• MalPractice

MalPractice

  • Exams Officer - Mrs H Morris - exams@highamsparkschool.co.uk

Malpractice

Malpractice involves cheating or some form of wrongdoing. Examples include:

  • sharing answers
  • impersonation
  • leaking exam papers or other assessment materials or using leaked materials
  • swapping scripts
  • inappropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI) in non-exam assessments such as the use of chatbots
  • smuggling information or taking mobile phones and communication devices into exam halls

To be clear, you must not wear a watch in the exam or take a mobile phone into the exam hall with you, as doing so will also be treated as malpractice.

All work submitted as part of exams and assessments must be your own work; submitting any work that is not your own is malpractice.

You may see websites or individuals offering leaked exam papers or other assessment materials in advance of your exams or assessments. Do not look at any papers or materials offered in this way. They are probably fake and awarding organisations investigate any attempt to breach assessment and exam paper security. If there is any evidence that you have engaged with leaked papers you could face sanctions, including disqualification from the qualification.

Students who commit malpractice face serious sanctions, including being disqualified from all qualifications offered by an awarding organisation.

What sanctions could you receive?

Awarding bodies may, at their discretion, impose the following sanctions against candidates:

1. Warning

2. Loss of all marks for a section

3. Loss of all marks for a component

4. Loss of all marks for a unit

5. Disqualification from a unit

6. Disqualification from all units in one or more qualifications

7. Disqualification from a whole qualification

8. Disqualification from all qualifications taken in that series

9. Candidate debarral

For further information please refer to the Malpractice Policy.  In particular page 29 - Sanctions applied against Candidates and page 44 - Indicative sanctions against candidates

How to report suspected malpractice

Everyone involved in delivering and taking exams and formal assessments has a role to play in preventing and reporting malpractice, including you. This is to make sure that exams are fair for all students.

All allegations of malpractice are taken extremely seriously and will be investigated.

If you see or suspect malpractice you should report it to a teacher, your exams officer or the awarding organisation. Your school or college must report such incidents to the awarding organisation.

If you would rather not talk to your school or college, you can contact the relevant awarding organisation or Ofqual.


We also recommend Ofqual’s recently published Student Guide 2024, which gives students information about this year’s arrangements for qualifications and explains what support is in place when taking exams and assessments.

The following posters must be displayed outside the room and are a reminder to students of the regulations that must be followed and the items that MUST NOT be taken into the exam room as this could result in DISQUALIFICATION from your exam and overall qualification.

Reviewed August 2024