficult and it’s very fast paced. That’s not to say you can’t do well in it but it certainly isn’t easy to be getting HD after HD after HD.

My very first semester of uni obviously was a big adjustment from highschool and I was still figuring out how to study effectively and how to study specifically for biomed. I remember being in anatomy class and making a few friends who usually sat at the back of the class (I preferred to sit in the middle of the classroom though)

Our very first test I did decently on and was proud as I had never studied anatomy before so this was a big change for me. I asked my new friends what they scored and was shocked to hear them say “90, 82, 95”

I thought… this is the standard of academia here so I better get serious and study hard now, I don’t want to be bottom of the class. Our second assessment I did better and was proud of myself. I asked them what they got and again, crazy high marks. I was seriously like how are they doing this?????

For our third test, I came a little late to class as the trains were delayed so there were no spots in the middle of the class where I usually sit and I had to sit at the back next to my friends. The rest started and what do I see???? All 3 of them copying the questions into CHAT GPT!!!!!!!! Right in front of me!!!??? As if It was no big deal.

I was flabbergasted, I did not think people actually cheated at uni. The classroom is quite long so you’re able to quickly switch tabs before the teacher comes to the back of the table but he mostly just stayed at the front of the room marking our work from lab class.

After the rest I asked them what their scores were for other units (as some of them were in their second semester) and of course, they said crazy marks like 85 . Again, I’m not saying it’s impossible to get these marks and that they have to have cheated in everything to get such high marks, but anyone who does biomed knows such scores are crazy and these are med school worthy scores and it’s super disheartening seeing people achieve such success through cheating. I can honestly say even after discovering this I have never resorted to cheating because I personally think the risk is far greater than the reward and having a history of academic misconduct is far worse than having some bad or average scores here and there but it’s still crazy to see. Has anyone seen this happen at their uni?