cheat for doing homework

Click to choose an image or drag it here

• AI Math Solver

A Simple, Fast, and Intelligent AI Homework Helper

HomeworkAI Is The Ultimate AI Homework Helper You Need

Struggling with piles of homework and tricky assignments? Let HomeworkAI help you out! Our smart AI homework helper delivers detailed, step-by-step solutions, transforming study sessions into smooth sailing.

Covering all subjects, from complex calculus to intricate biology, our homework AI is here to ease the stress and boost your grades. Say hello to effortless learning and wave goodbye to study blues with HomeworkAI!

Get Instant Answers From Our Homework AI

Description: This is how to unlock comprehensive answers and master your studies with our homework AI, in a fast, accurate, and educational fashion.

Upload Your Assignment - Simply upload images, text files, or type your question to get started.

AI Processing - Our advanced AI homework helper will process your assignment and provide detailed, accurate solutions.

Learn & Understand - Review the step-by-step guidance to improve your knowledge and complete your homework with confidence.

Gain Academic Advantages From HomeworkAI's Top Features

Instant Solutions

Quick, clear-cut answers are just a click away with an instant AI homework helper—skip the headache and let our homework AI do the heavy lifting for you.

Maximum Accuracy

Count on Homework AI for spot-on answers. Our advanced AI algorithm digs deep into a vast knowledge base to ensure you get the most accurate solutions every time.

Around-the-Clock Help

Day or night, our homework AI is at your beck and call, ready to dismantle any academic obstacle you encounter, so learning never has to pause for a break.

Comprehensive Support

Whatever the subject, our intelligent AI homework helper has you covered. Get expert help from algebra equations to zoological classifications with ease.

Easy to Use

Enjoy a super user-friendly platform with our homework AI, tailored to empower students and academic professionals at every level to navigate through assignments with confidence.

Our Homework AI Can Help You With All Subjects !

Turn to HomeworkAI for tailored homework and assignment assistance in every subject of your choice.

Mathematics

Solve complex equations and tackle calculus challenges with our AI-powered homework helper that turns numbers into knowledge.

From cellular structures to ecosystem dynamics, easily manage your biology assignments with clear, detailed explanations.

Balance chemical equations and understand reaction mechanisms with a quick online problem solver that simplifies the periodic table.

Analyze literary themes and decipher figurative language with insights that breathe new life into classic texts.

Connect historical dots with ease, as HomeworkAI helps you interpret events and understand their lasting impacts.

Discover Success Stories with Our Homework AI

Ever since using HomeworkAI for my math homework, studying has been way less stressful, and I can say that I'm enjoying math now. My grades are up and I actually get the hang of algebra now!

- Priya K., University Sophomore

I was dreading chemistry all semester, but HomeworkAI totally turned that around. I'm now breaking down reactions and acing quizzes with confidence. The step-by-step solutions it provides are a lifesaver for someone like me! Totally recommended. 

- Marcus D., High School Junior

HomeworkAI made sense of all those crazy bio terms I could never remember. HomeworkAI’s explanations have made it manageable. My test scores are also much better, and I'm not a bundle of nerves anymore!

- Lina J., College Freshman

No more panicking over biology assignments with this AI homework helper!! Nailed my biology midterm, all thanks to HomeworkAI! It's like having a tutor in my pocket, ready to help with homework anytime, day or night.

- Carlos M., High School Senior

Why HomeworkAI Is Your Go-To AI Homework Helper ?

What types of files can I upload to HomeworkAI?

HomeworkAI supports a variety of file formats, including text files such as PDF, DOC, DOCX, and image files like JPEG and PNG. This allows you to easily upload assignments, worksheets, and questions in the format that best suits your needs.

Is HomeworkAI suitable for all educational levels?

Yes, HomeworkAI is tailored for students and educational professionals of all levels—from middle schoolers to university undergrads—providing support and solutions customized to each educational stage.

Can HoweworkAI process practice questions from textbook material?

Yes. Simply upload the textbook material with practice questions, and our homework AI will analyze them to provide detailed solutions and explanations, just as it would with any other homework assignment or study query.

Does getting help from HomeworkAI considered cheating?

HomeworkAI is an AI question answerer designed to aid your learning process, much like a traditional tutor. Thus, utilizing HomeworkAI may not be considered cheating, as long as it aligns with your institution's guidelines for using external help.

Can I use HomeworkAI to prepare for my exam?

Absolutely, HomeworkAI can be an effective tool for exam preparation. It offers practice questions, solutions, and thorough explanations to help reinforce your understanding of the subject matter, giving you an extra edge in your study routine.

How does HomeworkAI handle problems with multiple solution methods?

HomeworkAI does have the ability to handle problems with multiple solution methods. It can provide a primary solution and, where applicable, may offer alternative approaches or explanations to give you a well-rounded understanding of the problem at hand.

Get Your Hands on The Best AI Homework Helper Right Now !

HomeworkAI doesn't just deliver answers—it teaches problem-solving, becoming your ultimate homework companion.

StudyMonkey

Your personal ai tutor.

Learn Smarter, Not Harder with AI

Introducing StudyMonkey, your AI-powered tutor .

StudyMonkey AI can tutor complex homework questions, enhance your essay writing and assess your work—all in seconds.

No more long all-nighters

24/7 solutions to questions you're stumped on and essays you procrastinated on.

No more stress and anxiety

Get all your assignments done with helpful answers in 10 seconds or less.

No more asking friends for help

StudyMonkey is your new smart bestie that will never ghost you.

No more staying after school

AI tutoring is available 24/7, on-demand when you need it most.

AI Tutor for any subject

American college testing (act), anthropology, advanced placement exams (ap exams), arabic language, archaeology, biochemistry, chartered financial analyst (cfa) exam, communications, computer science, certified public accountant (cpa) exam, cultural studies, cyber security, dental admission test (dat), discrete mathematics, earth science, elementary school, entrepreneurship, environmental science, essay writer, farsi (persian) language, fundamentals of engineering (fe) exam, gender studies, graduate management admission test (gmat), graduate record examination (gre), greek language, hebrew language, high school entrance exam, high school, human geography, human resources, international english language testing system (ielts), information technology, international relations, independent school entrance exam (isee), lesson planner, linear algebra, linguistics, law school admission test (lsat), machine learning, master's degree, medical college admission test (mcat), meteorology, microbiology, middle school, national council licensure examination (nclex), national merit scholarship qualifying test (nmsqt), number theory, organic chemistry, project management professional (pmp), political science, portuguese language, probability, project management, preliminary sat (psat), public policy, public relations, russian language, scholastic assessment test (sat), social sciences, secondary school admission test (ssat), sustainability, swahili language, test of english as a foreign language (toefl), trigonometry, turkish language, united states medical licensing examination (usmle), web development, step-by-step guidance 24/7.

Receive step-by-step guidance & homework help for any homework problem & any subject 24/7

Ask any question

StudyMonkey supports every subject and every level of education from 1st grade to masters level.

Get an answer

StudyMonkey will give you an answer in seconds—multiple choice questions, short answers, and even an essays are supported!

Review your history

See your past questions and answers so you can review for tests and improve your grades.

It's not cheating...

You're just learning smarter than everyone else

How Can StudyMonkey Help You?

Hear from our happy students.

"The AI tutor is available 24/7, making it a convenient and accessible resource for students who need help with their homework at any time."

"Overall, StudyMonkey is an excellent tool for students looking to improve their understanding of homework topics and boost their academic success."

Upgrade to StudyMonkey Premium!

Why not upgrade to StudyMonkey Premium and get access to all features?

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Happiness Hub Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• Happiness Hub
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• School Stuff
• Academic Dishonesty

How to Cheat on Homework

Last Updated: January 4, 2024

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 65 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 139,921 times. Learn more...

Sometimes it's just easier to not do the work. According to a recent study, 42% of freshmen at Harvard admitted to cheating on homework assignments, putting you in good company if you often feel like you've got better things to do than another worksheet. [1] X Research source Instead of going about it foolishly and copying off your friend right before class starts, get smart about your cheating. You can learn the best ways to finish off your math homework, your reading, and even cut some serious corners on your essays.

Cheating on Math or Short-Answer Homework

• First, you've got to make friends with the smartest kids in class, who always do the work correctly. It helps if you can share in the workload sometimes, alternating who does the homework and who copies, night to night. Don't be totally useless.
• The best times to copy homework are on the bus on the way home, or on the way to school. It's usually better to do it on the way home, so you can still try to actually do the homework if you need to. Never copy homework in class before class starts. Never talk about copying the answers in public, to your parents, or to other students. Keep it quiet.
• If you use this method, paraphrase. It does cause a little suspicion when two students have the exact same answer.

• To make the homework go faster, split up all the answers among the group. Have one person do the first five, another do the next five, and so on. You should be able to finish before the bus ride is over. Try to keep the group as small as possible.
• Don't make the group too big. If everyone names the first president of the United States as "George Washington Carver" on the homework, your teacher might be suspicious that something strange was happening. After you copy it, go back over it once by yourself to fix any obvious mistakes and make little changes to make it your own.

• Even just fixing the order of words in short answers can throw a teacher off the scent, if the answer is correct. Change "John Glenn was the first American in space" to "The first American in space was John Glenn."
• To stay extra covert, try to copy off of someone that your teacher doesn't think you're friends with. The teacher may be more likely to look more closely at the homework for signs of cheating if you're neighbors with someone, or if you're sitting next to someone.

• If you find your answers off the internet, make sure to paraphrase it so your teachers don't find out. Teachers are smart these days, so if you copy it directly, they could definitely find out.

• Online tutoring even exists in some places. Some college students will sometimes answer homework questions or offer assistance online, sometimes for a price. [2] X Research source If you can send copies of the questions, you might at least get some help figuring out the answer for yourself.

Reading Fast

• Skip everything but the vocab words in a textbook. The skipping-around method tends to work better with textbooks, in which the actual explanations aren't that important, but the names and the vocab words are. You can read the textbook very fast this way, and not miss much information.
• Alternatively, depending on the kind of class, it might be better to read the first and last chapter of a novel, or focus all your attention on a single small part of the book and bring it up in class, to look as if you've read the whole thing and are prepared for discussion.

• It's also easy to find a long plot synopsis online, so you can at least get a good list of the characters and the style of the novel.

• Ask your friends to summarize their 50 assigned pages (or however many it works out to be) and take good notes on the section, then copy out the notes for everyone in the group. After that, each person's work will be done. It's like reading a whole book by only reading 1/3 or a 1/2.

• It's still a good idea to do some research and figure out whether or not the movie is accurate. Lots of movies take serious liberties with the plot lines of books, and you'll likely miss the names of characters and other minor plot points that might get cut out of the movie but be important for the book.
• Good movies based on books commonly assigned for school include: Grapes of Wrath , Romeo & Juliet , Lord of the Flies,' Pride & Prejudice , Wuthering Heights , Of Mice and Men , and To Kill a Mockingbird .
• Bad movies to watch instead of reading the book include The Iliad ('don't watch 'Troy , starring Brad Pitt), Fahrenheit 451 , Catcher in the Rye , Beowulf , Romeo & Juliet , and The Great Gatsby . These are good ways to prove you haven't read the book.

• It's also a good idea to look for possible talking-points online before you even do the reading, so you can know what to look for and have a good idea of something to say in class. Participation points with no actual work.

Cheating on Essays

• Many older teachers will assign the same papers year after year, and won't keep copies of them, making it very difficult for them to remember one students paper after a year or two. Never do this if your teacher collects essays online, or saves digital copies. This makes it very easy to do a quick file search and find copied passages.
• Buying essays online is basically a scam for chumps, so don't get schemed out of your hard-earned lunch money by some enterprising con artist. If you don't know the person you're getting the essay from, write it yourself. In general, paying to cheat is a bad idea, friend, sibling, or otherwise.

• Make sure the response to the topic is still up-to-date and not incriminating. If you see opportunities to expand and make more current references, do it to bring everything together.
• Never copy-paste from online and turn it in without revising. If you do, go over the font and the size to make sure everything is uniform.
• Copying passages or whole chunks of text from online is always easy to find quickly. If you try this, you risk lots of trouble.

• Read the assignment sheet closely as you go over the copied essay, making sure that it does everything that it needs to for you to get a good grade. If it doesn't, you need to add that in. Hey, at least you didn't have to start from scratch.

Did You Know? In countries such as Bangladesh and Singapore, this is criminalized and carries severe penalties.

Expert Q&A

• Copy down friend's work the day its assigned because most people do it in class. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If your homework questions are straight from a textbook, the internet will most likely have answers for them. If you are lucky, you can find a PDF of the teacher’s textbook, which has all the answers. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• If your homework questions come straight from a textbook, you can often find the answers online or in a PDF version of the teacher's book. But just copying the textbook's answers word-for-word is dishonest. Use any answers you find as a guide, but explain things in your own words.
• If an assignment's got you stumped, get help ASAP instead of waiting until the last minute. Talk to your teacher, go to tutoring, or study with friends who get the material. Being proactive will leave you truly prepared, not desperately seeking shortcuts.
• With group projects, make sure everyone pulls their weight. Don't let some kids copy your work while they slack off. Set ground rules for dividing up the work and keeping each other accountable.
• If you get busted copying someone's work, don't make excuses or blame others. Own up to your mistake, take the consequences, and learn from it. Your character matters more than one assignment.
• Prioritize homework by due dates and percentage of each one's worth. It is better to fully complete a big project than rush through busy work just to check it off. Use your time wisely.
• Break up long readings into 30-45 minute chunks. Take short breaks between sessions to stay focused and absorb more than just cramming it all in one mega study blast.

• Be discreet. Don't suddenly start getting top marks, ensure you make a slow and steady transition or everyone will know you are cheating. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
• Some teachers understand that there isn't much they can do to prevent students from copying solutions either from friends or off the internet. Instead, well-written exams will enforce the no copying solutions policy better than the teacher can. Homework will be worth only a small portion of the grade while exams will be the main grade determiner. If you have been copying homework solutions, you may be in trouble when it comes to the exams. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 1
• Just because you aren't caught directly cheating doesn't mean that people don't know that you're cheating. News about who cheats gets around the school fast. Don't be surprised if people seem to not want to trust you anymore. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 2

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/harvard-freshmen-who-admitted-cheating-on-homework-did-nothing-wrong/2013/09/17/3aedb5d0-18a4-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html
• ↑ http://www.tutor-homework.com/homework-cheat.html

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Develop the tech skills you need for work and life

7 Apps That Can Do Your Homework Much Faster Than You

In the field of educational technology, some apps might be getting too smart.

More and more apps are delivering on-demand homework help to students, who can easily re-purpose the learning tools to obtain not just assistance, but also answers. Whether or not that’s cheating—and how to stop it—is one of the concerns surrounding a new app that can solve math equations with the snap of a camera . While the software has inspired teachers to create real-world homework problems that can’t be automatically solved , that strategy doesn’t hold up to other apps that tap into real-life brains for solutions.

Here’s a look at 7 apps that can do your homework for you, and what they have to say about cheating:

Price : Free Availability : iOS, Android app coming in early 2015

The new, seemingly magic app allows users to take pictures of typed equations, and then outputs a step-by-step solution. As of Wednesday, the app is the number one free app on the App Store. But the biggest issue, one teacher argues , isn’t if students will use the app to cheat, because many will. Rather, it’s about how teachers will adapt. A PhotoMath spokeswoman said educators have welcomed the app with positive reviews, but the software remains “quite controversial.”

“We didn’t develop PhotoMath as a cheating tool. We really wanted kids to learn,” said Tijana Zganec, a sales and marketing associate at tech company MicroBlink, which created PhotoMath. “If you want to cheat, you will find a way to cheat. But if you want to learn, you can use PhotoMath for that.”

Whether you’re a high schooler with eight periods of classes or a college student tackling dozens of credits, there’s one thing you’ve got for sure: a mess of assignments. iHomework can help you keep track of all your work, slicing and dicing it in a variety of ways. Sorting it by due date, week, month, or by course, the app is more organized than a Trapper Keeper. And in integrating data from Questia, you can link your reading material to your assignments so you don’t have to dig through a pile of papers to find the right information.

A scheduling feature can help you keep track of those random bi-weekly Thursday labs, and you can even mark the location of your courses on a map so you don’t end up on the wrong side of campus. And finally, with iCloud syncing, you can access all this information on whatever Apple-compatible device you’re using at the moment — no need to dig for your iPad.

Google Apps for Education

Taking the search giant’s suite of free browser-based apps and sandboxing them so they are safe for school use, Google Apps for Education is an excellent alternative to the mainstream installable productivity software, but this one has a perk that almost school board will love—it’s free. Packaging together favorites like Gmail, Hangouts, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Drive with Classroom, a digital hub for organizing assignments and sending feedback, the goal of this collection is to make learning a more collaborative process.

Though Google Apps for Education is cloud-hosted, the programs can be used offline, ideal for when your student needs to escape the internet and work distraction-free. And since it works on any device, it also helps students avoid buying overly expensive hardware. That means more money for extracurricular activities.

Price: Free, but some homework services require payment Availability: iOS and Android

HwPic is a tutoring service that allows students to take send pictures of their homework to tutors, who will then respond within minutes to your questions with a step-by-step solution. There’s even an option to expedite the answers if a student is in a hurry. HwPic Co-Founder Tiklat Issa said that the app was initially rejected by Apple’s App Store, which believed it would promote cheating, but he successfully argued that just because someone uses the app in a way that it’s not meant to be used doesn’t mean the app should be punished.

Issa added that HwPic prohibits cheating in its terms and conditions. Tutors don’t solve homework that has words like “Quiz” or “Exam,” and they often know if a student is sending a photo during a test if they’ve paid for expedited answers, and if the photo is dim, blurry and taken under a desk. “We’ve minimized cheating,” said Issa. “We haven’t eliminated it. That’s kind of unrealistic.”

