“Students may not discuss the exam with others,” the directions explicitly stated at the top of the take-home final. But that didn’t stop some 125 students at Harvard University from allegedly doing just that, submitting answers on the final that were identical or what the school described as “too close for comfort.” While the Harvard scandal may have been the highest-profile cheating incident this year, it was hardly the only one. At the U.S. Air Force Academy, 78 cadets were suspected of cheating on a skills exam, while school administrators in El Paso, Texas, have been accused of orchestrating a scheme to prop up standardized test scores by keeping low-performing students from taking the tests. The incidents raised questions about high-stakes tests, the line between collaboration and cheating and the drive to succeed at any cost. And after 71 kids at New York City’s prestigious Stuyvesant High School were caught exchanging answers on state tests via text message, the school newspaper offered this insight: “For years, cheating has gone unchecked, creating a perverse set of incentives in which the benefits of cheating outweighed both the probability and magnitude of punishment.”