According to a recent report, cheating among college and university students is on the rise. However, Groveton College has successfully reduced student cheating by adopting an honor code, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic endeavors and to notify a faculty member if they suspect that others have cheated. Groveton's honor code replaced a system in which teachers closely monitored students; under that system, teachers reported an average of thirty cases of cheating per year. In the first year the honor code was in place, students reported twenty-one cases of cheating; five years later, this figure had dropped to fourteen. Moreover, in a recent survey, a majority of Groveton students said that they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without. Thus, all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's in order to decrease cheating among students.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
1. The drop in the absolute number of cases of cheating does not necessarily indicate cheating is less common
- The number of students each year is not shown. Maybe there are fewer students in the year where there was only 14 cases
2. The numbers of cheating between the first year and the fifth year are not given
- It is possible that there are a large number of cheating in these years so that the average number of cheating has actually not reduced
3. The number of cheating reported by the students is not necessarily true
- Because one student cannot see all other students during an exam, maybe he simply missed some cheatings
- Maybe he deliberately did not report because he did not want to get into trouble or wanted to abet the student who cheated
4. The survery does not necessarily show what the students really think
- Maybe honor codes actually made cheating even easier and the students want the university to keep it, so they claimed to be less likely to cheat under the honor code system
5. Even if the policy worked for Groveton College, it is not guaranteed to work for all other universities.
- Maybe students are more sly and tend to falsely report cheating at some university
- Maybe the parents strongly disagree with the idea at some university
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Comments
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for the feedback!
I have two questions:
If the prompts saids the number of xxx is only 1/2 that of xxx years ago, don't we always need to argue that this might not always indicate a drop? For example, it could be that xxx years ago xxx is unusually high, or this year xxx is unsually low, or we need to look at a few years in the future, or that between this year and xxx years ago, xxx could be very high?
When the prompts talks about the frequency of something and only presents an absolute number, do we always need to argue about the denominator? In this prompt it is possible that there are fewer students during the year when there are fewer cheating reported
For Q1:
For Q1:
Overall, we should not cast doubt on the number itself since it is not the time to test our math. Whenever there are some numbers in the topic, most likely we are asked to accept the numbers up or down because of reason A, which is the loophole. While the actual reason should be reason B or reason C which is our argument.
maximum we cast doubt on numbers because the sample is too small, for example, one day, one month...but still be sensitive.
For Q2:
As told in Q1, the numbers are used to mislead us. In this topic we have to accept the base students should be same, if not, the survey is wrong and it becomes an argument on math.
Okay, but I did find a lot of
Okay, but I did find a lot of people argue that way, some of which are supposed to be "sample essay"
Most of essays are rated by e
Most of essays are rated by e-grader who is a robot. It is not exactly correct. You may take them as reference, but keep your own ideas.
argument 1 -- not OK
argument 2 -- not OK
argument 3 -- not OK
argument 4 -- not OK
argument 5 -- OK
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Let's analyze the structure of the statement and argue accordingly:
condition 1:
...under that system, teachers reported an average of thirty cases of cheating per year. In the first year the honor code was in place, students reported twenty-one cases of cheating; five years later, this figure had dropped to fourteen. //The average number of cheating cases may have gone down due to numerous reasons, not just the honor code, like:
*students cheated and decided not to report it to the faculty members, hence bringing down the numbers of the average cases
*students had better morality level in those years...
*exams are relatively easier in those years...
*teachers are better qualified...
...
condition 2:
Moreover, in a recent survey, a majority of Groveton students said that they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without. //need to compare to the old system, how is the rate if teachers closely monitored students? maybe even more students said that they would be less likely to cheat.
conclusion:
Thus, all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's in order to decrease cheating among students. //your argument 5
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In GRE, we have to accept all data or evidence are true. It is important to find out loopholes behind surveys or studies. Loopholes mean that we accept all surveys told are true, but there are some conditions applied, for example:
It works for time A (10 years ago), but it doesn't mean it works for time B (nowadays).
It works for location A (a city, community, nation), but it doesn't mean it works for location B (another city, community, nation).
It works for people A (a manager), but it doesn't mean it works for people B (a worker).
It works for event A (one event, project... ), but it doesn't mean it works for event B (another event, project...).
It works for A and B, but not C.
....