Wolfram Alpha

Price : $2.99 Availability : iOS and Android

Wolfram Alpha is similar to PhotoMath, only that it targets older students studying high levels of math and doesn’t support photos. The service also outputs step-by-step solutions to topics as advanced as vector calculus and differential equations, making it a popular tool for college students.

“It’s cheating not doing computer-based math, because we’re cheating students out of real conceptual understanding and an ability to drive much further forward in the math they can do, to cover much more conceptual ground. And in turn, that’s cheating our economies,” said Conrad Wolfram, Wolfram Research’s Director of Strategic Development, in a TEDx Talk . “People talk about the knowledge economy. I think we’re moving forward to what we’re calling the computational knowledge economy.”

Homework Helper

Price: Free Availability: iOS and Android

Chinese Internet search company Baidu launched an app called Homework Helper this year with which students can crowdsource help or answers to homework. Users post a picture or type their homework questions onto online forums, and those who answer the questions can win e-coins that can be used to buy electronics like iPhones and laptops.

The app has logged 5 million downloads, much to the dismay of many some parents who argue that the students spend less time thinking about challenging problems. A Homework Helper staffer admitted to Quartz , “I think this is a kind of cheating.”

Price: Free, but some homework services require payment Availability: iOS

Slader is a crowdsourcing app for high school and college students to post and answer questions in math and science. While students can post original homework for help, many questions in popular textbooks have already been answered on the app, according to Fast Company . An Illinois high school said earlier this year that it suspected students were using the service to cheat on their math homework.

Slader argues that it’s “challenging traditional ideas about math and education,” and said that the ideas behind its app “aren’t a write-off to teachers,” according to its blog . Slader told San Francisco media outlet KQED that it shouldn’t be dismissed as a cheating tool, but rather considered a way for students to access real-time help.

More Must-Reads from TIME

• The Rise of a New Kind of Parenting Guru
• The 50 Best Romance Novels to Read Right Now
• Mark Kelly and the History of Astronauts Making the Jump to Politics
• The Young Women Challenging Iran’s Regime
• How to Be More Spontaneous As a Busy Adult
• Can Food Really Change Your Hormones?
• Column: Why Watching Simone Biles Makes Me Cry
• Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox

Contact us at [email protected]

Homework Q&A

Drag image here or click to upload

• Anatomy & Physiology
• Astrophysics
• Earth Science
• Environmental Science
• Organic Chemistry
• Precalculus
• Trigonometry
• English Grammar
• U.S. History
• World History

HIX Tutor AI Homework Helper

Solve hard problems and prepare for exams with a trustworthy homework AI!

AI Homework Helper

That's Got Everything Covered

Say goodbye to your homework and exam stress! Make studying a joy with HIX Tutor, a smart AI homework helper. Get detailed, step-by-step solutions to any hard homework and exam problems.

Accuracy-Guaranteed Homework AI

HIX Tutor uses the power of the latest GPT models but goes beyond just that. With our tailored enhancements, it provides quick, precise, and comprehensive homework assistance for all subjects.

Accuracy rate

Average grade increase

How Our AI Homework Helper Works?

HIX Tutor is designed to help you master your study with ease.

Ask Your Question

Upload the document or image of your homework problem, or type your question.

We Run the Analysis

Our advanced homework AI will analyze the questions and prepare the solutions.

Get The Detailed Answer

Get the detailed, step-by-step AI answer, ready to be used on your homework.

AI Homework Helper That Covers All Subjects

HIX Tutor is a trusted AI question answerer for your homework in any subject.

From basic arithmetic to advanced calculus, get understandable steps for complex math problems.

Demystify topics ranging from basic mechanics to advanced electromagnetism with detailed solutions

Dive into the depths of prose, poetry, and plays. Analyze themes, decipher metaphors, and understand historical contexts

Guide yourself through chemical equation balancing, reaction mechanisms, and periodic trends. Solve chemistry problems faster than ever.

Clarify doubts, and get insights on complex processes and terminologies. Get accurate answers to hard biology questions.

Foreign Languages

Master vocabulary, grammar, and conversation practice. Achieve fluency more easily in any language.

Distinctive Homework Solver

See why HIX Tutor outperforms other AI homework helpers out there:

Well-Explained Answers

HIX Tutor doesn't just give you the answer only, but also offers a comprehensive explanation and a step-by-step guide to enhance your understanding.

Various Inputs Supported

You can simply type your question, or upload the document or image containing your question to ask HIX Tutor for help.

Instant Study Help

HIX Tutor is ready to solve any question you have 24/7. Feed it the problem, and you'll get accurate answers in a flash.

Why Rely On HIX Tutor to Get AI Answers for Your Homework

How does HIX Tutor provide help with homework?

HIX Tutor offers step-by-step solutions and detailed explanations to help you understand and solve homework questions. It can assist with your study in various subjects including math, physics, chemistry, biology, and more.

Is HIX Tutor a homework AI for both high school and college students?

Yes, HIX Tutor is designed to cater to the academic needs of both high school and college students, adjusting the complexity of explanations and solutions to match the level of the student.

As an AI question answerer, can HIX Tutor help me prepare for exams?

Absolutely. HIX Tutor can provide AI answers to practice questions and explain complex concepts to help you prepare effectively for your exams.

How accurate is HIX Tutor as a homework AI helper?

HIX Tutor is built with advanced algorithms and is regularly updated to ensure about 98% accuracy in solving problems and providing explanations. However, as with any tool, it's recommended to cross-check solutions when possible.

Will using HIX Tutor be considered cheating?

HIX Tutor is intended as a study aid to enhance learning and understanding. It's important to use it responsibly and abide by your school or institution's academic integrity policies.

Can HIX Tutor help with understanding textbook material?

Yes, HIX Tutor can help explain concepts presented in textbooks, clarify difficult ideas, and solve practice problems to enhance your comprehension of the material.

Does HIX Tutor offer personalized learning experiences?

Yes, HIX Tutor adapts to your own learning requirements, offering personalized feedback and solutions based on your specific needs and progress.

Discover Accurate Answers to Frequently Asked Homework Questions

• How is blood in the feet returned to the heart against the force of gravity?
• Are muscles and glands part of the central nervous system, receptors, part of the peripheral nervous system, or effectors?
• What is the longest cranial nerve?
• What is the pH of carbon dioxide? What is the pH of carbon dioxide?
• What is the medical term for the eardrum?
• How do sweat glands protect the human body?
• What is an infarct of right and left parietal lobes of brain?
• What changes occur in a human body after death?
• Bones are part of which system?
• What is the purpose of the microvilli of the small intestine?
• What is the distance from earth to the planet pluto in meters?
• Do any other planet in our solar system have Iron metal, not necessarily in the core?
• What is the brightest planet seen from earth?
• How does red shift relate to the universe?
• Why do astronomers try to find the distance to stars using parallax?
• Is our solar system really a binary star system?
• Does the solar system change over time?
• How far is the sun from earth in light years?
• What causes day and night and different seasons?
• What is the parallax formula?
• How can meteorites be interplanetary arks?
• How does luminosity differ from the brightness of the same object as seen at the earth?
• How can solar flares affect communications on earth?
• Light from the sun travels through space to Earth's atmosphere. What will light waves do when they move from empty space into matter made up of different gases?
• How can parallax be used to determine distances?
• When can the zodiacal light be seen during the night?
• In which layer of the atmosphere are the ionized particles that cause the aurora borealis?
• What makes the speed of light exactly 299,792,458 metres per second?
• What is the temperature of betelgeuse?
• What is a magnetic field? How were they formed?
• What term defines a gene made up of two different alleles?
• How do stomata help conserve water?
• What is in atp that ADP also has?
• Why do materials diffuse across a membrane?
• How are angiosperms and gymnosperms related?
• How are the long DNA molecules found in eukaryotes packed into short chromosomes?
• Why is a species hard to define?
• What is the importance of matter cycles to an ecosystem?
• Are protists autotroph or heterotroph?
• What is the taxonomic classification of a horse?
• How many electrons are in an isotope of nitrogen with 8 neutrons?
• A given volume of a buffer solution contains #6.85 x 10^-3# mol of the weak acid HY and #2.98 x 10^-3# mol of the salt NaY. The pH of the buffer solution is 3.78. How do you calculate the value of #pKa# for the acid HY at this temperature?
• A sample of hydrogen gas is mixed with water vapor. The mixture has a total pressure of 745torr, and the water vapor has a partial pressure of 24 torr. What is the partial pressure of the hydrogen gas?
• For the reaction, #"2XO + O"_2 → "2XO"_2#, data obtained from measurement of the initial rate of reaction at varying concentrations are?
• How much calcium metal must be added to an excess of water to produce 3.7g of calcium hydroxide?
• What are the mole fractions of each component prepared by adding #5*g# of water to #95*g# of ethanol?
• What is the value of the equilibrium constant at 655 K for each of the following reactions?
• Calculate no. Of photons emitted by a 60 watt light bulb in 10 h if a bulb emitted least 6.62 A°?
• What is the atomic number of carbon?
• Why did Mendeleev have problems arranging the elements #Te# and #I#?
• Why do sedimentary rocks have layers?
• Does every rock go through the complete rock cycle, from igneous rock to sedimentary rock to metamorphic rock and back to igneous rock, each time around?
• What is the difference between lava and magma?
• What are the three factors that contribute the most to the formation of coastal currents?
• What are two recreational activities that can speed up weathering by exposing new rock surfaces?
• What is convection and how is it related to the mantle?
• How does the sun affect the solar system?
• What traps solar energy in the atmosphere?
• What is residence time and what are the average residence time for some of the major water reservoirs on earth?
• How do soils differ from sediments?
• What does the mining reclamation process look like?
• When did the world population reach 1 billion?
• Where is an elephant on the food pyramid?
• Is natural selection a law or theory?
• How does the rock cycle affect the atmosphere of the earth?
• What does the future of nuclear energy around the world look like?
• Do living organisms defy the second law of thermodynamics?
• What are some positive and negative impacts of agriculture?
• What are four examples of air pollutants?
• How can nuclear energy be improved?
• How is #NH_3 # acting in the reaction #H^++:NH_3 ->[H:NH_3]^+#according to the Lewis definition?
• What is ethyl alcohol used for?
• How can benzene be separated from thiophene chemically?
• Are aromatic amines less basic?
• What does "cis" isomer mean in cyclohexane ring?
• How do you draw geometric isomers?
• What amino acid has an aromatic ring in its side chain?
• How are SN1 and SN2 reactions different?
• How can I read a #C^13 NMR# spectrum?
• Why are there different Newman projections for one molecule in organic chemistry?
• If a worker pulls a 10kg bucket up a 25 m well, how much work has he or she done?
• If a projectile is shot at a velocity of #2 m/s# and an angle of #pi/6#, how far will the projectile travel before landing?
• The force applied against a moving object travelling on a linear path is given by #F(x)= sinx + 2 #. How much work would it take to move the object over #x in [ 0, (7 pi) / 8 ] #?
• A charge of #18 C# passes through a circuit every #4 s#. If the circuit can generate #24 W# of power, what is the circuit's resistance?
• A projectile is shot at an angle of #pi/8 # and a velocity of # 8 m/s#. How far away will the projectile land?
• What is the kinetic energy of a #8 kg# object moving at #5/4 m/s#?
• A ball with a mass of #350 g# is projected vertically by a spring loaded contraption. The spring in the contraption has a spring constant of #9 (kg)/s^2# and was compressed by #7/4 m# when the ball was released. How high will the ball go?
• An electric toy car with a mass of #5 kg# is powered by a motor with a voltage of #12 V# and a current supply of #1 A#. How long will it take for the toy car to accelerate from rest to #3 m/s#?
• A projectile is shot from the ground at an angle of #pi/12 # and a speed of #8 /3 m/s#. Factoring in both horizontal and vertical movement, what will the projectile's distance from the starting point be when it reaches its maximum height?
• A model train with a mass of #4 kg# is moving along a track at #9 (cm)/s#. If the curvature of the track changes from a radius of #36 cm# to #24 cm#, by how much must the centripetal force applied by the tracks change?
• How do you simplify #\frac { 18x ^ { 4} y ^ { 3} } { 24x ^ { 2} y ^ { 3} }#?
• How do you factor # 2x^2 - 13x#?
• How do find the vertex and axis of symmetry, and intercepts for a quadratic equation #y=x^2-7x-28#?
• How do you find the c that makes the trinomial #x^2+22x+c# a perfect square?
• What is the vertex of # y= 4(x+2)^2-2x^2-4x+3#?
• How do you write the quadratic in vertex form given #y=x^2-5#?
• How do you factor completely #2x^3+10x^2+14x+70#?
• How do you solve using the completing the square method #x^2 + 2x = 7#?
• What is the axis of symmetry and vertex for the graph #y= -7x^2#?
• How do you write #y = x^2 - 9x - 10# into vertex form?
• What is the derivative of #f(x)=(x^2-4)ln(x^3/3-4x)#?
• How do you differentiate #cos(pi*x^2)#?
• What is the derivative of #y=sin(tan2x)#?
• What is the derivative of this function #arcsec(x^3)#?
• What is the derivative of this function #y=sin^-1(2x)#?
• What is the derivative of this function #sin^-1(x/4)#?
• How do you differentiate #(3+sin(x))/(3x+cos(x))#?
• How do you differentiate #f(x)= 1/ (lnx)# using the quotient rule?
• How do you find the derivative of #y=tan(3x)# ?
• How do you differentiate #g(y) =(60x^2+74)( 2x+2) # using the product rule?
• How can we find the area of irregular shapes?
• A triangle has corners at #(5 ,1 )#, #(2 ,9 )#, and #(4 ,3 )#. What is the area of the triangle's circumscribed circle?
• What is the trinomial that represents the area of a rectangular rug whose sides are (x+3) feet and (2x-1) feet?
• A triangle has corners at #(5 ,6 )#, #(4 ,3 )#, and #(2 ,2 )#. What is the area of the triangle's circumscribed circle?
• What is the area of the quadrilateral bounded by #y=5#; #x=1#; #y=1#; and #y=-2x+9#?
• How is the formula for the area of a parallelogram ABCD derived?
• Circle A has a center at #(2 ,5 )# and a radius of #2 #. Circle B has a center at #(4 ,-1 )# and a radius of #6 #. Do the circles overlap? If not, what is the smallest distance between them?
• An equilateral triangle is circumscribed inside a circle with a radius of 6. What is the area of the triangle?
• Two corners of an isosceles triangle are at #(5 ,8 )# and #(9 ,2 )#. If the triangle's area is #36 #, what are the lengths of the triangle's sides?
• How do you find the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 7.5 in?
• Jeanie has a 3/4 yard piece of ribbon. She needs one 3/8 yard piece and one 1/2 yard piece. Can she cut the piece of ribbon into the two smaller pieces? Why?
• How do you find the GCF of #25k, 35j#?
• How do you write 132/100 in a mixed number?
• How do you evaluate the power #2^3#?
• How do you simplify #(4^6)^2 #?
• How do you convert 3.2 tons to pounds?
• How do you solve #\frac { 5} { 8} + \frac { 3} { 2} ( 4- \frac { 1} { 4} ) - \frac { 1} { 8}#?
• Tiffany pays $40 for 160 minutes of talk time on her cell phone. How many minutes of talk time does she get per dollar?
• Jay made 8 of 10 free throws. Kim made 25 of 45. Who made free throws at the better rate?
• How do you convert the word phrase to symbols. "The product of twenty and eight, increased by ten?"
• How do you describe the end behavior for #f(x)=x^4-x^2-2#?
• How do you find vertical, horizontal and oblique asymptotes for #y = (4x^3 + x^2 + x + 5 )/( x^2 + 3x)#?
• How do you find all the asymptotes for function #y=(3x^2+2x-1)/(x^2-4 )#?
• How do you find the asymptotes for #f(x) = (x^2) / (x^2 + 1)#?
• How do you find #f(x)# and #g(x)# when #h(x)= (x+1)^2 -9(x+1)# and #h(x)= (fog)(x)#?
• How do you determine whether the graph of #y^2+3x=0# is symmetric with respect to the x axis, y axis or neither?
• How do you determine whether the graph of #y^2=(4x^2)/9-4# is symmetric with respect to the x axis, y axis, the line y=x or y=-x, or none of these?
• How do you find the inverse of #y=x^(2)-6x+4# and is it a function?
• How do you write a rule for the nth term of the arithmetic sequence and then find #a_10# for #d=5, a_5=33#?
• How do you solve #2^(x-1)=23#?
• A set of data contains 200 elements. How do you find the median of the data?
• What is the variance of a binomial distribution for which n = 75 and p = 0.20?
• Given 9 starting batters on a baseball team, how many batting orders are possible if the shortstop must bat first and the right fielder must bat fourth?
• What is the value of a? P(X≥a)=0.5
• Can someone help me answer this question?
• If you roll a die three times, how many different sequences are possible?
• What does an R-Squared value indicate about a linear regression?
• On a spinner, #P(3) = 2/5# and the #P(4) = 3/8#, what is the probability of getting 3 or 4?
• What is the z-score of sample X, if #n = 81, mu= 43, St. Dev. =90, and E[X] =57#?
• Suppose that the temperature is normally distributed with expectation 50℃ and variance 4℃.What is the probability that the temperature T will be between 48℃ and 53℃?What is the probability that T≥52℃?
• How can you verify #sinx/(sinx+cosx)=(cotx-1)/(cotx+1)# by only manipulating the left side?
• How do you identify the point (x,y) on the unit circle that corresponds to t=-11pi/4?
• How do you use the half angle formulas to simplify the expression #-sqrt((1-cos8x)/(1+cos8x))#?
• How do you solve this trigonometric equation?
• How do you write #2 +4i# in trigonometric form?
• A triangle has sides A, B, and C. Sides A and B have lengths of 4 and 3, respectively. The angle between A and C is #(pi)/3# and the angle between B and C is # (pi)/4#. What is the area of the triangle?
• If #A = <5 ,2 ,8 >#, #B = <2 ,5 ,6 ># and #C=A-B#, what is the angle between A and C?
• How do you solve (2sinx+1)(sinx-1)=0?
• How do you prove # (cosA - cotA) / ( 1 - sinA) = - cotA#?
• How do you sketch y=2sinx when x is between 0 and 360?
• What is an intransitive complete verb?
• Is "Let's don't." grammatically correct?
• What is the difference between a metaphor and a symbol?
• What is the future tense of "lay"? I am using it in a line of a poem.
• Is "fur coat" a compound noun? For example, "First, its husky build and heavy fur coat allowed the Samoyed to sand changes in temperature."
• What are some examples of antithesis?
• What does this aphorism mean: "the doors of wisdom are never shut."? It is by Benjamin Franklin. What message was Franklin trying to send to the 18th century Americans when he wrote it?
• How can you rewrite the following sentence from the first-person perspective of someone in the sentence?: They bought a coat and gave it to the homeless man on the corner.
• I want to write a counterargument in an argumentative essay, but I have a hard time "un"-proving the point I bring up from the other side of the argument. Should I pick a new point?
• What is the collective noun for whales?
• Why did Lincoln need the support of the border states?
• What proposal was included in Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's financial plans in the 1790s?
• When did the first American combat troops arrive in Vietnam?
• Which Great Awakening preacher warned people that God would punish them if they did not change their ways?
• What are the advantages to Marshall's "broad" interpretation of the Constitution? What are its disadvantages?
• What act of U.S. expansion was the direct result of Matthew Perry's naval journey to Japan?
• How does the baby boom illustrates a break from Depression Era American life?
• Do you agree with Susan B. Anthony that women should receive equal pay for equal work?
• Under President Ronald Reagan, the United States had the largest peacetime military buildup in history. How was this a challenge to the Soviet Union?
• What was the first act that the Parliament passed in an attempt to raise revenue by taxing the American colonists?
• What other nations joined Germany in forming the Axis Powers?
• Which group has dominated Russia's politics throughout most of its history?
• What kind of relationship did the Soviet Union have with the United States in 1945?
• What does this logo stand for?
• How and why did Africans come to Latin America?
• How did the the Zionist movement lead to the creation of the State of Israel?
• How would you describe USA and Italy's intentions behind the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
• Bolivia is one of two landlocked countries in South America. What is the other country?
• What inventions sped up communication beginning in the late 19th century?
• How were early factories powered and who created the first factory?

