Plymouth University to take down anti-cheating posters after they were found to be helping students cheat

The 'No Cheating' posters included formulae that could be used for maths exams

Universities usually do all they can to ensure that students do as well as possible in exams.

Practice papers, extra seminar classes and libraries staying open 24 hours a day are all part of the University service to try and help their students gain them crucial extra marks.

However, Plymouth University has gone over and above the call of duty, after it was found that posters put up in exam halls intended to stop students from cheating in exams, were, in fact, helping students cheat.

The University has had to remove their anti-cheating posters after one student claimed that the posters helped him gain 10% more marks than he would have done otherwise.

The unnamed student took to Reddit after his maths exam and said that the anti-cheating poster, which includes an image of a hand with mathematical formula scribbled all over it, helped boost his mark as those formulas present on the hand could be used in his maths exam.

The Plymouth student who identifies himself as hazzapp 123 on the news website posted a picture of the poster and wrote: "Just took a maths final with this on the wall of the exam room. It has formulas on that were needed in the exam. This poster got me an extra 10% on the paper."

The post was met with scepticism by officials at the University who said that the posters were too far away from students for them to be able to make out the formulas and use them during exams.

Speaking to the student newspaper The Tab, the University said "They were located in the exam hall at a distance where the individual formulae would not have been observable by any student taking their exam.”

Nevertheless, they did admit that the picture, which was taken from stock photography website Shutterstock, did include genuine mathematical formulae and as a result the University has decided to remove them for the rest of the exam period.

They said: "The posters used to remind students of the dangers of cheating contained official stock imagery, which included genuine mathematical formulae.

Adding: "In light of the concerns raised, however, the University has replaced the posters."