It is important to understand what motivates students to cheat because having alternative solutions to the pressures that lead good students to be dishonest may be helpful as you work to encourage your students towards moral behavior. Below is a list of the most commonly expressed reasons for student cheating.
Performance concerns
Need to excel at any cost
External pressures
Academic
Semester workload too heavy
Others’ cheating puts me at disadvantage
Professor/text did not adequately explain material
Too many tests on one day
Nonacademic
Pressure from parents
Job leaves no time for study
Illness prevents adequate preparation
GPA for athletic qualification
Financial aid depends on GPA
Good grades needed for job or graduate school
Unfair professors
Overly harsh grading
Unfair tests designed to fail students
Unreasonable workload in course
Lack of effort
Did not attend class
Did not study, do reading, etc.
Adherence to other loyalties
Helping a friend
Loyalty to a group (fraternity)
All’s fair in love and academia
Opportunity
Unexpected opportunity arose
Instructor left room during exam
Instructor wasn’t watching carefully
Other students didn’t cover their paper
Campus ethos
Others do it
No one ever really gets punished/caught