Courtney Wight '26

by Courtney Wight '26 on February 5, 2026

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As a senior finance major, I had to take an Assessment of Learning exam and the Senior Assessment Exam as a part of my Finance Capstone. The AOL was strictly focused on finance, while the SAE was a cumulative exam on all things covered in the Ryan School of Business’s core classes. Even though paper still exists, the business school, proud of embracing new technology and too lazy to actually grade anything, made both the exams online, while with in-person proctors, notably without a lock-down browser.

Now it should not be surprising that with one week’s notice from my professor, I was not able to remember everything I’ve ever learned in finance since freshman year. After the AOL exam—which went terribly—I was comforted knowing many of my friends in the class also struggled. The professor explained the grade would be curved, and it was only three percent of my grade, so in my head it was not the end of the world. 

This mental peace lasted only momentarily because all students in the Finance Capstone took the exam the same day, so a couple hours later, I was able to check the Canvas grade distribution with the other classes’ grades. To my absolute and complete shock, a student in the other section managed to receive a 96.7 percent, despite the overall average being 58 percent. 

My first instinct was that this student must have cheated by using ChatGPT or another AI tool. By giving an online exam without a lock-down browser, the business school and finance department must know students will be cheating. Either that, or they are extremely naive. I got my confirmation that this student cheated when I ran into some students from the other class later in the day, and the student with the highest grade admitted to using ChatGPT on every question.

Sadly, rampant cheating during online exams and quizzes has become the norm within my business school classes. Whether it was my Principles in Marketing exams or online quizzes in Legal Environment for Business, students openly cheat. While some of my professors genuinely do think the best of their students and that they actually do want to learn, other times it feels like the business school is suggesting professors ignore students cheating by not enforcing mandatory lock-down browsers.

I have had online exams with a lock-down browser, and it was not a big deal. A lock-down browser is a simple and easy solution to cheating with online exams. I would also like to remind the business school that paper exams are still alive and well. In various business classes, I have taken exams the old-fashioned way, and while students may still try to cheat, it is not as easy as copying and pasting every single question into ChatGPT and having a response within seconds.

I’ve also experienced this problem as a tutor for financial statistics at the Student Success Center. Many of the students visiting the center expressed their frustration with studying for hours only to see their classmates not put any effort in and receive 100 percent on their exams because they used ChatGPT to answer every question.

I will acknowledge that some online business school exams must allow for computer access, specifically those testing on Excel. It would be impossible to test students on their Excel knowledge without allowing them to use the program. However, there has to be a better solution than allowing all students to freely use their own computers with complete access to the internet.

At the end of the day, students who want to cheat and waste almost $70,000 a year will. In the process of writing this article, I’ve spoken to many other business school students who experienced similar frustrations. One of the friends I spoke to remembered a Principles in Marketing exam, with a lockdown browser, where they witnessed another student using ChatGPT on their phone underneath the desk to cheat.

I argue the complete lack of discipline or punishment from the business school has encouraged a culture of brazenly open cheating. While there may not be a simple solution to this issue, requiring a lock-down browser would certainly be a start. Additionally, ensuring students are not on their phones during exams should be a given. The business school needs to do more to enforce the academic integrity policies of Providence College. We cannot keep this culture of not wanting to punish students for cheating because all it does is establish that students can cheat without any repercussions. I am sick and tired of seeing students receive perfect grades they do not earn. I am done studying to earn an imperfect grade when I know a majority of my class has not even opened the textbook, but will receive a better grade than I do. Unfortunately, I do not see this culture changing, so let’s just say I’m glad to be done with the business school once I graduate.