At the end of the exam session, a student told his friend with pleasure, "I've told you that a man profits by cheating."

"Did your sign show the correct answer?" asked one of the students coming out of the exam session.

"No, it didn't mean that, but just the opposite," his friend answered. The first one said, "Then all of my answers were wrong. I know what to do with you. Every fox must pay with his skin."

These are common words heard among students at exam time.

Some students are seriously seeking to discover the most modern and easiest techniques of cheating. One student said, "Sitting next to clever students and asking them the answers to the questions is the easiest way to cheat."

He went on to say that writing the answers on hands and legs, on bags and chairs, on tissue paper and socks, and on the covers of books are efficient ways to cheat.

Another student said that there are also students, mainly boys, who will sell you all the correct answers for only 30,000 rials. He added, "There are of course some differences between cheating on multiple choice tests and composition tests. You can get the correct answers on multiple choice tests without trouble, just by shaking the tip of the shoes or your head."

Psychological and character problems, lack of interest in studying, the complexity of the courses, the fact that society places little value on education, fear of failure, choosing inappropriate courses, taking several difficult courses at the same time, and the good feeling of getting a passing grade without studying are some of the causes of cheating. A university student said, "Some students cheat to show off their intellectual capacity." A university professor said, "Nowadays, cheating is normal and common. Unfortunately, it is regarded as a value."

Abbas Dehqani, the director of the Educational Evaluation Office of the Education Organization, said, "The wrong type of educational system is the main cause of cheating. All the educational efforts made by students over the course of a year are determined by a final exam. "The penalties imposed have not solved the cheating problem. We increasingly observe the various developments of the ways of cheating."

Dr. Malekpour, a professor of psychology at Isfahan University, said that physical and financial problems are among the causes of this problem. He added, "Threats or a sense of friendship can also encourage students to cheat."

Malekpour said that inattention to serious problems and the failure to devise suitable solutions have aggravated some of these problems, including cheating.