Get Started with Our Smart Homework AI Now!

Don't let homework challenges slow you down. Unleash your academic potential with HIX Tutor!

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• The Big Story
• Newsletters
• Steven Levy's Plaintext Column
• WIRED Classics from the Archive
• WIRED Insider
• WIRED Consulting

AI Is Making It Extremely Easy for Students to Cheat

Denise Garcia knows that her students sometimes cheat, but the situation she unearthed in February seemed different. A math teacher in West Hartford, Connecticut, Garcia had accidentally included an advanced equation in a problem set for her AP Calculus class. Yet somehow a handful of students in the 15-person class solved it correctly. Those students had also shown their work, defeating the traditional litmus test for sussing out cheating in STEM classrooms.

Garcia was perplexed, until she remembered a conversation from a few years earlier. Some former students had told her about an online tool called Wolfram|Alpha that could complete complicated calculations in seconds. It provided both the answers and the steps for reaching them, making it virtually undetectable when copied as homework.

For years, students have turned to CliffsNotes for speedy reads of books, SparkNotes to whip up talking points for class discussions, and Wikipedia to pad their papers with historical tidbits. But today’s students have smarter tools at their disposal—namely, Wolfram|Alpha, a program that uses artificial intelligence to perfectly and untraceably solve equations. Wolfram|Alpha uses natural language processing technology, part of the AI family, to provide students with an academic shortcut that is faster than a tutor, more reliable than copying off of friends, and much easier than figuring out a solution yourself.

Since its release, Wolfram|Alpha has trickled through the education system, finding its way into the homework of college and high school students. Use of Wolfram|Alpha is difficult to trace, and in the hands of ambitious students, its perfect solutions are having unexpected consequences. It works by breaking down the pieces of a question, whether a mathematical problem or something like "What is the center of the United States?", and then cross-referencing those pieces against an enormous library of datasets that is constantly being expanded. These datasets include information on geodesic schemes, chemical compounds, human genes, historical weather measurements, and thousands of other topics that, when brought together, can be used to provide answers.

The system is constrained by the limits of its data library: It can’t interpret every question. It also can’t respond in natural language, or what a human would recognize as conversational speech. This is a stumbling block in AI in general. Even Siri, which relies heavily on Mathematica—another Wolfram Research product and the engine behind Wolfram|Alpha—can only answer questions in programmed response scripts, which are like a series of Mad Libs into which it plugs answers before spitting them out of your speaker or onto your screen.

Using Wolfram|Alpha is similar to executing a Google search, but Wolfram|Alpha delivers specific answers rather than endless pages of potentially relevant results. Anyone can go to the Wolfram|Alpha website, type a question or equation into a dialogue box, hit enter, and receive an answer. If you’re trying to solve x2 + 5x + 6 = 0, Wolfram|Alpha will give you the root plot, alternate forms, and solutions. If you are looking for a step-by-step explanation, there is a pro version available for $6.99/month with discounted options for students and educators.

I first heard about Wolfram|Alpha in my parents' kitchen. My father had come home from his job at a private school in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He dropped his bag on the floor, and asked me what I thought about Wolfram|Alpha. Earlier that day he had been confronted by STEM teachers who were frustrated with their students' use of the tool. It was, they said, blatant cheating. My father had left the office unsure of how to proceed. Should the school crack down on Wolfram|Alpha? Or did the school need to catch up to this new beat in education?

I’d never heard of it, but a quick post to Facebook revealed that many of my friends had—especially those studying math. Some had used it to get through college calculus, while a few were still using it at their jobs as engineers or quantitative analysts. The rise of Wolfram|Alpha had completely passed over my humanities-minded head, just as, for millions of minds, it had become ubiquitous. Turning to the tech for answers was, they said, normal. At the same time, all made it clear that they didn’t want their use of Wolfram|Alpha to be made public.

Though Wolfram|Alpha was designed to be an educational asset — a way to explore an equation from within— academia has found itself at a loss over how to respond. What some call cheating, others have heralded as a massive step forward in how we learn, what we teach, and what education is even good for. They say that Wolfram|Alpha is the future. Unsurprisingly, its creator agrees.

Stephen Wolfram, the mind behind Wolfram|Alpha, can’t do long division and didn’t learn his times tables until he’d hit 40. Indeed, the inspiration for Wolfram|Alpha, which he released in 2009, started with Wolfram’s own struggles as a math student. Growing up, Wolfram’s obsession was physics. By 12, he’d written a dictionary on physics, by his early teens he’d churned out three (as yet unpublished) books, and by 15 he was publishing scientific papers.

Despite his wunderkind science abilities, math was a constant stumbling block. He could come up with concepts, but executing calculations was hard. His solution was to get his hands on a computer. By programming it to solve equations and find patterns in data, he could leave the math to the machine and focus his brain on the science. It worked. In 1981, Wolfram became the youngest person to ever receive a MacArthur Fellowship. He was only 21.

Yet the tool that helped Wolfram build his reputation with physics ended up pulling him away from science. Wolfram became obsessed with complex systems and how computers could be used to study them. Five years after receiving his MacArthur Fellowship, Wolfram began developing Mathematica, and in 1988 Wolfram Research announced the release of its flagship product.

Wolfram never planned for his tool to become highbrow CliffsNotes, but he’s not too concerned about it, either. “Mechanical math,” Wolfram argues, “is a very low level of precise thinking.” Instead, Wolfram believes that we should be emphasizing computational thinking —something he describes as “trying to formulate your thoughts so that you can explain them to a sufficiently smart computer.” This has also been called computer-based math. Essentially, knowing algebra in today’s technology-saturated world won’t get you very far, but knowing how to ask a computer to do your algebra will. If students are making this shift, in his mind, they’re just ahead of the curve.

Alan Joyce, the director of content development for Wolfram Alpha, says that cheating is “absolutely the wrong way to look at what we do.” But the staff understands what might make teachers uncomfortable. Historically, education had to emphasize hand calculations, says John Dixon, a program manager at Wolfram Research. That’s because there wasn’t tech to fall back on and, when tech did start to appear, it wasn’t reliable. Only recently can computers calculate things automatically and precisely, and it’ll take some time for curriculums, and the teachers that are beholden to them, to catch up. Wolfram Research, Dixon says, wants to engage with teachers like Garcia, who are frustrated by the tool, to help them understand how it can help their students.

Indeed, the people who are directing the tool’s development view it as an educational equalizer that can give students who don’t have at-home homework helpers—like tutors or highly educated and accessible parents—access to what amounts to a personal tutor. It also has enormous potential within the classroom. A "show steps" button, which reveals the path to an answer, allows teachers to break down the components of a problem, rather than getting bogged down in mechanics. The "problem generator" can pull from real datasets to create relevant examples. “When you start to show educators the potential,” Dixon says, “you can see points where their eyes light up.”

For every teacher who’s converted to Dixon’s camp, there are multitudes of students who have been there for a while. As Alexander Feiner, an aspiring engineer and high school freshman told me, Wolfram|Alpha is a study aid, not a way of avoiding work — something that Dixon insists is the norm when it comes to out-of-classroom student use.

Still, the prevailing notion that Wolfram|Alpha is a form of cheating doesn’t appear to be dissipating. Much of this comes down to what homework is. If the purpose of homework is build greater understanding of concepts as presented in class, Joyce is adamant that teachers should view Wolfram|Alpha as an asset. It’s not that Wolfram Alpha has helped students “‘get through’ a math class by doing their homework for them,” he says, “but that we helped them actually understand what they were doing” in the first place. Dixon believes that Wolfram|Alpha can build confidence in students who don’t see themselves as having mathematical minds. Homework isn’t really about learning to do a calculation, but rather about learning to find and understand an answer regardless of how the calculation is executed.

That’s the route down which education appears to be headed. Once upon a time, education was all about packing as much information as possible into a human brain. Information was limited and expensive, and the smartest people were effectively the deepest and most organized filing cabinets. Today, it’s the opposite.“The notion of education as a transfer of information from experts to novices—and asking the novices to repeat that information, regurgitate it on command as proof that they have learned it—is completely disconnected from the reality of 2017,” says David Helfand, a Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University.

The technology isn’t going anywhere: Like copying out of the back of a book or splitting a problem set among friends, students aren’t likely to stop using Wolfram|Alpha just because a teacher says so. Even Garcia can see a future where Wolfram|Alpha fits in. “I think, in an ideal world, teachers, myself included, need to do a better job of incorporating technology…and finding ways of using it in productive ways,” she says.

Just as robotics has transformed manufacturing, tools like Wolfram|Alpha are forcing us to rethink an educational system by challenging it to rise to the new technological standard. Either we reshape our schools to embrace tools like Wolfram|Alpha, or we risk becoming living artifacts in a rapidly progressing world.

Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.

9 Best Homework Help Websites

July 22, 2023

When I was in high school, resources for extra homework help weren’t exactly abundant. If you were struggling with a Shakespeare sonnet, you could always run to the bookstore and pick up a CliffNotes guide. SparkNotes was also gaining in popularity. But these early homework help resources had limited catalogs and were focused primarily on literature. Today, I imagine students suffer from the opposite problem—having too many choices when it comes to homework help websites. When the options are seemingly endless, knowing what to look out for takes on an added importance. Below, I’ll go through a list of 9 stand-out homework help websites and briefly discuss what makes them worth a visit.

Homework Help Websites – The Basics

The best homework help websites do more than just spit out an answer to that tricky math problem. They actually help students learn the material. Common features of homework help websites are educational videos and lectures, practice tests and quizzes, study tools like flashcards, and Q&As with experts. Many sites offer features that allow students to ask specific questions and get real-time feedback. There are also a number of services that offer one-on-one tutoring. Some homework help sites are free, while others require a paid subscription.

1) Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an amazing resource for students of all ages. It’s free, and it really is an academy—it offers full courses in a wide array of subjects, from pre-K math to high school physics. The courses consist of readings, video lectures, practice exercises, and quizzes. The breadth of material is impressive. In math alone, I see course listings for Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Statistics, Multivariable calculus—you get the idea. Khan Academy also offers a wide variety of AP courses, state-specific curricula, test-prep programs, and life skill courses, like personal finance.

It’s important to note that Khan Academy isn’t a one-on-one tutoring platform. But because of their extensive library of material, the search function is especially powerful. Try it out. I did a search for argumentative essay help, and found a comprehensive guide to writing argumentative essays that was a part of a larger writing course.

Chegg is a paid homework help service. Unlike Khan Academy, Chegg isn’t built around specific courses. Rather, it offers a variety of homework-support resources. Among those resources are plagiarism and grammar checkers, a proofreading service, and a “math solver”, which allows students to enter a problem and get back both a solution and a detailed step-by-step explanation of how the problem was solved. Perhaps the most powerful tool Chegg offers is its “Expert Q&A” feature. This service allows students to take a picture of their homework problem, upload it to the site, and get a detailed response in return. Chegg’s emphasis on process and explanation make it a valuable educational resource for students—not just a way to get a quick answer.

Best Homework Help Websites (Continued)

Quizlet is a well-known and worthwhile study resource. It offers a variety of courses, and it also has an expert-response feature. But Quizlet’s best feature, in my option, is the flashcards tool. Students can create their own digital decks of cards and practice them on Quizlet—just like an old fashion set of index cards. I had a ton of success using Quizlet’s flash card feature to help me memorize words for my foreign language requirement in college. It’s a simple but powerful tool. Although often maligned as a learning method, rote rehearsal and spaced repetition are effective ways to encode information . Quizlet’s flashcard feature is a great way to put those techniques into practice.

4) Socratic

is an AI-powered homework support app that allows students to type or take pictures of questions and receive solutions right away. Since it works with AI, it relies on the web’s vast stores of accumulated knowledge—you’re not interacting with a human tutor. Nonetheless, I found it to be an extremely helpful tool. I tried it out first using a specific math problem. In just a few seconds I was provided with the solution and an explainer with relevant formulas, plus a graphic to help visualize the underlying logic. There were also suggested links to additional resources. For example, when I asked Socratic to explain how the German genitive case works, it suggested a YouTube video and a number of articles from blogs and other language-learning sites.

Since Socratic doesn’t feature courses or one-on-one tutoring support, I wouldn’t lean on it if I were really struggling in a particular class. But as a tool to check your work, make sure you’re on the right track, and become aware of additional resources, it’s worth a download.

5) Photomath

Photomath is, as you might have guessed, a site for math homework help. Like other homework help websites, Photomath allows students to take a picture of a problem and receive an instant, step-by-step solution. Included along with the solution is an explanation of relevant concepts and formulas, plus videos covering mathematical concepts. Photomath does offer a few basic courses, too. So if in addition to homework-specific help you want to brush up on the basics, they’ve got you covered in arithmetic, algebra, and calculus crash courses.

6) Studypool

Studypool is a paid homework support service that provides solutions to specific questions. Studypool offers support in all the major subjects, with a particular emphasis on science. Students can ask questions on everything from anatomy to physics. Like other services, students upload their exact questions or problems directly to the site. But Studypool’s payment model is a bit different: instead of paying for tutoring time or a monthly subscription, students pay for solutions to each question they submit. When a student submits a question, tutors submit bids to answer them. The student then can select which tutor/price option works best. After students select the price and tutor they want, they’re connected with the tutor and given the solution and explanation via messenger.

The draw of Studypool is that it gives students access to real (i.e., human) tutors who are experts in their field. The downside is that pricing isn’t transparent, and students pay per question.

7) College Info Geek

College Info Geek is the study-support website that I wish I knew about when I was in high school and college (they didn’t pay me to write that, I swear). The site focuses not on specific courses or questions, but on how to become a more effective learner. Here it’s all about “learning how to learn”—study tips, memorization and note-taking techniques, and much more. The articles are well-researched, clearly-communicated, practical, and comprehensive. For example, the article on how to improve your memory includes a breakdown of the different types of memory processes, memorization techniques, and even a discussion of how nutrition affects memory. College Info Geek is a great resource for everyone, not just high school and college students.

8) SparkNotes

Yes, Sparknotes made the list! The site offers lessons in a whole bunch of subjects—biology, chemistry, computer science, history, philosophy, math—but its specialty is literature. SparkNotes provides summaries and analyses of novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction, from The Canterbury Tales to Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, and Junot Diaz. SparkNotes breaks down books into sub-sections and provides synopses and analyses for each section. There are also separate pages for character breakdowns, discussions of themes and motifs, and explanations of important quotes. I’d caution against using SparkNotes if you’re trying to “hack” a novel or poem and get simple answers about what it “means.” But as a way to supplement your own understanding and interpretation, it’s a great resource. Shmoop is also worth checking out for extra support in literature, poetry, mythology, and the history of literary movements.

9) Grammarly

I’m not sure if Grammarly is an obvious or unexpected choice to round out the list. Either way, it deserves a mention here. Grammarly is a writing tool. It checks and suggests corrections for incorrectly spelled words and misused punctuation. But Grammarly also scans and corrects for things like clarity and vocab usage. It flags sentences that are vague, or overly wordy, and alerts you if you’re using that flashy vocab word incorrectly. It even gives suggestions if it thinks your writing is a bit bland. I don’t see Grammarly as a crutch, but rather as a tool. It can help you master those pesky recurring grammar and usage issues. Always mix up effect and affect? Grammarly will continue to course correct until you’ve got it down yourself.

Homework Help Websites – Final Thoughts

None of the above homework help websites should be seen as a panacea. Each has benefits and drawbacks, strengths and weak points. The list is far from exhaustive. And the sites don’t have to be used in isolation. Try a few out, mix and match. College Info Geek is an excellent supplement to any study regimen. Socratic can be used as a tool to check answers for math homework, and at the same time you can use Grammarly to describe your problem to a tutor on Chegg. At their best, these sites are more than quick fixes to stubborn homework problems—they’re aids to genuine learning.

