Google Forms and Cheating

[Giovanna Salas-Wert]

Good morning,

I hope that everyone is enjoying their holidays.   Would anyone know if there is a way to cheat on a locked google form?  Is there an extension or something that you have encountered?   I always watch my students' screens on Classwize and have not noticed any way for them to cheat.  I teach Spanish and have seen that kids have had their entire quiz come up in English. I believe that they had Google translate enabled.  However, since tech is constantly evolving, I was wondering if there is something that I have missed.  Thank you in advance for your time and help.

Kind Regards,

Giovanna Salas-Wert

[Jackie Polakovsky]

I have noticed that if they hover over certain words a definition will pop up with screen readers. Here's a rundown of what I have found:

1. Google Translate / Language tools

• Page auto-translation

• Input method editors

• Built-in Chrome language features

How to solve: 

• Disable translation in Chrome admin console (if possible)

• Explicitly state: “Translate tools are not permitted”

• Design questions that require interpretation, not word-matching

• My favorite: Screen-shot my question  and or choices and post as an image. On the question line I just type "Answer the following:" And in the choice boxes, I will just place the letters. This way one avoids hovering over a word to give way to an answer popping up with translage. And using Google Lens would be too obvious during a test. 

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2. Second device

This is still the #1 workaround.

Phone under desk or smartwatches.
Personal laptop at home (for homework forms)

Solution

• Physical monitoring which is difficult in a large classroom setting.

• Use time pressure and randomization 

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3. Extensions (very limited in locked mode)

In a true locked mode on managed Chromebooks:

• Most extensions do not function

• AI/chat extensions are usually blocked

• Screen readers and accessibility tools may still function (appropriately)

If students are seeing full English translations, that’s not a secret cheating extension—it’s almost always Translate or accessibility settings.

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4. Memory-based sharing

• Student finishes → whispers answers

• Screens reflected or remembered

Solution

• Shuffle questions

• Shuffle answer choices

• Create 2–3 versions of the same form (easy to duplicate) and you can use AI to create these once you have created your ideal questions. 

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Things  online but are rare or impractical

• “Auto-solve” AI for locked forms → largely blocked

• Hidden background processes → would show in Classwise

• Screen mirroring hacks → not common on managed Chromebooks

If students could do this easily, we’d see it everywhere—and districts would already be reacting.

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What actually works better than tighter locks

Question design

• Application > recall

• “Which sentence best fits this situation?”

• “Why would this answer be correct?”

• Short constructed responses (even 1 sentence)

Constraints that reward thinking

• Timed sections

• Mixed formats

• Require reasoning steps, not just answers

Transparency

Students often cheat less when teachers say:

“I know the tools that exist. This assessment is designed so using them won’t really help.”

Usually my A students want to cheat so that their paper is perfect. It's not that they cannot do it but it's an ego thing or a parental pressure thing. I like to design some tests or assignments that allow for a retake or a make up test to take that pressure off the student. Unfortunately, this sometimes reduces how much some students will study. In this case, they only get half the points back. 

That alone changes behavior.

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Abington School District

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J Polakovsky

BS Physics

MA Secondary Science Ed

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

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“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” 
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[Giovanna Salas-Wert]

Good morning,

Thank you very much for your detailed descriptions and suggestions!  I really like your suggestion of screenshotting the questions and asking them to supply the letter.  It was the hovering and getting suggestions aspect that I was mostly concerned about.  Have a healthy and happy new year!

Ms. Giovanna Salas-Wert

Spanish Teacher

Abington Senior High

900 Highland Avenue

Abington, PA 19001

My Pronouns: she/her/hers

Salas-Wert Website