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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The teacher gave the class essay topics to work on for almost two weeks.
DS worked very hard writing and rewriting and editing until he was content with the final draft. The teacher chose one out of many for the final exam.
DS wrote it during the final test hoping for an A.[/quote]

I don't understand.   If you son worked on an essay for two weeks, what was chosen for the final exam?   The essay the kids were working on?

How did he write the essay during the final test?   Was it the same one he'd been working on for 2 weeks?

I'm confused.[/quote]

Sounds like this is likely a high school class -- I would guess AP or IB-- run in a style similar to a college course.

In many college courses, the professor gives several essay topics that are thematic and broadly cover the material of the course, and informs students that their final exam topic will be selected from among these.

Using their course texts, class notes, and outside sources as applicable/appropriate, students are expected to prepare answers for all topics by the time of the exam. When they sit for the exam, one essay topic will be given, and students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of course material by completing the essay topic during the exam time using whatever they remember of their preparation.

Depending on how good a student's memory is and the quality of their revision for the exam, it's entirely possible that a well-prepared student could reproduce under exam conditions an essay extremely similar to the essay they wrote in advance when revising that topic.

That sounds like what probably happened in this instance, based on the way OP's post was written.[/quote]

+1. I think this might be what happened too. DS thoroughly prepared, closely replicated his prep answer on the exam, and may have failed to cite sources during the exam portion because he couldn't remember them or didn't think it was necessary on an exam vs. a term paper. It could very well have been one of those common situations where it was technically plagiarism (uncited source) but accidental and without an intent to cheat or steal intellectual property. Happens to top historians, too.

Of course, it's also possible DS got his answers from a website and got busted. That's why the school needs to offer a little more information. Intentional cheating vs accidental failure to cite may both qualify as plagiarism in the technical sense, but they are very different circumstances. I'm leaning toward the latter since they're letting him retake the test.[/quote]

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