Additional Resources

You should also check out College Transitions’ “ High School Success ” blogs for help with a number of common high school assignments, including:

• Lord of the Flies Summary & Analysis 
• The Great Gatsby and The American Dream
• Analysis of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” Speech
• Robert Frost’s Road Not Taken Analysis 
• High School Success

Dane Gebauer

Dane Gebauer is a writer and teacher living in Miami, FL. He received his MFA in fiction from Columbia University, and his writing has appeared in Complex Magazine and Sinking City Review .

• 2-Year Colleges
• Application Strategies
• Best Colleges by Major
• Best Colleges by State
• Big Picture
• Career & Personality Assessment
• College Essay
• College Search/Knowledge
• College Success
• Costs & Financial Aid
• Data Visualizations
• Dental School Admissions
• Extracurricular Activities
• Graduate School Admissions
• High Schools
• Homeschool Resources
• Law School Admissions
• Medical School Admissions
• Navigating the Admissions Process
• Online Learning
• Outdoor Adventure
• Private High School Spotlight
• Research Programs
• Summer Program Spotlight
• Summer Programs
• Teacher Tools
• Test Prep Provider Spotlight

“Innovative and invaluable…use this book as your college lifeline.”

— Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Nationally Recognized College Expert

College Planning in Your Inbox

Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

A new AI chatbot might do your homework for you. But it's still not an A+ student

Emma Bowman

Enter a prompt into ChatGPT, and it becomes your very own virtual assistant. OpenAI/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

Enter a prompt into ChatGPT, and it becomes your very own virtual assistant.

Why do your homework when a chatbot can do it for you? A new artificial intelligence tool called ChatGPT has thrilled the Internet with its superhuman abilities to solve math problems, churn out college essays and write research papers.

After the developer OpenAI released the text-based system to the public last month, some educators have been sounding the alarm about the potential that such AI systems have to transform academia, for better and worse.

"AI has basically ruined homework," said Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, on Twitter.

The tool has been an instant hit among many of his students, he told NPR in an interview on Morning Edition , with its most immediately obvious use being a way to cheat by plagiarizing the AI-written work, he said.

Academic fraud aside, Mollick also sees its benefits as a learning companion.

Opinion: Machine-made poetry is here

He's used it as his own teacher's assistant, for help with crafting a syllabus, lecture, an assignment and a grading rubric for MBA students.

"You can paste in entire academic papers and ask it to summarize it. You can ask it to find an error in your code and correct it and tell you why you got it wrong," he said. "It's this multiplier of ability, that I think we are not quite getting our heads around, that is absolutely stunning," he said.

A convincing — yet untrustworthy — bot

But the superhuman virtual assistant — like any emerging AI tech — has its limitations. ChatGPT was created by humans, after all. OpenAI has trained the tool using a large dataset of real human conversations.

"The best way to think about this is you are chatting with an omniscient, eager-to-please intern who sometimes lies to you," Mollick said.

It lies with confidence, too. Despite its authoritative tone, there have been instances in which ChatGPT won't tell you when it doesn't have the answer.

That's what Teresa Kubacka, a data scientist based in Zurich, Switzerland, found when she experimented with the language model. Kubacka, who studied physics for her Ph.D., tested the tool by asking it about a made-up physical phenomenon.

"I deliberately asked it about something that I thought that I know doesn't exist so that they can judge whether it actually also has the notion of what exists and what doesn't exist," she said.

ChatGPT produced an answer so specific and plausible sounding, backed with citations, she said, that she had to investigate whether the fake phenomenon, "a cycloidal inverted electromagnon," was actually real.

When she looked closer, the alleged source material was also bogus, she said. There were names of well-known physics experts listed – the titles of the publications they supposedly authored, however, were non-existent, she said.

"This is where it becomes kind of dangerous," Kubacka said. "The moment that you cannot trust the references, it also kind of erodes the trust in citing science whatsoever," she said.

Scientists call these fake generations "hallucinations."

"There are still many cases where you ask it a question and it'll give you a very impressive-sounding answer that's just dead wrong," said Oren Etzioni, the founding CEO of the Allen Institute for AI , who ran the research nonprofit until recently. "And, of course, that's a problem if you don't carefully verify or corroborate its facts."

Users experimenting with the chatbot are warned before testing the tool that ChatGPT "may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information." OpenAI/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

An opportunity to scrutinize AI language tools

Users experimenting with the free preview of the chatbot are warned before testing the tool that ChatGPT "may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information," harmful instructions or biased content.

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, said earlier this month it would be a mistake to rely on the tool for anything "important" in its current iteration. "It's a preview of progress," he tweeted .

The failings of another AI language model unveiled by Meta last month led to its shutdown. The company withdrew its demo for Galactica, a tool designed to help scientists, just three days after it encouraged the public to test it out, following criticism that it spewed biased and nonsensical text.

Untangling Disinformation

Ai-generated fake faces have become a hallmark of online influence operations.

Similarly, Etzioni says ChatGPT doesn't produce good science. For all its flaws, though, he sees ChatGPT's public debut as a positive. He sees this as a moment for peer review.

"ChatGPT is just a few days old, I like to say," said Etzioni, who remains at the AI institute as a board member and advisor. It's "giving us a chance to understand what he can and cannot do and to begin in earnest the conversation of 'What are we going to do about it?' "

The alternative, which he describes as "security by obscurity," won't help improve fallible AI, he said. "What if we hide the problems? Will that be a recipe for solving them? Typically — not in the world of software — that has not worked out."

Educators are leveraging AI to make the job of teaching easier—and make it more than a way to cheat on homework

Teachers have spent the past few years wringing their hands over ChatGPT’s ability to help students cheat on their assignments. Generative AI can write a college essay or answer a math problem in just a fraction of time, making it a tempting shortcut . Professors—accurately or inaccurately— have accused their students of using ChatGPT to complete their assignments.

The education company Chegg estimated that 40% of undergraduates around the world have used generative AI in their tertiary studies, with half of that group using a tool like ChatGPT at least once a day.

But education experts speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore conference on Wednesday believe that, almost two years since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, generative AI can now be an asset to teachers, rather than a shortcut for students. 

When ChatGPT came out, the “knee-jerk” reaction among educators was fear that students would start plagiarizing their assignments, said Sonita Jeyapathy, codirector of the Center for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education at the National University of Singapore. But instead, “we realized that we could leverage [generative AI] as well.” 

Teachers are asking AI developers for assistance in planning lessons, motivating students, and professional development, noted Khairul Anwar, founder of Malaysian edtech startup Pandai. 

AI developers are also building apps to help students with their learning. Pandai has developed a chatbot to help students with homework—but not to do it for them.

“It’s designed not to give the answers outright, but instead to give you step-by-step solutions. To ask the students themselves … What do you understand now, and what do you think the next step is?” Anwar noted.

But chatbots are just the tip of the iceberg. 

“There’s a lot more that’s happening in AI beyond just large language models,” said Tim Baldwin, vice provost of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. He cited the example of AI that can be trained on how a student is learning, then cater the curriculum to match his or her strengths, expanding access to a personalized tutoring experience to those who traditionally could not afford it. 

Panelists agreed that AI-enabled cheating was not a new phenomenon.

Jeyapathy said it’s natural for students to want to get a better grade in an easier way. She suggested that a student’s motivation level and a teaching institution’s values are more influential on the decision to cheat than access to any particular AI tool.

Anwar suggested that teachers and institutions needed to better highlight the value of education, rather than promoting learning merely as a way to get material comforts. If education is described as a path to a job, a big house, and an expensive car, then “the message is that this is just a transaction, [and] obviously students will cheat.”

Latest in Tech

Samsung chips boss warns that firm risks getting caught in ‘vicious cycle’ because it’s ‘hiding or avoiding problems’

Investors have a ‘tough time’ with AI because it’s hard to tell ‘what’s a thin layer on top of what IBM is doing … and what’s truly valuable’

China’s gig workers stress over their incomes as Baidu’s robotaxi fleet hits the streets

Cities no longer need to be rich to be smart as AI ‘levels out the playing field,’ urban experts say

China is banning the export of drones that can be used for military purposes or terrorism

AI will transform even the humble PC, tech leaders say, as the hardware story moves beyond just data centers

Most popular.

Buying 100,000 Teslas continues to haunt Hertz

Stocks crash on recession fears as the ‘Fed is seizing defeat from the jaws of victory’

Bill Gross says don’t buy the dip as stocks crash while Warren Buffett’s moves hint at ‘sell signal’

What’s behind the stock market’s brutal 2-day crash?

Jeff Bezos loses $21 billion in net worth, a dive topped only by the wipeout after his divorce deal

Cows, cars, and $1 million in cash: Here are some of the wacky awards countries give their Olympic medalists

The Real Roots of Student Cheating

Let's address the mixed messages we are sending to young people..

Updated September 28, 2023 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Why Education Is Important
• Take our ADHD Test
• Find a Child Therapist
• Cheating is rampant, yet young people consistently affirm honesty and the belief that cheating is wrong.
• This discrepancy arises, in part, from the tension students perceive between honesty and the terms of success.
• In an integrated environment, achievement and the real world are not seen as at odds with honesty.

The release of ChatGPT has high school and college teachers wringing their hands. A Columbia University undergraduate rubbed it in our face last May with an opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled I’m a Student. You Have No Idea How Much We’re Using ChatGPT.

He goes on to detail how students use the program to “do the lion’s share of the thinking,” while passing off the work as their own. Catching the deception , he insists, is impossible.

As if students needed more ways to cheat. Every survey of students, whether high school or college, has found that cheating is “rampant,” “epidemic,” “commonplace, and practically expected,” to use a few of the terms with which researchers have described the scope of academic dishonesty.

In a 2010 study by the Josephson Institute, for example, 59 percent of the 43,000 high school students admitted to cheating on a test in the past year. According to a 2012 white paper, Cheat or Be Cheated? prepared by Challenge Success, 80 percent admitted to copying another student’s homework. The other studies summarized in the paper found self-reports of past-year cheating by high school students in the 70 percent to 80 percent range and higher.

At colleges, the situation is only marginally better. Studies consistently put the level of self-reported cheating among undergraduates between 50 percent and 70 percent depending in part on what behaviors are included. 1

The sad fact is that cheating is widespread.

Commitment to Honesty

Yet, when asked, most young people affirm the moral value of honesty and the belief that cheating is wrong. For example, in a survey of more than 3,000 teens conducted by my colleagues at the University of Virginia, the great majority (83 percent) indicated that to become “honest—someone who doesn’t lie or cheat,” was very important, if not essential to them.

On a long list of traits and qualities, they ranked honesty just below “hard-working” and “reliable and dependent,” and far ahead of traits like being “ambitious,” “a leader ,” and “popular.” When asked directly about cheating, only 6 percent thought it was rarely or never wrong.

Other studies find similar commitments, as do experimental studies by psychologists. In experiments, researchers manipulate the salience of moral beliefs concerning cheating by, for example, inserting moral reminders into the test situation to gauge their effect. Although students often regard some forms of cheating, such as doing homework together when they are expected to do it alone, as trivial, the studies find that young people view cheating in general, along with specific forms of dishonesty, such as copying off another person’s test, as wrong.

They find that young people strongly care to think of themselves as honest and temper their cheating behavior accordingly. 2

The Discrepancy Between Belief and Behavior

Bottom line: Kids whose ideal is to be honest and who know cheating is wrong also routinely cheat in school.

What accounts for this discrepancy? In the psychological and educational literature, researchers typically focus on personal and situational factors that work to override students’ commitment to do the right thing.

These factors include the force of different motives to cheat, such as the desire to avoid failure, and the self-serving rationalizations that students use to excuse their behavior, like minimizing responsibility—“everyone is doing it”—or dismissing their actions because “no one is hurt.”

While these explanations have obvious merit—we all know the gap between our ideals and our actions—I want to suggest another possibility: Perhaps the inconsistency also reflects the mixed messages to which young people (all of us, in fact) are constantly subjected.

Mixed Messages

Consider the story that young people hear about success. What student hasn’t been told doing well includes such things as getting good grades, going to a good college, living up to their potential, aiming high, and letting go of “limiting beliefs” that stand in their way? Schools, not to mention parents, media, and employers, all, in various ways, communicate these expectations and portray them as integral to the good in life.

They tell young people that these are the standards they should meet, the yardsticks by which they should measure themselves.

In my interviews and discussions with young people, it is clear they have absorbed these powerful messages and feel held to answer, to themselves and others, for how they are measuring up. Falling short, as they understand and feel it, is highly distressful.

At the same time, they are regularly exposed to the idea that success involves a trade-off with honesty and that cheating behavior, though regrettable, is “real life.” These words are from a student on a survey administered at an elite high school. “People,” he continued, “who are rich and successful lie and cheat every day.”

In this thinking, he is far from alone. In a 2012 Josephson Institute survey of 23,000 high school students, 57 percent agreed that “in the real world, successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating.” 3

Putting these together, another high school student told a researcher: “Grades are everything. You have to realize it’s the only possible way to get into a good college and you resort to any means necessary.”

In a 2021 survey of college students by College Pulse, the single biggest reason given for cheating, endorsed by 72 percent of the respondents, was “pressure to do well.”

What we see here are two goods—educational success and honesty—pitted against each other. When the two collide, the call to be successful is likely to be the far more immediate and tangible imperative.

A young person’s very future appears to hang in the balance. And, when asked in surveys , youths often perceive both their parents’ and teachers’ priorities to be more focused on getting “good grades in my classes,” than on character qualities, such as being a “caring community member.”

In noting the mixed messages, my point is not to offer another excuse for bad behavior. But some of the messages just don’t mix, placing young people in a difficult bind. Answering the expectations placed on them can be at odds with being an honest person. In the trade-off, cheating takes on a certain logic.

The proposed remedies to academic dishonesty typically focus on parents and schools. One commonly recommended strategy is to do more to promote student integrity. That seems obvious. Yet, as we saw, students already believe in honesty and the wrongness of (most) cheating. It’s not clear how more teaching on that point would make much of a difference.

Integrity, though, has another meaning, in addition to the personal qualities of being honest and of strong moral principles. Integrity is also the “quality or state of being whole or undivided.” In this second sense, we can speak of social life itself as having integrity.

It is “whole or undivided” when the different contexts of everyday life are integrated in such a way that norms, values, and expectations are fairly consistent and tend to reinforce each other—and when messages about what it means to be a good, accomplished person are not mixed but harmonious.

While social integrity rooted in ethical principles does not guarantee personal integrity, it is not hard to see how that foundation would make a major difference. Rather than confronting students with trade-offs that incentivize “any means necessary,” they would receive positive, consistent reinforcement to speak and act truthfully.

Talk of personal integrity is all for the good. But as pervasive cheating suggests, more is needed. We must also work to shape an integrated environment in which achievement and the “real world” are not set in opposition to honesty.

1. Liora Pedhazur Schmelkin, et al. “A Multidimensional Scaling of College Students’ Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty.” The Journal of Higher Education 79 (2008): 587–607.

2. See, for example, the studies in Christian B. Miller, Character and Moral Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, Ch. 3.

3. Josephson Institute. The 2012 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth (Installment 1: Honesty and Integrity). Josephson Institute of Ethics, 2012.

Joseph E. Davis is Research Professor of Sociology and Director of the Picturing the Human Colloquy of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Self Tests NEW
• Therapy Center
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

Sticking up for yourself is no easy task. But there are concrete skills you can use to hone your assertiveness and advocate for yourself.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

3 ways to use ChatGPT to help students learn – and not cheat

Professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Technologies, The Ohio State University

Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State University

Disclosure statement

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The Ohio State University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US.

View all partners

• Bahasa Indonesia

Since ChatGPT can engage in conversation and generate essays, computer codes, charts and graphs that closely resemble those created by humans, educators worry students may use it to cheat . A growing number of school districts across the country have decided to block access to ChatGPT on computers and networks.

As professors of educational psychology and educational technology , we’ve found that the main reason students cheat is their academic motivation. For example, sometimes students are just motivated to get a high grade, whereas other times they are motivated to learn all that they can about a topic.

The decision to cheat or not, therefore, often relates to how academic assignments and tests are constructed and assessed, not on the availability of technological shortcuts. When they have the opportunity to rewrite an essay or retake a test if they don’t do well initially, students are less likely to cheat .

We believe teachers can use ChatGPT to increase their students’ motivation for learning and actually prevent cheating. Here are three strategies for doing that.

1. Treat ChatGPT as a learning partner

Our research demonstrates that students are more likely to cheat when assignments are designed in ways that encourage them to outperform their classmates. In contrast, students are less likely to cheat when teachers assign academic tasks that prompt them to work collaboratively and to focus on mastering content instead of getting a good grade.

Treating ChatGPT as a learning partner can help teachers shift the focus among their students from competition and performance to collaboration and mastery.

For example, a science teacher can assign students to work with ChatGPT to design a hydroponic vegetable garden. In this scenario, students could engage with ChatGPT to discuss the growing requirements for vegetables, brainstorm design ideas for a hydroponic system and analyze pros and cons of the design.

These activities are designed to promote mastery of content as they focus on the processes of learning rather than just the final grade.

2. Use ChatGPT to boost confidence

Research shows that when students feel confident that they can successfully do the work assigned to them, they are less likely to cheat . And an important way to boost students’ confidence is to provide them with opportunities to experience success .

ChatGPT can facilitate such experiences by offering students individualized support and breaking down complex problems into smaller challenges or tasks.

For example, suppose students are asked to attempt to design a hypothetical vehicle that can use gasoline more efficiently than a traditional car. Students who struggle with the project – and might be inclined to cheat – can use ChatGPT to break down the larger problem into smaller tasks. ChatGPT might suggest they first develop an overall concept for the vehicle before determining the size and weight of the vehicle and deciding what type of fuel will be used. Teachers could also ask students to compare the steps suggested by ChatGPT with steps that are recommended by other sources.

3. Prompt ChatGPT to give supportive feedback

It is well documented that personalized feedback supports students’ positive emotions, including self-confidence.

