Are energy drinks helping people cheat?

I've talked to people who have done this and they made it sound surreal: being able to stay completely focused for long periods of time, much easier time with memorization (basically doping for academics). I think its cheating. Any thoughts on it?

Energy drinks dont make you smarter, only more alert. I think the only advantage to using an energy drink is to give you stamina to make it through finals.

I think most energy drinks contain large quantities of alcohol.

I think the real problem is not energy drinks but actual cheating. I see it all the time. Study buddies whisper to each other all the time during exams. I'd love to nark but i dont want to be called a snitch.

My advice is to just get over it.

Cheating happens in school and it happens in the workplace, if its not directly affecting your performance, then just ignore it. If it does have an effect, such as people cheating on a test which may affect the curve and thus lower your score, then either catch them in the act and report them, or do it yourself.

Success in school and in life is not determined solely by how smart you are or how hard you work. Those things help, but there is an amount of cunning and luck at play too. To me cheating is nothing more than a high risk tactic in order to achieve your desired grade, compared to studying which is a more surefire and no-risk tactic. If someone can cheat effectively without getting caught, that does demonstrate a certain skill that could be useful in the real world.

And just to clarify, I don't cheat because the risks are too great and I really do feel like I am in school to get an education, and that the merits of an education are very high. I just think its naive to act like cheating doesn't happen in the real world, and it doesn't pay off for those who can get away with it.

Targus, I under you but cheating is wrong and has no place in advanced studies. How can cheating not hurt the curve? The whole purpose of the curve is to rank you among your peers.

Anyway, i'm glad that finals are done. I'm not aware of any cheating among my peers. I'm just glad that 1st is over!!!

I don't understand why people think that drinking energy drinks is cheating. How is it any different than drinking coffee, taking no doz, or other caffinee products? Being able to stay up longer just means you get more work done. If a person were really cheating, they would not need to be up so late. And there is no alcohol in energy drinks. Certain alcoholic drinks do have some energy drink stuff in them, but not hte other way around.