More students cheating on university applications

Figures show almost 30,000 candidates copied phrases directly from the internet into their personal statement – a detailed note setting out their reasons for choosing a particular course. 189 candidates attempting to study design courses started their personal statement with a quote from Coco Chanel: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only”.

Almost a third of applicants failed to get on to degree courses last year. Demand for places is expected to be even more fierce in 2011, with some 583,500 people submitting applications by the end of January – a rise of more than five per cent.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has been employing Copycatch – a system that scans personal statements and checks candidates’ work against other published writing – for several years. When it was first employed in 2007, it found cheating in five per cent of applications. 234 candidates attempting to study medicine wrote that their passion for the subject had been sparked after “burning a hole in my pyjamas at age eight” with a chemistry set.

Public awareness of the cheating crackdown saw the number of cases drop in 2008 and in 2009. But latest figures show the proportion of personal statements containing plagiarism increased by around a third to 3.85 per cent in 2010 – 29,228 cases. 275 started applications with the line “Nursing is a very challenging and demanding career”, while 166 candidates wrote “For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in…”.A Ucas spokesman told the Times Educational Supplement: “The personal statement is one of the most important parts of the online application process. It gives applicants the chance to stand out from the crowd, which is why it should be an individual, and personal, piece of work.”

Question 1 (2 points)
Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.

a) Every year, it becomes more difficult to go to university in the UK.

b) UCAS will start using Copycat this year for the first time.

c) More people cheated in their application in 2010 than in 2007.

d) 29,228 people began their statement with the words “Nursing is a very challenging and demanding career” in 2010.

Question 2 (2 points)
Answer the following questions in your own words.

a) What is a ‘personal statement’ in university applications in the UK?

b) How does UCAS check personal statements?

Question 3 (1.5 points)

Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a) a phrase (paragraph 1)

b) try (paragraph 3)

c) knowledge, understanding (paragraph 4)

Question 4 (1.5 points)

Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a) 189 candidates attempting to study design courses started their personal statement with a quote from Coco Chanel.

Personal statements for design courses from

b) Demand for places is expected to be even fiercer in 2011, with a rise of more than five per cent in people submitting applications by the end of January.

Due to

c) A Ucas spokesman said: “The personal statement is one of the most important parts of the online application process. It gives applicants the chance to stand out from the crowd, which is why it should be an individual, and personal, piece of work.”

A Ucas spokesman said that

Question 5 (3 points)
Write a short essay (about 120-150 words) on the following topic:

How and why do people try to be “different”?