ChatGPT can be directed to deliver feedback using positive, empathetic and encouraging language. For example, if a student completes a math problem incorrectly, instead of merely telling the student “You are wrong and the correct answer is …,” ChatGPT may initiate a conversation with the student. Here’s a real response generated by ChatGPT: “Your answer is not correct, but it’s completely normal to encounter occasional errors or misconceptions along the way. Don’t be discouraged by this small setback; you’re on the right track! I’m here to support you and answer any questions you may have. You’re doing great!”

This will help students feel supported and understood while receiving feedback for improvement. Teachers can easily show students how to direct ChatGPT to provide them such feedback.

We believe that when teachers use ChatGPT and other AI chatbots thoughtfully – and also encourage students to use these tools responsibly in their schoolwork – students have an incentive to learn more and cheat less.

• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Education technology
• K-12 education
• Educational psychology
• Large language models
• AI chatbots

Communications and Change Manager – Research Strategy

Head of School: Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences

Educational Designer

Organizational Behaviour – Assistant / Associate Professor (Tenure-Track)

Apply for State Library of Queensland's next round of research opportunities

• Tech & Innovation
• Artificial Intelligence

Students and Professors Believe AI Will Aid Cheating

A new survey finds students believe it’s already easier to cheat, thanks to generative artificial intelligence—and instructors think it will get worse in coming years.

By  Lauren Coffey

You have / 5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in.

Coursera is the latest to launch a tool for detecting the use of AI in student work.

While instructors and students see the potential of generative artificial intelligence—which can be used for everything from creating rubrics to getting study-guide help—they also see the potential for a rise in cheating aided by the technology.

According to a report released today and shared first with Inside Higher Ed by publishing firm Wiley, most instructors (68 percent) believe generative AI will have a negative or “significantly” negative impact on academic integrity.

While faculty concerns about the use of AI to cheat are nothing new, the study also polled more than 2,000 students—who agreed that generative AI will boost cheating potential. Nearly half of them (47 percent) said it is easier to cheat than it was last year due to the increased use of generative AI, with 35 percent pointing toward ChatGPT specifically as a reason.

The numbers were not particularly surprising to Lyssa Vanderbeek, vice president of courseware at Wiley. “Academic integrity and cheating have been around forever,” she said. “It’s not surprising that it’s increased because of the fast evolution of these generative AI tools and their wide availability, but it’s not a new challenge; it’s been around for a long time.”

It’s important to note that the survey—which polled 850 instructors along with the 2,000-plus students—did not specifically define “cheating,” which some could view as fact-checking an assignment while others think it would only include writing an entire paper through ChatGPT.

Vanderbeek said she has seen a more open dialogue about cheating between professors and students in the classroom.

A Wiley survey shows students and faculty both expect to see cheating increase in the next three years, aided by generative AI.

“One thing we’ve noticed with instructors is discussing in the classroom what cheating is and normalizing getting help—and looking at productive ways to get help,” she said, “versus it being, ‘Where do you cross the line with cheating?’”

When OpenAI’s ChatGPT first hit the scene in November 2022, it immediately drew concerns from academics that believed it could be used for cheating. In an Inside Higher Ed survey released earlier this year , nearly half of university provosts said they are concerned about generative AI’s threat to academic integrity, with another 26 percent stating they are “very” or “extremely” concerned.

Many institutions were quick to ban the tools when they first launched but have loosened the restrictions as the technology—and attitudes toward it —has evolved over the past 18 months.

Technology and academic experts have often drawn comparisons to similar fears that emerged when Wikipedia was first released in 2001, or in the 1970s when calculators were first widely introduced into classrooms.

In the Wiley survey, a majority of professors (56 percent) said they did not think AI had an impact on cheating over the last year, but most (68 percent) did think it would have a negative impact on academic integrity in the next three years.

On the flip side, when asked what made cheating more difficult, more than half (56 percent) of students said it was harder to cheat than last year due an uptick in in-person classes and stricter rules and proctoring. Proctoring saw an uptick during the pandemic when courses became remote, and many institutions have kept the practice as classes shifted back to face-to-face.

Students believe it is easier to cheat in class compared to last year, largely due to generative AI and ChatGPT.

Students who stated a strong dislike for generative AI cited cheating as the top reason, with 33 percent stating it made it easier to cheat. Only 14 percent of faculty cited the potential for cheating as a reason for disliking the technology, with their top reasoning (37 percent) being that the technology has a negative impact on critical thinking.

Vanderbeek said she was surprised at the number of students who simply did not trust AI tools—with 36 percent citing that as a reason they don’t use them. Slightly more (37 percent) said they did not use the tools due to concerns their instructor would think they were cheating if they used AI.

Editors’ Picks

• A New Title IX Era Brings Confusion and Frustration
• How Biden’s Title IX Reform Became a Legal Morass
• Black Sororities, Fraternities ‘Organizing Like Never Before’

And as reported in previous surveys , including Inside Higher Ed ’s 2024 provosts’ survey , student use of generative AI greatly outpaced faculty use—45 percent of students used AI in their classes in the past year, while only 15 percent of instructors said the same.

Vanderbeek said there are three main approaches institutions can take when looking at keeping academic integrity intact: creating incentives throughout the work process, like giving credit for starting early; introducing randomization on exams so it is harder to find answers online; and providing tools to instructors to identify “suspicious” behavior, like showing copied-and-pasted content or content submitted from overseas IP addresses.

“The takeaway is that there is still a lot to learn,” Vanderbeek said. “We see it as an opportunity: There are probably ways generative AI can help instructors provide learning experiences that they just can’t right now.”

Dealing With the Ghosts of Leaders Past

Jacob A. Brown, Jeffrey S. Bednar, C. K. Gunsalus and Nicholas C.

Share This Article

More from artificial intelligence.

Majority of Grads Wish They’d Been Taught AI in College

A new survey shows 70 percent of graduates think generative AI should be incorporated into courses.

Bridging the Campus Divide With ‘Dangerous Ideas’ and AI Debate Moderators

In this polarized time, one assistant professor is teaching students to argue more constructively about the most cont

Academics Fight for Access to Supercomputers

A pilot led by the National Science Foundation aims to democratize AI research by connecting universities with the su

• Become a Member
• Sign up for Newsletters
• Learning & Assessment
• Diversity & Equity
• Career Development
• Labor & Unionization
• Shared Governance
• Academic Freedom
• Books & Publishing
• Financial Aid
• Residential Life
• Free Speech
• Physical & Mental Health
• Race & Ethnicity
• Sex & Gender
• Socioeconomics
• Traditional-Age
• Adult & Post-Traditional
• Teaching & Learning
• Digital Publishing
• Data Analytics
• Administrative Tech
• Alternative Credentials
• Financial Health
• Cost-Cutting
• Revenue Strategies
• Academic Programs
• Physical Campuses
• Mergers & Collaboration
• Fundraising
• Research Universities
• Regional Public Universities
• Community Colleges
• Private Nonprofit Colleges
• Minority-Serving Institutions
• Religious Colleges
• Women's Colleges
• Specialized Colleges
• For-Profit Colleges
• Executive Leadership
• Trustees & Regents
• State Oversight
• Accreditation
• Politics & Elections
• Supreme Court
• Student Aid Policy
• Science & Research Policy
• State Policy
• Colleges & Localities
• Employee Satisfaction
• Remote & Flexible Work
• Staff Issues
• Study Abroad
• International Students in U.S.
• U.S. Colleges in the World
• Intellectual Affairs
• Seeking a Faculty Job
• Advancing in the Faculty
• Seeking an Administrative Job
• Advancing as an Administrator
• Beyond Transfer
• Call to Action
• Confessions of a Community College Dean
• Higher Ed Gamma
• Higher Ed Policy
• Just Explain It to Me!
• Just Visiting
• Law, Policy—and IT?
• Leadership & StratEDgy
• Leadership in Higher Education
• Learning Innovation
• Online: Trending Now
• Resident Scholar
• University of Venus
• Student Voice
• Academic Life
• Health & Wellness
• The College Experience
• Life After College
• Academic Minute
• Weekly Wisdom
• Reports & Data
• Quick Takes
• Advertising & Marketing
• Consulting Services
• Data & Insights
• Hiring & Jobs
• Event Partnerships

4 /5 Articles remaining this month.

Sign up for a free account or log in.

• Sign Up, It’s FREE

It’s a wonderful world — and universe — out there.

Come explore with us!  

Science News Explores

Think twice before using chatgpt for help with homework.

This new AI tool talks a lot like a person — but still makes mistakes

ChatGPT is impressive and can be quite useful. It can help people write text, for instance, and code. However, “it’s not magic,” says Casey Fiesler. In fact, it often seems intelligent and confident while making mistakes — and sometimes parroting biases.

Glenn Harvey

Share this:

• Google Classroom

By Kathryn Hulick

February 16, 2023 at 6:30 am

“We need to talk,” Brett Vogelsinger said. A student had just asked for feedback on an essay. One paragraph stood out. Vogelsinger, a 9th-grade English teacher in Doylestown, Pa., realized that the student hadn’t written the piece himself. He had used ChatGPT. It’s a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool. It answers questions. It writes code. And it can generate long essays and stories.

The company OpenAI made ChatGPT available for free at the end of November 2022. Within a week, it had more than a million users. Other tech companies are racing to put out similar tools. Google launched Bard in early February. The AI company Anthropic is testing a new chatbot named Claude. And another AI company, DeepMind, is working on a bot called Sparrow.

ChatGPT marks the beginning of a new wave of AI that will disrupt education. Whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

Some people have been using ChatGPT out of curiosity or for entertainment. I asked it to invent a silly excuse for not doing homework in the style of a medieval proclamation. In less than a second, it offered me: “Hark! Thy servant was beset by a horde of mischievous leprechauns, who didst steal mine quill and parchment, rendering me unable to complete mine homework.”

But students can also use it to cheat. When Stanford University’s student-run newspaper polled students at the university, 17 percent said they had used ChatGPT on assignments or exams during the end of 2022. Some admitted to submitting the chatbot’s writing as their own. For now, these students and others are probably getting away with cheating.

And that’s because ChatGPT does an excellent job. “It can outperform a lot of middle-school kids,” Vogelsinger says. He probably wouldn’t have known his student used it — except for one thing. “He copied and pasted the prompt,” says Vogelsinger.

This essay was still a work in progress. So Vogelsinger didn’t see this as cheating. Instead, he saw an opportunity. Now, the student is working with the AI to write that essay. It’s helping the student develop his writing and research skills.

“We’re color-coding,” says Vogelsinger. The parts the student writes are in green. Those parts that ChatGPT writes are in blue. Vogelsinger is helping the student pick and choose only a few sentences from the AI to keep. He’s allowing other students to collaborate with the tool as well. Most aren’t using it regularly, but a few kids really like it. Vogelsinger thinks it has helped them get started and to focus their ideas.

This story had a happy ending.

But at many schools and universities, educators are struggling with how to handle ChatGPT and other tools like it. In early January, New York City public schools banned ChatGPT on their devices and networks. They were worried about cheating. They also were concerned that the tool’s answers might not be accurate or safe. Many other school systems in the United States and elsewhere have followed suit.

Test yourself: Can you spot the ChatGPT answers in our quiz?

But some experts suspect that bots like ChatGPT could also be a great help to learners and workers everywhere. Like calculators for math or Google for facts, an AI chatbot makes something that once took time and effort much simpler and faster. With this tool, anyone can generate well-formed sentences and paragraphs — even entire pieces of writing.

How could a tool like this change the way we teach and learn?

The good, the bad and the weird

ChatGPT has wowed its users. “It’s so much more realistic than I thought a robot could be,” says Avani Rao. This high school sophomore lives in California. She hasn’t used the bot to do homework. But for fun, she’s prompted it to say creative or silly things. She asked it to explain addition, for instance, in the voice of an evil villain. Its answer is highly entertaining.

Tools like ChatGPT could help create a more equitable world for people who are trying to work in a second language or who struggle with composing sentences. Students could use ChatGPT like a coach to help improve their writing and grammar. Or it could explain difficult subjects. “It really will tutor you,” says Vogelsinger, who had one student come to him excited that ChatGPT had clearly outlined a concept from science class.

Teachers could use ChatGPT to help create lesson plans or activities — ones personalized to the needs or goals of specific students.

Several podcasts have had ChatGPT as a “guest” on the show. In 2023, two people are going to use an AI-powered chatbot like a lawyer. It will tell them what to say during their appearances in traffic court. The company that developed the bot is paying them to test the new tech. Their vision is a world in which legal help might be free.

@professorcasey Replying to @novshmozkapop #ChatGPT might be helpful but don’t ask it for help on your math homework. #openai #aiethics ♬ original sound – Professor Casey Fiesler

Xiaoming Zhai tested ChatGPT to see if it could write an academic paper . Zhai is an expert in science education at the University of Georgia in Athens. He was impressed with how easy it was to summarize knowledge and generate good writing using the tool. “It’s really amazing,” he says.

All of this sounds great. Still, some really big problems exist.

Most worryingly, ChatGPT and tools like it sometimes gets things very wrong. In an ad for Bard, the chatbot claimed that the James Webb Space Telescope took the very first picture of an exoplanet. That’s false. In a conversation posted on Twitter, ChatGPT said the fastest marine mammal was the peregrine falcon. A falcon, of course, is a bird and doesn’t live in the ocean.

ChatGPT can be “confidently wrong,” says Casey Fiesler. Its text, she notes, can contain “mistakes and bad information.” She is an expert in the ethics of technology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has made multiple TikTok videos about the pitfalls of ChatGPT .

Also, for now, all of the bot’s training data came from before a date in 2021. So its knowledge is out of date.

Finally, ChatGPT does not provide sources for its information. If asked for sources, it will make them up. It’s something Fiesler revealed in another video . Zhai discovered the exact same thing. When he asked ChatGPT for citations, it gave him sources that looked correct. In fact, they were bogus.

Zhai sees the tool as an assistant. He double-checked its information and decided how to structure the paper himself. If you use ChatGPT, be honest about it and verify its information, the experts all say.

Under the hood

ChatGPT’s mistakes make more sense if you know how it works. “It doesn’t reason. It doesn’t have ideas. It doesn’t have thoughts,” explains Emily M. Bender. She is a computational linguist who works at the University of Washington in Seattle. ChatGPT may sound a lot like a person, but it’s not one. It is an AI model developed using several types of machine learning .

The primary type is a large language model. This type of model learns to predict what words will come next in a sentence or phrase. It does this by churning through vast amounts of text. It places words and phrases into a 3-D map that represents their relationships to each other. Words that tend to appear together, like peanut butter and jelly, end up closer together in this map.

Before ChatGPT, OpenAI had made GPT3. This very large language model came out in 2020. It had trained on text containing an estimated 300 billion words. That text came from the internet and encyclopedias. It also included dialogue transcripts, essays, exams and much more, says Sasha Luccioni. She is a researcher at the company HuggingFace in Montreal, Canada. This company builds AI tools.

OpenAI improved upon GPT3 to create GPT3.5. This time, OpenAI added a new type of machine learning. It’s known as “reinforcement learning with human feedback.” That means people checked the AI’s responses. GPT3.5 learned to give more of those types of responses in the future. It also learned not to generate hurtful, biased or inappropriate responses. GPT3.5 essentially became a people-pleaser.

During ChatGPT’s development, OpenAI added even more safety rules to the model. As a result, the chatbot will refuse to talk about certain sensitive issues or information. But this also raises another issue: Whose values are being programmed into the bot, including what it is — or is not — allowed to talk about?

OpenAI is not offering exact details about how it developed and trained ChatGPT. The company has not released its code or training data. This disappoints Luccioni. “I want to know how it works in order to help make it better,” she says.

When asked to comment on this story, OpenAI provided a statement from an unnamed spokesperson. “We made ChatGPT available as a research preview to learn from real-world use, which we believe is a critical part of developing and deploying capable, safe AI systems,” the statement said. “We are constantly incorporating feedback and lessons learned.” Indeed, some early experimenters got the bot to say biased things about race and gender. OpenAI quickly patched the tool. It no longer responds the same way.

ChatGPT is not a finished product. It’s available for free right now because OpenAI needs data from the real world. The people who are using it right now are their guinea pigs. If you use it, notes Bender, “You are working for OpenAI for free.”

Humans vs robots

How good is ChatGPT at what it does? Catherine Gao is part of one team of researchers that is putting the tool to the test.

At the top of a research article published in a journal is an abstract. It summarizes the author’s findings. Gao’s group gathered 50 real abstracts from research papers in medical journals. Then they asked ChatGPT to generate fake abstracts based on the paper titles. The team asked people who review abstracts as part of their job to identify which were which .

The reviewers mistook roughly one in every three (32 percent) of the AI-generated abstracts as human-generated. “I was surprised by how realistic and convincing the generated abstracts were,” says Gao. She is a doctor and medical researcher at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill.

In another study, Will Yeadon and his colleagues tested whether AI tools could pass a college exam . Yeadon is a physics teacher at Durham University in England. He picked an exam from a course that he teaches. The test asks students to write five short essays about physics and its history. Students who take the test have an average score of 71 percent, which he says is equivalent to an A in the United States.

Yeadon used a close cousin of ChatGPT, called davinci-003. It generated 10 sets of exam answers. Afterward, he and four other teachers graded them using their typical grading standards for students. The AI also scored an average of 71 percent. Unlike the human students, however, it had no very low or very high marks. It consistently wrote well, but not excellently. For students who regularly get bad grades in writing, Yeadon says, this AI “will write a better essay than you.”

These graders knew they were looking at AI work. In a follow-up study, Yeadon plans to use work from the AI and students and not tell the graders whose work they are looking at.

Educators and Parents, Sign Up for The Cheat Sheet

Weekly updates to help you use Science News Explores in the learning environment

Thank you for signing up!

There was a problem signing you up.

