Is Chegg Cheating? Can You Get in Trouble for Using Chegg

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John Milovich
John Milovich
ScamFighter Expert
Former college customer turned freelance writer, shares insider insights on the essay industry.

When it comes to handling your homework, timely assistance is always welcome. Chegg’s popularity has rocketed in recent years, with students seeking solutions for their academic work. Is using Chegg considered cheating? Today, we are going to reveal the truth about writing your essays with the help of an online tutoring service known to all students in America and abroad. Some say you can’t really get through college without seeking academic help from Chegg, while others believe that you can nail your writing without plagiarism.

Let’s start with the definitions: what is Chegg, and why are so many tutors convinced that it’s cheating? In the past, I've heard a lot of lecturers saying that the invention of Chegg as a study tool has jeopardized the concept of learning and made them rethink their approach to exam questions. Chegg is commonly referred to as an online tutoring platform with answers. This subscription service is divided into textbook answers and answers provided by online helpers hired to assist students any day of the week.

You have to pay if you want informative solutions for your quiz or test and if you need them fast. Students can potentially face a huge problem if they don’t read the Chegg terms of use, with the honor code clearly stating they can’t use the service for cheating. However, that doesn’t stop most students from paying for Chegg anyway. It’s natural to want to improve your learning skills and essay papers without having to lift a finger, but we still have to discover if the service is the best solution for your content.

Is Using Chegg Always Cheating?

If you are just like me, you are probably curious: is Chegg cheating? Technically, Chegg's terms and conditions are pretty clear on this - it is considered cheating if you get caught. However, the question troubling everyone remains the same: is Chegg safe to use? Anytime you visit the service to get answers for your college quiz, copy the essays you find on Chegg to submit them as your homework, or short-circuit the system and pass your exam, it is cheating. It is understandable students are often tempted to use Chegg as their saving grace, as it allows them to receive correct answers for their assignments without having to study first.

So, if you ask me: “Is using Chegg cheating?” I will probably tell you: “Only if you use it to have an advantage over other students.” Chegg Study cannot be seen as cheating if you need a revision or study materials to help you before an exam. As long as you think of Chegg as a platform for obtaining educational resources and teaming up with your groupmates to work on your homework, it is a completely harmless service. Is Chegg legal? I would advise students who are concerned about the legality of the platform to check with their university conduct code first - it can be that your institution has policies that directly prohibit using Chegg for your assignments.

Examples of Chegg Cheating

We’ve already established that Chegg is cheating when used to lift answers for your exam or copy an answer for your online quiz. Below, you will find a more detailed breakdown of what happens when you are caught cheating on Chegg and what goes into the definition of Chegg cheating:

Copying Answers: When you plagiarize answers for your test, you leave no room for improvisation or creativity. Scribbling down facts and figures without thinking means zero effort is made to improve your academic performance. On top of damaging your academic integrity, you put yourself at risk as a student. Besides, your teacher might think it looks suspicious if you have been neglecting your studies the entire semester and suddenly have the correct answers during the test.

Enabling Others: Every time you convince other students they need to use Chegg to pass their next exam, you are complicit in breaking the university code of conduct. Although not many students out there consider enabling their friends to use the platform a serious offense, it can lead to unpleasant consequences and make you lose grades because of your reckless actions and the desire to nail the exam without having to do any actual studying.

Violating University Policy: Some universities and colleges have a very strict moral code when it comes to questions like “Is Chegg study cheating?”. If you know this is the case, I highly recommend staying away from doing the wrong thing and sticking to your usual study routine. If the institution finds you engaged in a questionable practice of copying all your answers, especially if you signed a form that explicitly prohibited the use of Chegg, you are more than likely to get into trouble with your university department.

Doing Homework. Can you get in trouble for using Chegg to do your homework? The next level of cheating with Chegg usually involves using the subscription service to skip the tedious process of doing one’s homework. For starters, entrusting your homework to Chegg will crush your grades. Plus, you will spend zero time doing your own research, which makes your study course even more difficult. Chegg provides 100% information on all university materials, which allows you to outshine other students when, in reality, you haven’t studied a lot on your own.

A Safe Way to Get Answers without Chegg

If you feel like you can’t do your homework without external help, use reliable homework help services for writing assistance. Such services have a lot more benefits than Chegg: they are not as easily traced, provide more detailed answers to your queries, and can guarantee your safety online while maintaining anonymity. Plus, you will have all the answers at your fingertips within minutes, with the experts working day and night to provide you with academic solutions you will be happy with.

