---
title: Measuring the Score Advantage
description: Do students have a score advantage on asynchronous exams compared to synchronous exams?
image: https://blog.examind.io/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/664f74bfe56c563b3bc306ac_60b0c3b143bf9b2917fb1b10_alejandro-escamilla-y83Je1OC6Wc-unsplash_amwik8.jpeg
---

[Skip to content](https://blog.examind.io/blog/measuring-the-score-advantage-on-asynchronous-exams-in-an-undergraduate-cs-course#main-content)

[![EXAMIND Icon png](https://blog.examind.io/hs-fs/hubfs/Examin-LogoIcon-color-2021%201%20(1).png?width=1000&height=1000&name=Examin-LogoIcon-color-2021%201%20(1).png "EXAMIND Icon png")](http://EXAMIND%20AI%20Inc.)

- [EXAMIND Home](http://www.examind.io)
- [Blog](https://blog.examind.io)
- [Prompt Library](https://blog.examind.io/prompt-library)

[Learning Research](https://blog.examind.io/tag/learning-research) ·  May 23, 2024

# Measuring the Score Advantage on Asynchronous Exams in an Undergraduate CS Course

[EXAMIND AI](https://blog.examind.io/author/admin)

![](https://blog.examind.io/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/664f74bfe56c563b3bc306ac_60b0c3b143bf9b2917fb1b10_alejandro-escamilla-y83Je1OC6Wc-unsplash_amwik8.jpeg)

 

## The Bottom Line

Asynchronous assessments have benefits (e.g. flexibility, time conflicts, etc.) but are vulnerable to collaborative cheating. An appropriate assessment design can help reduce concerns associated with asynchronous assessments.  

## Research Summary

Asynchronous exams are prone to collaborative cheating, even when proctored. This study compared proctored asynchronous and synchronous exam performance of 351 students in an upper-division computer science course at the University of Illinois. Results indicate that students gained an advantage (3%) in asynchronous exams but such advantage was reduced through question randomization techniques regardless of question type.  

## Key Takeaways

#### 1. Asynchronous Assessments Generate Score Advantages

Students have score advantages on asynchronous exams, most likely due to collaborative cheating.

#### 2. Randomizing Questions Is Effective In Reducing Collaborative Cheating

Question type (i.e., multiple choice, check box, etc.) has less impact on score advantages compared to whether or not the question is randomized. 

 

#### Read the full article:

Silva, M., West, M., & Zilles, C. (2020). Measuring the Score Advantage on Asynchronous Exams in an Undergraduate CS Course. In Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 873-879).

##### Spread the word

- [Share this blog post on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=I+found+this+interesting+blog+post&url=https://blog.examind.io/blog/measuring-the-score-advantage-on-asynchronous-exams-in-an-undergraduate-cs-course)
- [Share this blog post on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://blog.examind.io/blog/measuring-the-score-advantage-on-asynchronous-exams-in-an-undergraduate-cs-course)
- [Share this blog post on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.examind.io/blog/measuring-the-score-advantage-on-asynchronous-exams-in-an-undergraduate-cs-course)

![](https://blog.examind.io/hubfs/Examin-LogoIcon-color-2021%201.png)

##### [EXAMIND AI](https://blog.examind.io/author/admin)

© 2026 EXAMIND AI INC.

```json
{
      "@context": "https://schema.org",
      "@type": "BlogPosting",
      "headline": "Measuring the Score Advantage",
      
        "image": [
          "https://9412114.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/9412114/Imported_Blog_Media/664f74bfe56c563b3bc306ac_60b0c3b143bf9b2917fb1b10_alejandro-escamilla-y83Je1OC6Wc-unsplash_amwik8.jpeg"
        ],
      
      
        "description": "<div data-w-id="16406768-365e-f0a4-62c6-de2d563c4c38" style="transform: translate3d(0px, 35px, 0px) scale3d(1, 1, 1) rotateX(0deg) rotateY(0deg) rotateZ(0deg) skew(0deg, 0deg); transform-style: preserve-3d;" class="blog-post-about-wrapper"><a data-w-id="8036a8c7-a09d-afe6-94ab-b886cc1efe74" href="#" class="blog-post-about-author-wrapper w-inline-block">&nbsp;</a></div>
",
      
      "datePublished": "2024-05-23T04:00:00",
      "dateModified": "2024-05-29T18:08:09",
      "author": [{
          "@type": "Person",
          "name": "EXAMIND AI",
          "url": "https://blog.examind.io/author/admin"
        }]
    }
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "EXAMIND AI",
    "url" : "https://blog.examind.io/author/admin"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2024-05-29T18:08:09.541Z",
  "datePublished" : "2024-05-23T04:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Measuring the Score Advantage",
  "image" : [ "https://blog.examind.io/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/664f74bfe56c563b3bc306ac_60b0c3b143bf9b2917fb1b10_alejandro-escamilla-y83Je1OC6Wc-unsplash_amwik8.jpeg" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://blog.examind.io/blog/measuring-the-score-advantage-on-asynchronous-exams-in-an-undergraduate-cs-course",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://blog.examind.io/hubfs/Examin-LogoIcon-color-2021%201%20(1).png"
    },
    "name" : "EXAMIND AI Inc."
  }
}
```