Cheat-checking with AI

People may not always be able to tell if ChatGPT wrote something or not. Thankfully, other AI tools can help. These tools use machine learning to scan many examples of AI-generated text. After training this way, they can look at new text and tell you whether it was most likely composed by AI or a human.

Most free AI-detection tools were trained on older language models, so they don’t work as well for ChatGPT. Soon after ChatGPT came out, though, one college student spent his holiday break building a free tool to detect its work . It’s called GPTZero .

The company Originality.ai sells access to another up-to-date tool. Founder Jon Gillham says that in a test of 10,000 samples of text composed by GPT3, the tool tagged 94 percent of them correctly. When ChatGPT came out, his team tested a much smaller set of 20 samples that had been created by GPT3, GPT3.5 and ChatGPT. Here, Gillham says, “it tagged all of them as AI-generated. And it was 99 percent confident, on average.”

In addition, OpenAI says they are working on adding “digital watermarks” to AI-generated text. They haven’t said exactly what they mean by this. But Gillham explains one possibility. The AI ranks many different possible words when it is generating text. Say its developers told it to always choose the word ranked in third place rather than first place at specific places in its output. These words would act “like a fingerprint,” says Gillham.

The future of writing

Tools like ChatGPT are only going to improve with time. As they get better, people will have to adjust to a world in which computers can write for us. We’ve made these sorts of adjustments before. As high-school student Rao points out, Google was once seen as a threat to education because it made it possible to instantly look up any fact. We adapted by coming up with teaching and testing materials that don’t require students to memorize things.

Now that AI can generate essays, stories and code, teachers may once again have to rethink how they teach and test. That might mean preventing students from using AI. They could do this by making students work without access to technology. Or they might invite AI into the writing process, as Vogelsinger is doing. Concludes Rao, “We might have to shift our point of view about what’s cheating and what isn’t.”

Students will still have to learn to write without AI’s help. Kids still learn to do basic math even though they have calculators. Learning how math works helps us learn to think about math problems. In the same way, learning to write helps us learn to think about and express ideas.

Rao thinks that AI will not replace human-generated stories, articles and other texts. Why? She says: “The reason those things exist is not only because we want to read it but because we want to write it.” People will always want to make their voices heard. ChatGPT is a tool that could enhance and support our voices — as long as we use it with care.

Correction: Gillham’s comment on the 20 samples that his team tested has been corrected to show how confident his team’s AI-detection tool was in identifying text that had been AI-generated (not in how accurately it detected AI-generated text).

Can you find the bot?

More stories from science news explores on tech.

Laser-based tech can identify illegal elephant ivory

Where are the flying cars? 

Scientists Say: Superconductor

Soccer-playing robots show how nimble AI-powered machines can be

Holey basketballs! 3-D printing could be a game-changer

Teen’s battle simulator could help Ukraine’s troops fend off attacks

Does AI steal art or help create it? It depends on who you ask

AI image generators tend to exaggerate stereotypes

Choose Your Test

• Search Blogs By Category
• College Admissions
• AP and IB Exams
• GPA and Coursework

How to Do Homework: 15 Expert Tips and Tricks

Coursework/GPA

Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

• A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
• A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
• A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles 

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time. 

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling. 

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers! 

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due  B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too.  C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one!  D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now. 

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores: 

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start?  B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store.  C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work.  D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time! 

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You: 

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter.  B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale.  C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You: 

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home!  B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you!  C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones.  D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say: 

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work.  B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks.  C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home.  D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in. 

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down: 

• If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination. 
• If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management. 
• If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation. 
• If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted. 

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it. 

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating. 

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator  

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+. 

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too! 

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework! 

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination 

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time. 

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done. 

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust. 

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful. 

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner 

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals. 

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track. 

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates 

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due. 

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead! 

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you. 

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix. 

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them. 

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible. 

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students. 

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List 

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away. 

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

• A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A. 
• B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
• C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important. 

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day. 

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ). 

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone 

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work. 

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started. 

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated 

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute. 

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later. 

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place. 

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework : 

• Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless 
• Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
• Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment 
• Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy 

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework. 

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you! 

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !  

#2: Form a Homework Group 

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments. 

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too. 

#3: Change Up Your Environment 

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done. 

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done. 

Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done! 

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done. 

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work. 

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand! 

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology 

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework. 

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done. 

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment! 

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch. 

#1: Do the Easy Parts First 

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer . 

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade. 

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !) 

#2: Pay Attention in Class 

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Trending Now

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

ACT vs. SAT: Which Test Should You Take?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Get Your Free

Find Your Target SAT Score

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

How to Get a Perfect SAT Score, by an Expert Full Scorer

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading and Writing

How to Improve Your Low SAT Score

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading and Writing

Find Your Target ACT Score

Complete Official Free ACT Practice Tests

How to Get a Perfect ACT Score, by a 36 Full Scorer

Get a 36 on ACT English

Get a 36 on ACT Math

Get a 36 on ACT Reading

Get a 36 on ACT Science

How to Improve Your Low ACT Score

Get a 24 on ACT English

Get a 24 on ACT Math

Get a 24 on ACT Reading

Get a 24 on ACT Science

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

• Future Students
• Current Students
• Faculty/Staff

News and Media

• News & Media Home
• Research Stories
• School’s In
• In the Media

You are here

What do ai chatbots really mean for students and cheating.

The launch of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots has triggered an alarm for many educators, who worry about students using the technology to cheat by passing its writing off as their own. But two Stanford researchers say that concern is misdirected, based on their ongoing research into cheating among U.S. high school students before and after the release of ChatGPT.  

“There’s been a ton of media coverage about AI making it easier and more likely for students to cheat,” said Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE). “But we haven’t seen that bear out in our data so far. And we know from our research that when students do cheat, it’s typically for reasons that have very little to do with their access to technology.”

Pope is a co-founder of Challenge Success , a school reform nonprofit affiliated with the GSE, which conducts research into the student experience, including students’ well-being and sense of belonging, academic integrity, and their engagement with learning. She is the author of Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students , and coauthor of Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids.  

Victor Lee is an associate professor at the GSE whose focus includes researching and designing learning experiences for K-12 data science education and AI literacy. He is the faculty lead for the AI + Education initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning and director of CRAFT (Classroom-Ready Resources about AI for Teaching), a program that provides free resources to help teach AI literacy to high school students. 

Here, Lee and Pope discuss the state of cheating in U.S. schools, what research shows about why students cheat, and their recommendations for educators working to address the problem.

Denise Pope

What do we know about how much students cheat?

Pope: We know that cheating rates have been high for a long time. At Challenge Success we’ve been running surveys and focus groups at schools for over 15 years, asking students about different aspects of their lives — the amount of sleep they get, homework pressure, extracurricular activities, family expectations, things like that — and also several questions about different forms of cheating. 

For years, long before ChatGPT hit the scene, some 60 to 70 percent of students have reported engaging in at least one “cheating” behavior during the previous month. That percentage has stayed about the same or even decreased slightly in our 2023 surveys, when we added questions specific to new AI technologies, like ChatGPT, and how students are using it for school assignments.

Isn’t it possible that they’re lying about cheating? 

Pope: Because these surveys are anonymous, students are surprisingly honest — especially when they know we’re doing these surveys to help improve their school experience. We often follow up our surveys with focus groups where the students tell us that those numbers seem accurate. If anything, they’re underreporting the frequency of these behaviors.

Lee: The surveys are also carefully written so they don’t ask, point-blank, “Do you cheat?” They ask about specific actions that are classified as cheating, like whether they have copied material word for word for an assignment in the past month or knowingly looked at someone else’s answer during a test. With AI, most of the fear is that the chatbot will write the paper for the student. But there isn’t evidence of an increase in that.

So AI isn’t changing how often students cheat — just the tools that they’re using? 

Lee: The most prudent thing to say right now is that the data suggest, perhaps to the surprise of many people, that AI is not increasing the frequency of cheating. This may change as students become increasingly familiar with the technology, and we’ll continue to study it and see if and how this changes. 

But I think it’s important to point out that, in Challenge Success’ most recent survey, students were also asked if and how they felt an AI chatbot like ChatGPT should be allowed for school-related tasks. Many said they thought it should be acceptable for “starter” purposes, like explaining a new concept or generating ideas for a paper. But the vast majority said that using a chatbot to write an entire paper should never be allowed. So this idea that students who’ve never cheated before are going to suddenly run amok and have AI write all of their papers appears unfounded.

But clearly a lot of students are cheating in the first place. Isn’t that a problem? 

Pope: There are so many reasons why students cheat. They might be struggling with the material and unable to get the help they need. Maybe they have too much homework and not enough time to do it. Or maybe assignments feel like pointless busywork. Many students tell us they’re overwhelmed by the pressure to achieve — they know cheating is wrong, but they don’t want to let their family down by bringing home a low grade. 

We know from our research that cheating is generally a symptom of a deeper, systemic problem. When students feel respected and valued, they’re more likely to engage in learning and act with integrity. They’re less likely to cheat when they feel a sense of belonging and connection at school, and when they find purpose and meaning in their classes. Strategies to help students feel more engaged and valued are likely to be more effective than taking a hard line on AI, especially since we know AI is here to stay and can actually be a great tool to promote deeper engagement with learning.

What would you suggest to school leaders who are concerned about students using AI chatbots? 

Pope: Even before ChatGPT, we could never be sure whether kids were getting help from a parent or tutor or another source on their assignments, and this was not considered cheating. Kids in our focus groups are wondering why they can't use ChatGPT as another resource to help them write their papers — not to write the whole thing word for word, but to get the kind of help a parent or tutor would offer. We need to help students and educators find ways to discuss the ethics of using this technology and when it is and isn't useful for student learning.

Lee: There’s a lot of fear about students using this technology. Schools have considered putting significant amounts of money in AI-detection software, which studies show can be highly unreliable. Some districts have tried blocking AI chatbots from school wifi and devices, then repealed those bans because they were ineffective. 

AI is not going away. Along with addressing the deeper reasons why students cheat, we need to teach students how to understand and think critically about this technology. For starters, at Stanford we’ve begun developing free resources to help teachers bring these topics into the classroom as it relates to different subject areas. We know that teachers don’t have time to introduce a whole new class, but we have been working with teachers to make sure these are activities and lessons that can fit with what they’re already covering in the time they have available. 

I think of AI literacy as being akin to driver’s ed: We’ve got a powerful tool that can be a great asset, but it can also be dangerous. We want students to learn how to use it responsibly.

More Stories

⟵ Go to all Research Stories

Get the Educator

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Stanford Graduate School of Education

482 Galvez Mall Stanford, CA 94305-3096 Tel: (650) 723-2109

• Contact Admissions
• GSE Leadership
• Site Feedback
• Web Accessibility
• Career Resources
• Faculty Open Positions
• Explore Courses
• Academic Calendar
• Office of the Registrar
• Cubberley Library
• StanfordWho
• StanfordYou

Improving lives through learning

• Stanford Home
• Maps & Directions
• Search Stanford
• Emergency Info
• Terms of Use
• Non-Discrimination
• Accessibility

© Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 .

Cheat Codes: Students Search For Shortcuts as Virtual Schooling Expands

An eighth grader looks up answers on a cell phone while he is taking an online quiz at home. The pandemic has forced many Oklahoma school districts to shift to part-time or full-time online learning this year. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch)

Computer programmer Gradyn Wursten still updates a project he created to hack his high school homework.

As a sophomore, he used an old MacBook with a cracked screen and bulging battery to write the code that adds shortcuts to Edgenuity — an online education platform used by more than   3 million students .

Once installed, his program can skip videos and automatically fill practice questions with answers — progressing straight to quizzes and tests.

Instead of watching a 30-minute history lesson on the Iroquois, students can cut right to the quiz. And those answers are often easily found on the web.

The hacks make it possible to complete a course much faster, students say.

Wursten is more computer savvy than most, but his quest for shortcuts is typical. His program, developed from his home in Heber City, Utah, has been downloaded 40,000 times by students across the country. In the past month, he gained 2,000 new users, including more than 100 in Oklahoma.

And his tool is just one of many available to savvy students.

Entire test keys and quiz answers are posted to homework help websites. Smartphone apps take a photo of a question and produce the answer. Students connect on social media or text groups to share answers. There are even tricks to fake attendance in a Zoom class — demonstrated by a teen’s viral Tik Tok video.

Schools’ large-scale shift to virtual education amid COVID-19 is challenging the system of determining what students actually know and limiting educators’ ability to ensure academic integrity.

Cheating has always been an issue in schools, but there is little getting in the way for students today. Shared answers have become even more accessible as districts have adopted or expanded their use of popular online learning programs like Edgenuity, which delivers the same content to students across the country.

Many schools adopted such virtual programs in a matter of months to adapt to the ongoing public health crisis. Seventy percent of Oklahoma districts had a virtual option at the start of this school year, and 7.5% were exclusively online, according to a state Department of Education   survey .

But when students are not inside classrooms, it becomes more difficult to ensure they are actually learning, teachers say.

“Everything my kids are doing at home is a cheatable assignment, which makes that in-class time so incredibly valuable,” said Elanna Dobbs, who teaches English at Edmond Memorial High School.

Edmond is using a blended schedule, where students attend class some days and are virtual from home the rest of the week.

Dobbs, who has been teaching 19 years, said on virtual days, she relies on class discussions or assignments that task students with providing individual thoughts on what they’ve learned. In other words, the type of assignments they can’t just Google.

Many students aren’t getting any in-person class time, though.

Virtual charter schools are experiencing a surge of enrollment, a trend underway before the pandemic. These schools don’t have classrooms and the students learn mostly from home. Epic Charter Schools says it has 61,000 students enrolled — representing about 1 in 10 Oklahoma students. Other statewide virtual charter schools are experiencing increases.

In virtual charter schools, teachers provide less direct instruction than in a traditional school, with the curriculum program delivering most of the lessons. Parents are expected to fill in the gaps and oversee the learning process.

Research shows it doesn’t work very well. Students enrolled full-time in virtual charter schools learned an equivalent of 72 days fewer in reading and 180 days fewer in math than students in brick-and-mortar schools over one academic year, according to a   2015 study   by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, a non-partisan research center at Stanford University.

Now, those same methods are being adopted by traditional school districts with the tens of thousands of Oklahoma students attending school from home.

And yet, critics — from parents to the president — have deemed online education inadequate. “Now that we have witnessed it on a large scale basis, and firsthand, Virtual Learning has proven to be TERRIBLE compared to In School, or On Campus, Learning,” President Donald Trump   tweeted July 10.

That month, in Norman, parents railed against a plan to use Edgenuity teachers for all students enrolling in the district’s virtual program. They spoke out at board meetings, and wrote a   letter to the district,   calling it “troubling” that Edgenuity was their only virtual option within the district.

“Our children deserve to have personal interactions with local teachers and classmates as part of their virtual school experience during this pandemic,” they wrote. They urged the district to, among other requests, provide an option for students to learn from Norman teachers, not from “an out-of-state, for-profit venture.”

The district relented and quickly developed an in-house virtual program, in addition to offering Edgenuity.

Relying on Teachers to Spot Discrepancies from Afar

Technology provides some cheating protections. Edgenuity features a locking browser, which restricts students from opening other tabs and programs while the learning platform is open. Epic and Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy say their teachers can require exams to be proctored, where the student is monitored remotely through a webcam.

Watch videos related to this reporting on Oklahoma Watch’s website.

Students can bypass these protections. Often, it’s no more difficult than pulling up answers on a smartphone. A   2018 study by Pew Research Center   found 95% of teens have a smartphone, or at least access to one. Even kindergarten students know how to ask a smart speaker their homework questions.

Yet the companies providing the lessons say it’s up to users to provide the accountability and prevent cheating.

“Edgenuity trusts the integrity of teachers, administrations, and even students themselves, to ensure that students learn and succeed fairly,” wrote Deborah Rayow, Edgenuity’s Vice President of Instructional Design & Learning Science, in response to Oklahoma Watch’s questions.

Edgenuity, an Arizona-based online curriculum company, is being used by at least some virtual students in Norman, Union, Stillwater and other school districts.

Another program, Exact Path, is being used in more than 400 Oklahoma districts. The state Education Department used CARES Act funds to enter into a $2.6 million contract with parent company, Edmentum, to offer   Exact Path free to districts . Exact Path is an online learning tool that can be used for assessment and instruction in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Districts are, in some cases, using Exact Path even when school is in-person, to make it easier to pivot to distance learning because of an outbreak or need to quarantine.

Edmentum says because Exact Path adapts to individual students, it is difficult to use online social networks to find answers. And the company works with popular homework help sites like Quizlet and Brainly to “ensure our content is not posted on their sites,” a spokesperson said.

Exact Path also alerts teachers to unusual behavior — such as answering too quickly.

LIke Edgenuity, Edmentum emphasizes teachers’ responsibility to prevent cheating.

One of the most effective things teachers can do to prevent cheating is to design their own online curriculum, or at least supplement the platform’s assignments with their own, said Derald Glover, assistant executive director of the Oklahoma Association of School Administrators.

The bare minimum schools should be doing this year is placing a student on a virtual school platform and letting them go, he said.  Additional safeguards teachers can add are class discussions via Zoom, or having students submit videos of themselves explaining their answers.

Glover said he’s encouraging educators to treat online tools as a digital textbook, and design virtual courses themselves.

But that takes time.

“We think it’s going to take most of this year to realistically build really rich teacher-developed (virtual) courses,” Glover said.

At-Home Learning Assumes Parents Can Supervise

Parents are showing little patience to wait. The fervor over inadequate education at home is growing, and the lack of teacher interaction is one of the main reasons.

Norman schools bent to parental pressure and transitioned to in-person school in late September, despite no change in the Cleveland County’s color-coded coronavirus risk designation.

A group of Stillwater parents filed a lawsuit against the district to force a return to classrooms. The district of 6,300 students uses Edgenuity for students who chose full-time virtual learning.

Parent Nicole Wisel wishes her children’s school district, Cimarron Public Schools, would return to paper, pencils and textbooks instead of using Edgenuity.