While Chegg does not guarantee that all of its answers are correct, a writing expert will double-check the sources they used for completing your homework to ensure the high quality of content. Homework help services are designed to deliver top-notch assignments that follow your guidelines, as writing experts research the topic thoroughly and customize your task to the instructions. A credible writing service is an excellent time management tool. Forget spending hours on Chegg searching for an answer that will satisfy your college professor. If you rely on a writing service for assistance, it will save you time to focus on other areas of study and pass your exams without effort. With a trustworthy homework help service, you can forget about stress and enjoy an upcoming semester with the best grades.

When Using Chegg Is Not Cheating

Using Chegg is wrong when you pass your exam without revising your notes instead of trying to read and learn the material like any other student would. But is Chegg safe for answers that will affect your grades? In most cases, it’s proven to be a reliable service with tutors who have over ten years of experience and can generate the correct response within minutes. However, some students are increasingly worried that Chegg can actually report them to their institution if they violate its code of conduct. Can Chegg see who viewed a question? It’s hard to remain anonymous when the program can track your IP address and location.

You often hear students say, “I got caught using Chegg.” How can you prevent this? One way to avoid the constant Chegg surveillance is to download a web browser with enhanced privacy settings so it cannot trace your IP address while visiting the platform. You can also use mobile data to protect your anonymity and maintain secrecy online. So, is Chegg good for anything, and can it be used to benefit studies? Here are the instances when Chegg can accelerate your learning process and be advantageous to your academic journey:

Using Chegg for Study Progress: If you need inspiration with your studies, using the platform’s answers as your groundwork for future progress can be justified. As long as you don’t copy the exam answers to advance in class, you can explore different angles of solving the problem and let your creativity flow. In my experience, the majority of students love using Chegg for inspiration and to understand the basic concepts they might have missed during the lectures.

Using Chegg to Structure Your Answers: Another way to make Chegg your study buddy and not raise suspicions is using it to develop a better approach to writing. You can look at the way your exam questions are structured and learn how to frame a better response based on what the tutors say. You will also learn how to present your answer in the most favorable light due to Chegg’s organized approach to exam questions.

Using Chegg for Classroom Notes: Did you know that you can use Chegg to access the study notes that have been uploaded by other students? If you find it hard to concentrate during the lecture, you can visit the platform and find a condensed version of it available for free. Due to the courtesy of other students and tutors, you can get access to almost any lecture that you need before an exam. You can also buy inexpensive digital textbooks to help you with your studies.

Using Chegg for Comparing Answers: Diving deeper into the subject of the Chegg controversy and whether it is always bad to use Chegg, I have discovered that most students use the service to compare the model solutions on the platform to answers they’ve written on their own. We all love a good comparison, so editing your homework and making it more informative based on what Chegg says is a perfect way to prepare for your upcoming exams and tests.

Summary

Using Chegg to improve one’s academic performance is an extremely popular practice among students who want to receive the best grades and prove that they can ace anything that comes their way. However, you can get in serious trouble for using Chegg if you don’t acknowledge the fact that it can be viewed as cheating. Every time you refuse to revise the materials for your upcoming exam and prefer to lift the answers from your Chegg textbook, you put a cheater label on yourself and diminish the notion of fair education.

You can also get caught if you decide to use Chegg in the middle of the test. Upon analyzing Chegg and its controversial reputation in the world of academia, I have come to the conclusion that it can be beneficial for your grades if you use the service to inspire your creativity and access digital textbooks. Every time you violate your university code by copying answers and getting an advantage over other students, you will be flagged by your institution and reprimanded for cheating.

FAQs

In most cases, Chegg tutors have the correct answers to your questions and can help you with your essays and homework assignments. However, you should remember that they are also human and can make occasional mistakes.

Chegg can report to your school or university if you violate their honor code and cheat on your test by getting quick answers. The subscription service asks for your personal information when you register. This way, it can track your IP address to deliver it to your school if the institution demands it to establish your identity.

If you are using Chegg as a study tool to help you obtain more knowledge on the subject, it is not cheating and can benefit your grades. Accessing online textbooks is another reason you shouldn’t dismiss Chegg as a platform that was intended for cheating and getting quick answers.

Chegg will always know you are cheating if the university demands a legal investigation about your actions, such as using Chegg during an active exam or test. The service has an ethical code that does not let students get away with receiving quiz answers.

There are a few methods you can try to use the service undetected. One of the most reliable ways to use Chegg is by accessing the platform from an anonymous browser that protects you against surveillance. You can also use mobile data for Chegg to avoid consequences.