P5 - Is Deyes ready for the cheat watch?

IS DEYES READY FOR THE CHEAT WATCH?

In recent years, there has been a massive advancement in technology. This has resulted in many aspects of daily life being affected in a variety of ways. One of these being the aptly named cheat watch. This is an electronic device that at first glance looks like a standard smart watch, however is perfectly designed for reading notes created specifically for exams. The cheat watch comes in two forms, a smart watch version that digitally stores information that can be easily accessed upon demand and an analogue clock which flips up with storage for written notes. Both watches are valued at £23.69 on Amazon and are described as being “specifically designed for cheating on exams”. The watches are causing controversy recently as they have been used on various occasions across the UK by pupils in their exams.

I recently spoke to head of sixth form Mr Delaney who has been working at local secondary school Deyes High for 17 years. We discussed the recent introduction of the cheat watch and whether it has affected Deyes in anyway. He strongly believes that the cheat watch is not a problem in exams and doesn’t believe it ever will be. He said during the interview “No, I don’t think they are a problem, we’ve got an exam structure and exam invigilators that ensure the management of each exam is done where it would be impossible to cheat”. He continued to explain how recent exam rule changes have resulted in stricter guidelines when sitting an exam. These new rules include; having hair tied back so ears are visible, clear pencil cases and sleeves must be rolled up to ensure that forearms and wrists are showing. This furthers Mr Delaney’s argument as stricter exam rules have drastically made it more difficult for students to cheat in exams. We continued to discuss the cheat watch and he suggested that more regulations should be considered, to be 100% certain that pupils cannot cheat using the watch, however, he said during the interview “you can’t get students doing exams in boiler suits can you?!”. This hinted towards the fact that rules to stop specifically cheat watches haven’t yet been introduced.

Later that day I got the chance to speak to invigilator Ken Adams who has been moderating exams for 2 years now. Ken knew all about the cheat watch but had also never seen it when invigilating exams in Deyes High, or any other school for that matter. However, he told me an anecdote of his friend who was invigilating in a school in Southampton and she witnessed the cheat watch in action. “The student wasn’t very subtle!” he added. Ken also went on to agreeing with Mr Delaney regarding recent exam changes and the fact that as they may have become stricter, the likelihood of cheating has massively decreased.

As a result of in depth research regarding the cheat watch and the problems faced by the introduction of this product I reached the conclusion that it is on the radar of Deyes High and due to the introduction of more recent rules and regulations regarding exams it is being efficiently dealt with. However, I do feel that more rules can be put into place to ensure the cheat watches decline. Overall, to answer the question, yes, Deyes is ready for the cheat watch.














The image in the top left of the page is my article and how it would look when printed.