“We hate it,” said Wisel, who has children in seventh, eighth and 11th grades. “Our teachers are being paid to be proctors, and that’s it. They don’t even know what these kids are doing.”

The prerecorded video lessons are too long, she says, and one of her children, who is autistic, says the instructors in the videos are “creepy.”

Chuck Anglin, Cimarron Public Schools’ superintendent, said he likes to use Edgenuity to offer extra classes in a normal year. Choosing it for virtual learning this year was making “the best of a bad situation,” he said.

He agrees that when kids are learning from home, the onus to prevent cheating is mostly on parents.

“We are not programmed for distance learning,” said Anglin, whose school district is located 12 miles west of Enid. “We are programmed to have the kids there, where we can see their faces, we can read their eyes, we can tell if they are still engaged. We can see if they’re looking around to see if anybody’s watching while they’ve got their phone in their lap.”

Researchers at the National Education Policy Center, a research center at the University of Colorado Boulder, found that relying on a computer program to teach and assess is one of the most detrimental aspects of online education.

The researchers found these programs actually impede and marginalize the teacher’s role. “Teachers may be unable to see how their students earned the designation of mastery of a goal because in some applications, the software, not the teacher, determines questions asked and the grades assigned,” they wrote in a   2019 report .

They also found that students would just look up answers on their computers — in a separate browser or on a smartphone — while taking assessments. The students quickly realize a computer is easy to trick compared to a human teacher.

This is at the heart of the cheating issue. Are students spending school days engaged in live lessons with a local teacher who is crafting curriculum to meet their needs? Or are they watching videos that explain content and clicking through multiple choice questions?

Katie Harris teaches senior English at Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy, a statewide virtual school run by the national company K12, Inc. In her first year, students turned in a lot of plagiarized essays, she said. Now, she knows she has to rewrite her lessons, assignments, quizzes and tests every year.

“I say, ‘look, if I Google this exact writing prompt, I can find whole essays online. Don’t do that,’” she said.

K12 schools use their own virtual curriculum, not Edgenuity or Exact Path. A plagiarism detection service, Turnitin, automatically scans students’ work.

At Epic Charter Schools, the state’s largest virtual school, teachers can be responsible for students in all grades and subjects — and outside what they are certified to teach. Families can choose from more than a dozen learning platforms (Edgenuity and Exact Path among them), making it particularly difficult to supplement or build their own course.

To prevent cheating, Epic teachers proctor students’ benchmarking tests — in person, if possible, or via video conference, said Shelly Hickman, a spokeswoman for Epic. Teachers also can investigate if there are major discrepancies in a student’s scores on daily work compared to the proctored exams.

But Epic teachers are only   required to meet   with students face-to-face once every three weeks. Some teachers will meet more frequently, depending on the families’ needs.

Online Classes Create a ‘Psychological Distance’

Psychologists who study human behavior have found that most people will cheat — not a lot, but a little. Researcher Dan Ariely calls this the   “fudge factor.” 

Ariely, a professor at Duke University and author of the book   “The Honest Truth About Dishonesty,”   explains how and why cheating in online courses is easier than in a physical classroom.

“Gone are the quaint days of minutely lettered cheat sheets, formulas written on the underside of baseball cap bills, sweat-smeared key words on students’ palms. Now it’s just a student sitting alone at home, looking up answers online and simply filling them in,” he wrote in   this article   eight years ago, when virtual schools were still fairly new to Oklahoma.

He says the physical distance provided by online classes — distance from the teacher, the students, and the school building — creates a psychological distance that “allows people to further relax their moral standards.”

It’s also true that cheating exists on a continuum. Wursten, for instance, drew the line at automating quiz and test answers — the graded content.

Wursten, who graduated in 2019 and is now certified to work in IT, still adds features to his program — called Edgentweaks — as a “fun side project,” and because he wants to help other students avoid the drudgery he once faced.

Meanwhile, Edgenuity has patched his hacks in a virtual game of cat and mouse.

“I’ve found ways that I could automatically get the correct answers for things like tests and quizzes, but I did not actually write a tweak for it because I consider that cheating,” Wursten said. “I don’t intend to actually make a cheat tool.”

Even apps and websites created to assist students on their virtual learning path have been co-opted into cheat tools.

Brainly has a smartphone app that lets students scan homework or test questions, and answers pop up immediately. On Quizlet, another homework help website, entire test keys are posted and shared among students. Even pre-written essays are easily found, students say. Photomath, another app, produces not only the answer to a math problem, but all the steps needed for students to show their work.

Brainly and Quizlet have policies against cheating. But that’s unlikely to deter students, whether they are enrolled in a virtual school or are attending class face-to-face.

Mackenzie Snovel, who graduated from Owasso last year, said she found 90% of the answers for her senior English and history classes online — and even used Brainly to complete her final exam.

She said she didn’t see an issue with looking up answers because “they were classes I needed to graduate and none of that information I will need in my career.”

Technology is No Substitute

With students and teachers separated by distance, some of the academic integrity responsibility falls to the IT department.

They block websites known to be used for cheating. They may facilitate online exam proctoring, where students are monitored while taking a test through their webcam.

At Union Public Schools near Tulsa, the district has implemented several of these security measures but only on school-owned devices. Most students can easily access another device, though.

While Union is using Edgenuity for all middle and high school students who chose virtual this year, teachers will be adding in extra assignments to supplement the online tool, said Gart Morris, the district’s executive director of instructional technology.

“The curriculum in Edgenuity is limited,” he said. “Our own teachers are beefing up the curriculum to meet our standards.”

The district has about 2,700 middle and high school students who chose virtual learning this year. He believes the best tool to combat cheating is cementing the student to teacher relationships.

“It’s always a challenge to get one step ahead. There’s thousands of them and there’s not thousands of us,” Morris said. “You can look at technology in a way to try to prevent cheating but nothing works as well as a good solid relationship between students and an adult.”

Oklahoma Watch reporter Whitney Bryen contributed to this report.

This story is part of a collaboration with  Oklahoma Watch  through FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Jennifer Palmer , Oklahoma Watch

More stories.

Russian Artist Whose Anti-War Protest Was Featured in FRONTLINE Documentary Is Released in Historic Prisoner Swap

“Germany’s Enemy Within” Filmmaker on the Surge of the Far Right and Political Divides in a Country Grappling With its Nazi Past

Why an Influential Figure in Germany's Far-Right AfD Party Is Accused of 'Whitewashing' Nazi Crimes

The 48 Hours of Confusion, Chaos and Fear After Maine’s Deadliest Mass Shooting Raise Questions About Police Training

Next on frontline, biden's decision, get our newsletter, follow frontline, frontline newsletter, we answer to no one but you.

You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations.

I'm already subscribed

The FRONTLINE Dispatch

Don't miss an episode. sign-up for the frontline dispatch newsletter., sign-up for the unresolved newsletter..

• Digital Offerings
• Biochemistry
• College Success
• Communication
• Electrical Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Mathematics
• Nutrition and Health
• Philosophy and Religion
• Our Mission
• Our Leadership
• Accessibility
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
• Learning Science
• Sustainability
• Affordable Solutions
• Curriculum Solutions
• Inclusive Access
• Lab Solutions
• LMS Integration
• Instructor Resources
• iClicker and Your Content
• Badging and Credidation
• Press Release
• Learning Stories Blog
• Discussions
• The Discussion Board
• Webinars on Demand
• Digital Community
• Macmillan Learning Peer Consultants
• Macmillan Learning Digital Blog
• Learning Science Research
• Macmillan Learning Peer Consultant Forum
• The Institute at Macmillan Learning
• Professional Development Blog
• Teaching With Generative AI: A Course for Educators (Start date May 13th, 2024)
• Teaching With Generative AI: A Course for Educators (Start date July 8, 2024)
• Teaching with Generative AI: Course Alumni
• English Community
• Achieve Adopters Forum
• Hub Adopters Group
• Psychology Community
• Psychology Blog
• Talk Psych Blog
• History Community
• History Blog
• Communication Community
• Communication Blog
• College Success Community
• College Success Blog
• Economics Community
• Economics Blog
• Institutional Solutions Community
• Institutional Solutions Blog
• Handbook for iClicker Administrators
• Nutrition Community
• Nutrition Blog
• Lab Solutions Community
• Lab Solutions Blog
• STEM Community
• STEM Achieve Adopters Forum
• Contact Us & FAQs
• Find Your Rep
• Training & Demos
• First Day of Class
• For Booksellers
• International Translation Rights
• Permissions
• Report Piracy

Digital Products

Instructor catalog, our solutions.

• Macmillan Community

Tips to Prevent Cheating on Homework in Achieve

• Subscribe to RSS Feed
• Mark as New
• Mark as Read
• Printer Friendly Page
• Report Inappropriate Content

You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.

• Abnormal Psychology 1
• Achieve 159
• Achieve Read & Practice 23
• Achieve Release Notes 17
• Assessment 14
• Flipping the Classroom 9
• Getting Started 54
• LaunchPad 12
• LearningCurve 19
• Psychology 1
• Sapling Learning 14
• « Previous
• Next »

Trending Post : 12 Powerful Discussion Strategies to Engage Students

Why Students Cheat on Homework and How to Prevent It

One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching in today’s world is the cheating epidemic. There’s nothing more irritating than getting halfway through grading a large stack of papers only to realize some students cheated on the assignment. There’s really not much point in teachers grading work that has a high likelihood of having been copied or otherwise unethically completed. So. What is a teacher to do? We need to be able to assess students. Why do students cheat on homework, and how can we address it?

Like most new teachers, I learned the hard way over the course of many years of teaching that it is possible to reduce cheating on homework, if not completely prevent it. Here are six suggestions to keep your students honest and to keep yourself sane.

ASSIGN LESS HOMEWORK

One of the reasons students cheat on homework is because they are overwhelmed. I remember vividly what it felt like to be a high school student in honors classes with multiple extracurricular activities on my plate. Other teens have after school jobs to help support their families, and some don’t have a home environment that is conducive to studying.

While cheating is  never excusable under any circumstances, it does help to walk a mile in our students’ shoes. If they are consistently making the decision to cheat, it might be time to reduce the amount of homework we are assigning.

I used to give homework every night – especially to my advanced students. I wanted to push them. Instead, I stressed them out. They wanted so badly to be in the Top 10 at graduation that they would do whatever they needed to do in order to complete their assignments on time – even if that meant cheating.

When assigning homework, consider the at-home support, maturity, and outside-of-school commitments involved. Think about the kind of school and home balance you would want for your own children. Go with that.

PROVIDE CLASS TIME

Allowing students time in class to get started on their assignments seems to curb cheating to some extent. When students have class time, they are able to knock out part of the assignment, which leaves less to fret over later. Additionally, it gives them an opportunity to ask questions.

When students are confused while completing assignments at home, they often seek “help” from a friend instead of going in early the next morning to request guidance from the teacher. Often, completing a portion of a homework assignment in class gives students the confidence that they can do it successfully on their own. Plus, it provides the social aspect of learning that many students crave. Instead of fighting cheating outside of class , we can allow students to work in pairs or small groups  in class to learn from each other.

Plus, to prevent students from wanting to cheat on homework, we can extend the time we allow them to complete it. Maybe students would work better if they have multiple nights to choose among options on a choice board. Home schedules can be busy, so building in some flexibility to the timeline can help reduce pressure to finish work in a hurry.

GIVE MEANINGFUL WORK

If you find students cheat on homework, they probably lack the vision for how the work is beneficial. It’s important to consider the meaningfulness and valuable of the assignment from students’ perspectives. They need to see how it is relevant to them.

In my class, I’ve learned to assign work that cannot be copied. I’ve never had luck assigning worksheets as homework because even though worksheets have value, it’s generally not obvious to teenagers. It’s nearly impossible to catch cheating on worksheets that have “right or wrong” answers. That’s not to say I don’t use worksheets. I do! But. I use them as in-class station, competition, and practice activities, not homework.

So what are examples of more effective and meaningful types of homework to assign?

• Ask students to complete a reading assignment and respond in writing .
• Have students watch a video clip and answer an oral entrance question.
• Require that students contribute to an online discussion post.
• Assign them a reflection on the day’s lesson in the form of a short project, like a one-pager or a mind map.

As you can see, these options require unique, valuable responses, thereby reducing the opportunity for students to cheat on them. The more open-ended an assignment is, the more invested students need to be to complete it well.

DIFFERENTIATE

Part of giving meaningful work involves accounting for readiness levels. Whenever we can tier assignments or build in choice, the better. A huge cause of cheating is when work is either too easy (and students are bored) or too hard (and they are frustrated). Getting to know our students as learners can help us to provide meaningful differentiation options. Plus, we can ask them!

This is what you need to be able to demonstrate the ability to do. How would you like to show me you can do it?

REDUCE THE POINT VALUE

If you’re sincerely concerned about students cheating on assignments, consider reducing the point value. Reflect on your grading system.

Are homework grades carrying so much weight that students feel the need to cheat in order to maintain an A? In a standards-based system, will the assignment be a key determining factor in whether or not students are proficient with a skill?

Each teacher has to do what works for him or her. In my classroom, homework is worth the least amount out of any category. If I assign something for which I plan on giving completion credit, the point value is even less than it typically would be. Projects, essays, and formal assessments count for much more.

CREATE AN ETHICAL CULTURE

To some extent, this part is out of educators’ hands. Much of the ethical and moral training a student receives comes from home. Still, we can do our best to create a classroom culture in which we continually talk about integrity, responsibility, honor, and the benefits of working hard. What are some specific ways can we do this?

Building Community and Honestly

• Talk to students about what it means to cheat on homework. Explain to them that there are different kinds. Many students are unaware, for instance, that the “divide and conquer (you do the first half, I’ll do the second half, and then we will trade answers)” is cheating.
• As a class, develop expectations and consequences for students who decide to take short cuts.
• Decorate your room with motivational quotes that relate to honesty and doing the right thing.
• Discuss how making a poor decision doesn’t make you a bad person. It is an opportunity to grow.
• Share with students that you care about them and their futures. The assignments you give them are intended to prepare them for success.
• Offer them many different ways to seek help from you if and when they are confused.
• Provide revision opportunities for homework assignments.
• Explain that you partner with their parents and that guardians will be notified if cheating occurs.
• Explore hypothetical situations.  What if you have a late night? Let’s pretend you don’t get home until after orchestra and Lego practices. You have three hours of homework to do. You know you can call your friend, Bob, who always has his homework done. How do you handle this situation?

EDUCATE ABOUT PLAGIARISM

Many students don’t realize that plagiarism applies to more than just essays. At the beginning of the school year, teachers have an energized group of students, fresh off of summer break. I’ve always found it’s easiest to motivate my students at this time. I capitalize on this opportunity by beginning with a plagiarism mini unit .

While much of the information we discuss is about writing, I always make sure my students know that homework can be plagiarized. Speeches can be plagiarized. Videos can be plagiarized. Anything can be plagiarized, and the repercussions for stealing someone else’s ideas (even in the form of a simple worksheet) are never worth the time saved by doing so.

In an ideal world, no one would cheat. However, teaching and learning in the 21st century is much different than it was fifty years ago. Cheating? It’s increased. Maybe because of the digital age… the differences in morals and values of our culture…  people are busier. Maybe because students don’t see how the school work they are completing relates to their lives.

No matter what the root cause, teachers need to be proactive. We need to know why students feel compelled to cheat on homework and what we can do to help them make learning for beneficial. Personally, I don’t advocate for completely eliminating homework with older students. To me, it has the potential to teach students many lessons both related to school and life. Still, the “right” answer to this issue will be different for each teacher, depending on her community, students, and culture.

STRATEGIES FOR ADDRESSING CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS IN SECONDARY

You are so right about communicating the purpose of the assignment and giving students time in class to do homework. I also use an article of the week on plagiarism. I give students points for the learning – not the doing. It makes all the difference. I tell my students why they need to learn how to do “—” for high school or college or even in life experiences. Since, they get an A or F for the effort, my students are more motivated to give it a try. No effort and they sit in my class to work with me on the assignment. Showing me the effort to learn it — asking me questions about the assignment, getting help from a peer or me, helping a peer are all ways to get full credit for the homework- even if it’s not complete. I also choose one thing from each assignment for the test which is a motivator for learning the material – not just “doing it.” Also, no one is permitted to earn a D or F on a test. Any student earning an F or D on a test is then required to do a project over the weekend or at lunch or after school with me. All of this reinforces the idea – learning is what is the goal. Giving students options to show their learning is also important. Cheating is greatly reduced when the goal is to learn and not simply earn the grade.

Thanks for sharing your unique approaches, Sandra! Learning is definitely the goal, and getting students to own their learning is key.

Comments are closed.

Get the latest in your inbox!

• Share full article

The Interview

Vince Vaughn Turned This Interview Into Self-Help

Credit... Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times

Supported by

By David Marchese

• Aug. 3, 2024

The Vince Vaughn who lives in my head is one of my favorite comedic actors. He’s the swaggering, charmingly sarcastic and cheerily ingratiating star of that great run of hit comedies from the early 2000s: “ Old School, ” “ Dodgeball ,” “ Wedding Crashers ,” “ The Break-Up .” (His cameo in “Anchorman” and recurring role as Freddy Funkhouser on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are also prime comedic Vaughniana.) And putting my own preferences aside, I’d argue that there’s a whole microgeneration of dudes who tried to swipe the neo-Rat Pack vibes that Vaughn was able to deploy so winningly in “ Swingers .”

Listen to the Conversation With Vince Vaughn

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music | NYT Audio App

In more recent years, though, after the often R-rated, kind of bro-y comedies with which Vaughn made his mark lost some of their cultural mojo, he has focused more on dramatic roles: the highly anticipated, widely maligned and then critically reconsidered second season of “True Detective,” for example, or his performances in the brutally uncompromising crime films of the director S. Craig Zahler (“ Brawl in Cell Block 99 ,” “ Dragged Across Concrete ”).

But as good as Vaughn can be with darker characters, I never connected those parts to the man who played them. Ahead of our interview, I made the perhaps-common journalist’s mistake of expecting to talk with someone akin to the playfully glib guy from those comedies I love. (That’s in no small part thanks to how Vaughn’s role as a world-weary, wiseass former detective in the new Apple TV+ series “Bad Monkey” scans as a mature update of his comedic persona.) But what I was expecting from Vaughn wasn’t what I got. Instead, I found someone more provocative and earnest, who came most alive when he put me under the conversational microscope. Which is to say, I got a surprise.

Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with R-rated comedies anymore. Why do you think they’ve become harder to crack? When you talk about the R comedies in Hollywood, I feel like there’s a set of rules that the executives follow. The goal is not to get fired — they can defend why they greenlit something. The R comedies that took off was the studio saying to young people that were funny, “Go ahead.” They didn’t micromanage. We were on the sets changing lines and trying to make each other laugh. It’s not done as well by committee. They started managing everything too much and trying to control it all.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Advertisement

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Is finding answers and paraphrasing cheating?

Sometimes I have trouble coming to conclusions on my own sometimes and I really do love learning but...

I sometimes scour the internet looking for answers to homework questions and then paraphrase them. I honestly retain and understand better from this, although I know I'm avoiding penalties by doing it.

Do you think this would violate an academic integrity policy? I am never copying the answers, strictly putting them in my own words, and often shortening them to the main points.

• 8 I honestly retain and understand better from this . Hmm, this sounds like a rationalization. One of the skills that doing homework is supposed to help you develop is to have ideas on your own and figure out how to explain them. You’ll never develop that ability by paraphrasing someone else’s answer. All this stuff about academic integrity policies is a distraction. If you love learning and want to become a smart, articulate person, you’re going to want to start weaning yourself off of using search engines for homework help. –  Dan Romik Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 6:16
• 1 See also this answer (specific to the context of studying math, but a bit related). –  Dan Romik Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 6:22
• 9 I see what you’re saying, but consider the possibility that you’re stuck in a vicious cycle where because you have neglected to develop your independent problem-solving ability, you take longer than you should (and have a very hard time) solving problems on your own, which leads you to feel pressured into looking up answers online, which leads to you not getting better at independent problem-solving, and so on ad infinitum. I’m not saying that’s your problem, obviously I don’t know you and don’t know what subject you’re studying. But it’s definitely a thing that happens to some people. –  Dan Romik Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 6:46
• 1 @DanRomik, make it an answer. Please. You've caught all the right elements. –  Buffy Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 16:25
• 1 @Buffy I appreciate the suggestion, but I haven’t answered OP’s actual question, which is about academic integrity. I’ll leave it as a comment for now. –  Dan Romik Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 16:37

3 Answers 3

Nobody can answer this question except your instructor. Academic integrity policies vary wildly from one course to the next. Some instructors explicitly allow consulting outside sources; others explicitly forbid it, even with proper citation. Which policies are appropriate, and in which contexts, depends on the class.

If you find yourself unwilling to ask your instructor, for example because you think even asking the question might get into trouble or subject your work to additional unwanted scrutiny, that's an excellent sign that you believe it's cheating. But if you think it's cheating, you're not going to do it. (Right?) So you have nothing to fear by asking the instructor.

• The advice in the last paragraph seems to be people- and location specific. (Are you in the US, by any chance?) I knew a few old school profs who belived their policies on that matter would be universal - asking them would make them mad because in their view, you should know the answer from your high school education. –  user111388 Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 5:35
• Yes, I'm in the US. This might be a yet another example of Ask Culture vs Guess Culture , or in the context of teaching, There-Are-No-Stupid-Questions culture versus That's-A-Stupid-Question culture. –  JeffE Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 19:59

I will be a bit more direct than the other answers.

Do you think this would violate an academic integrity policy?

Most likely, yes, this is considered cheating. JeffE is correct that it depends on course policy. However, for most courses, looking up the answer to a problem and then paraphrasing it in your own words is not allowed. Especially without crediting the source. So check with your instructor, but unfortunately, you are already in the gray area of probably violating the rules.

I honestly retain and understand better from this

Are you sure this is true? It does sound like you are rationalizing. This depends a lot on the subject, and probably on the person, so we cannot judge for sure. However, it is very common to feel like one is learning by reading / paraphrasing the answers, and to not actually be learning; then you only find out a few weeks later when you are presented with an exam problem (or try to solve a problem without internet aid), and find you are stuck on the very basics.

It also depends on how much effort you put in before looking up the solution online. If you are articulating exactly where you are stuck and actively involved in the learning process, this can be effective. But if you are only passively involved (only trying to find the answer, rather than to grasp and discover for yourself the underlying concepts), then this is not effective.

If you are citing your sources, it's not cheating, although you should heed the advice given by Dan Romik in the comments.

If you are using, including paraphrasing, the words or ideas of others without giving appropriate credit, that's plagiarism, which is a form of academic misconduct.

• 3 Agreed, but the instructor gets to define "cheating". It can go beyond things like plagiarism. –  Buffy Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 13:35
• 2 I agree with this, but note for the first point that just because it's not cheating doesn't mean you'll get full points for it. –  Nate Eldredge Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 23:40
• 1 @NateEldredge Yes. If, for example, the assignment says, "Your own work only; no outside resources," and you cite your outside resources, you'll probably get zero points, but you will not have committed plagiarism. "Cheating" is a broad term, and for that reason, I like JeffE's answer better than my own. –  Bob Brown Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 15:35

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged homework ..

• Featured on Meta
• We've made changes to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy - July 2024
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process

Hot Network Questions

• How do I make aligned equations with multiple "&" to not have unnecessary spaces?
• Was the idea of foxes with many tails invented in anime, or is it a Japanese folk religion thing?
• What logical fallacy is an accusation of "ad hominem" attacks?
• Why have SIGPIPE when EPIPE exists?
• What is this usage of 安全ライン?
• Jurisdiction: Can police officers open mail addressed to a stranger?
• Are there any non-conjugation "extendible automorphisms" in the category of finite groups?
• Which programming language first used negative indexing to mean counting from the end?
• Applications take a few seconds to open, but only the first time I open them
• Why do repeating 8's show up more often in these decimals of square roots?
• Thomson's lamp: a useless paradox?
• Can an insult be defamation per se?
• Can I replace this resistor (in USB adapter that plugs to mains) with this other resistor?
• Is there any family history for Klaus Stortebeker?
• Singed Random Numbers
• isomorphism and surjection of sheaves of rings
• Is the outcome of this quantum circuit correct and if so why?
• Why this call to DSolve gives this error in V 14.1?
• What techniques are there for preventing radio-signal replay attacks?
• parallelStream with collect method()
• ORCA 6 slower than ORCA 5?
• Do the well-ordered sets of a model of ZF form a model of ZFC?
• How can I count frequency of a list faster?
• Why can't there be an infinite number of simple objects in an anyon model?

Olympic boxer at center of gender eligibility controversy wins bizarre first bout

PARIS – Algeria's Imane Khelif, one of two female Olympic boxers disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing gender eligibility tests, entered the ring Thursday at the Paris Games .

Her bout ended in abrupt and bizarre fashion.

Khelif prevailed when Italy’s Angela Carini stopped fighting after 46 seconds.

Carini was punched in the nose and shortly afterward said she didn't want to fight anymore, according to Italian coach Emanuele Renzini

"After one punch she feel big pain,'' Renzini told reporters,.

Carini wept when speaking with reporters after the fight and spoke only in Italian. Translation of her comments was not immediately available.

But Renzini said Carini had been told not to take the fight and it had been weighing on her as the bout approached.

During the first round, Carini consulted with her coach twice before the fight was halted. Officially, Khelif won by ABD (abandoned).

Opinion: Olympic female boxers are being attacked. Let's just slow down and look at the facts

The crowd at North Paris Arena greeted Khelif with cheers before the abbreviated fight at the Summer Olympics and several Algeria flags were seen among the crowd. The fight in the welterweight division at 66 kg (146 pounds) was scheduled for three three-minute rounds.

The issue of gender eligibility criteria surfaced at the 2023 world championships when Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan both won medals in the women’s competition before tournament officials announced the boxers had failed gender eligibility tests. They were stripped of their medals.

This week the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the two boxers met criteria to compete in Paris, sparking discussion about gender eligibility tests .

Get Olympics updates in your texts!  Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel

The world championships are overseen by the International Boxing Association (IBA), long plagued with scandal and controversy.

Last year the IOC banished the IBA and developed an ad-hoc unit that ran the Olympic boxing tournament at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and is doing the same here.

The IOC did not detail the criteria met by Khelif and Yu-Ting to compete here and in Tokyo, but did say the boxers’ passports state they are women.

Yu-Ting, 28, is scheduled to begin competition Friday against Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in the featherweight division at 57 kg (126 pounds).

Are you as obsessed with following Team USA as we are? Thought so. Subscribe to our Olympics newsletter Chasing Gold here. 

Put a stop to deadline pressure, and have your homework done by an expert.

Want To Learn How To Cheat On Homework?

Google reveals that hundreds of thousands of students are searching for “how to cheat on homework” every month. We are not talking just about US students. Everywhere around the word, people want to find a method to pass their tests and exams quickly and with top grades. Even more students are looking for a way to finish their homework and school chores as fast as possible. Searches for a homework cheat app have skyrocketed over the past year. However, the sad reality is that a universal homework cheat doesn’t exist. There is no system and no strategy that will work all the time and for every kind of test or school assignment. The good news is that there is a way to get an edge over all your peers. We’ll talk about this in a bit.

Why Do You Want to Learn How to Cheat on Homework?

The first thing you need to understand is the reasons behind your need for homework cheat websites. Why do you want to learn how to cheat on homework exactly? If you are like most students, the probable reasons are as follows:

• You have too much homework and you need to complete your homework in a day or two.
• You don’t feel like you are prepared for the next test or exam and you are worried that you may fail it.
• You have WebAssign homework and you are trying to figure out how to cheat on Webassign homework.
• You don’t know much about the subject matter, but you need a top grade on your homework. Hence your search for “how to cheat on your homework.”
• Math is your least favorite class. It’s only normal to want to learn how to cheat on math homework.

What Are Homework Cheat Websites?

During your search for a way to cheat the on your homework or your tests, you’ve probably came across homework cheat websites. But what are these websites exactly? There are basically two types of sites: the ones you can trust and all the others. Many of the ones you can’t trust will guarantee you the best MyMathlab homework cheat. Or they will tell you they have all the answers to WebAssign questions. This is impossible, pure and simple. And then there are homework cheat sites that offer to sell you prewritten essays on whatever topic you may need. Keep in mind that these sites will sell the same academic paper to dozens of students. This is precisely why they are able to ask for such a low price for each essay. You will only get in trouble if you buy this kind of papers. Plagiarism will get you a very serious penalty from your professor and possible from the school as well. Be careful!

How to Cheat on Your Homework: Best Tips

While there is no universal MyMathlab cheat for homework available, there are ways to cheat on your homework. Here are the best possible solutions to your problem:

• Copy the answers. You can copy the homework from a friend, as long as the answers are not online. If they are online, your professor can catch you pretty easily.
• Work as a group. Each person in the group writes the answers in his own words so that no two answers are the same.
• Find the answers on the Internet. However, you need to change their wording so your teacher can’t catch you.
• Get essays from older students. In most cases, professors will assign the same papers year after year.
• Rewrite. If you need to write an essay, you can simply translate all the sentences in your own words to make the paper original.
• Cheat apps. You can try one of the many homework cheat apps, but remember that they have limited applications.

The Best of All the Homework Solutions

Getting homework cheats is not very difficult. It is definitely doable, especially considering the fact that there are dozens of homework solutions online. The problem is the multitude of e-learning and e-testing platforms like MyMathlab, WebAssign, Seneca Learning & Revision, Show my Homework, and so on. These are very difficult to cheat because a homework solutions website can’t possibly have all the answers. And no, you won’t find free homework answers anywhere, especially because the questions are being changed on a weekly or monthly basis.

The solution is to use a real-time homework helper. In other words, a writing company will assign you an expert who will give you all the homework answers in real time. Yes, this includes math homework answers. The professional writer will be online with you and all you have to do is send him each question and wait for the answer. Quick, simple and effective! This is the only one of the dozens of homework solutions that really works every time.

No, It’s Not Dangerous

Of course, you are probably worried about getting caught. Getting all the geometry homework answers right may seem a bit odd. However, nobody will ever be able to demonstrate that you’ve received help. To make things less obvious, you can submit funny homework answers here and there. Make a few deliberate mistakes, but make sure the final grade is exactly what you need. And keep in mind that in order to be 100% risk-free, the homework helper solutions should be provided by an established, professional assignment service .

No time to deal with upcoming assignment? Don’t worry – our geeks can help! Enter promo “ mygeek20 ” and get a 20% discount off your next writing assignment!

Get on top of your homework.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

How to do your homework in The Sims 4

Graduate with good grades by staying on top of your teen Sim's schoolwork.

Whether your younger Sims are child prodigies or avid ditchers, chances are, you've dealt with quite a few popups encouraging them to do their homework . It's easy to forget about their homework, lose it, or even sell it by accident. Plus it's just time consuming to complete (and uneventful to watch), making it all around difficult to keep Sims' grades up if they have virtually any other responsibilities or hobbies.

Despite being a pain for a lot of busy Sims, homework is crucial to getting your kids good grades and boosting their skills. Or, if your older Sims are in university through the Discover University pack, it's absolutely necessary to avoid getting that terrifying academic probation warning at the end of a term.

Here's everything you'll need to know about doing your homework in The Sims 4, including how to do it at all ages, how to get new homework if you've misplaced it, and how to speed up the process.

To get a child or teen Sim to do their homework, open your Sim's inventory, locate their homework book (it'll be orange if your Sim is a child and blue if they're older) and click the "Do Homework" option. If you're tired of your Sims doing homework in weird places—mine always go straight to their parents' offices—you can also drag their homework from their inventory, place it where you want in the house, and click on it to "Do Homework" there instead.

As your Sims work their way up the educational ladder and become B students, they'll earn the option to do extra credit after their usual homework, which you'll do in the same way as regular homework and will deliver a helpful boost to their school standing.This process is a bit different if your Sim is in University via the Discover University pack. You can still find their homework in their inventory, but just like in real life, any Sim in university will have a much heavier homework load with homework for every class. Depending on the class, they'll also have final exams to study for and term presentations and papers to prepare, so make sure to get a head start!

Besides completing their usual booklets, there are a few extra ways for younger Sims to get their homework done that come with different packs. If you have the My First Pet Stuff pack, your child Sims can complete their homework by interacting with a hamster (or other hamster-esque pet) and clicking "Study Rodent," which is an especially adorable interaction to watch. I'm a big fan of giving all my kids pet rats and hedgehogs so they can get their homework while bonding with their little friends.

If you have the Parenthood pack, every Monday, your grade school and high school aged Sims will come home with school projects. To do these, you'll want to drag them into the world and then interact with them. You'll get to choose between working on them carefully or sloppily, and other Sims can pitch in as well to speed up the process (and even win the project's owner some extra credit).

Where'd your Sim's homework go?

If your Sim is missing their homework book, here are a few things that might have happened to it:

• It might have been stashed in the family inventory in Build Mode
• They left it at an entirely different lot
• You accidentally sold it (for a whopping 1 Simoleon!)

If you can't find your Sim's homework for the night, it likely wasn't a teacher's act of kindness and you'll need to buy them a new booklet. Sims won't get new homework when they head to school again. You can replace missing homework by using any bookshelf and clicking the "Purchase Books" option and selecting homework. If your Sim is in university, you can also buy them a new homework book via the kiosks found around campus.

How to do homework faster in The Sims 4

There are also a few ways you can speed up your Sim's homework times, which is especially useful if you're attempting to raise a well-rounded kid by squeezing in other after school activities. The best way of doing this, though, is simply by doing your homework as often as possible. As your Sims' grades improve, this option will change to "Breeze Through Homework" and eventually "Dominate Homework," allowing them to knock out their homework a lot faster.

Having your Sims' parents help them with their homework is also always a good idea—it'll speed the process up quite a bit and allow your Sims to bond in the process. If you have more kids than older Sims in the household, you can always invite over some adults from the town to help, which is a little weird in practice, but hey! It works.

If you're playing with Discover University, the Study Spot lot trait helps students of all ages do their homework faster and lets them work for longer without getting tired. Giving a lot you're living in this trait is always a good option to save on travel time, but if you'd rather not change your own lot's traits, the library in Britechester comes with this trait and is just a gorgeous spot to study in.

Lastly, having some Simanite (a crystal from the Crystal Creations pack) can help your Sims get homework done faster.

Sims 4 cheats : Life hacks Sims 4 mods : Play your way Sims 4 CC : Custom content Sims 5 : What we know Sims 4 building tips : Renovate Sims 4 challenges : New rules

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer and game developer who loves all things indie and Nintendo. They’ve contributed guides, news, and features to sites like IGN, Polygon, and Fanbyte and also serve as the editor of Ringtone, a blog about the internet’s weirdest music. When Amelia isn’t writing, going to concerts, or getting a little too invested in fishing minigames, they’re developing a small game called Garage Sale.

How to write songs in The Sims 4 with your Sim's instrument of choice

How to age up an infant in The Sims 4 with either a cake or a cheat

Valve unintentionally set the stage for today's digital economic hellscape, according to its former economist in residence

Most Popular

• 2 Best RAM for gaming in 2024: I've tested the best DDR4 and DDR5 RAM to find the right kits for you
• 3 Best ultrawide monitor for gaming in 2024: the expansive panels I recommend for PC gamers
• 4 Best wireless gaming keyboard in 2024
• 5 Best gaming laptops in 2024: I've had my pick of portable powerhouses and these are the best
• 2 Ducky Zero 6108 review
• 3 Asus ROG Azoth Extreme review
• 4 Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC review
• 5 Earth Defense Force 6 review: a masterclass in asset recycling