Ask almost any junior taking AP United States History at Oak Park High School about Quizlet, and they will tell you how helpful it is.

This year, a “class” was formed on the website allowing APUSH students to share flashcard sets they have either created or found on the site. However, many have noticed that similar questions on these sets tend to show up on quizzes and tests.

The flashcard website, Quizlet, was released in 2007 as a free, online study tool for people to share study aids and materials. Users can upload pictures and sound to their flashcard sets, and can make flashcard sets in numerous languages, including Chemistry.

“Kids have been using it for years in here for study guides,” said Victor Anderson, an APUSH teacher at Oak Park High School. “A student came up to me and told me would it be okay if I use Quizlet…I think it’s a study tool.”

“According to my interpretation of the student handbook, I don’t see it as a violation of the academic policy,” Anderson said. “How could it be dishonest when I said they could use it? They’re not doing it behind my back.”

Tim Chevalier, another Oak Park APUSH teacher, shares similar sentiments.

“When used appropriately, it’s a good study tool,” Chevalier said. “The problem with Quizlet arises when students use it solely as their way of studying. When they use it in lieu of reading and other types of studying, it can sometimes lead to not real learning, but learning how to use Quizlet.”

Members of the administration do not see this necessarily as misconduct within the school’s academic policy, either.

“It’s a test bank, with a lot of different questions, and there’s no guarantee that those questions will or won’t be on the test, so I think it could be useful,” said Assistant Principal Bryan Martin.

“These questions are available on the internet as it is, so I don’t see that being dishonest…If Mr. Chevalier and Mr. Anderson choose to use those questions, that’s their prerogative,” Martin said.

Students appreciate this resource as well.

“With these sets, I am given a very useful resource tool to use for studying,” said junior class president Kenny Park. “The Quizlet sets have allowed me to focus on other aspects of APUSH and have alleviated the stress of junior year.”

However, this trend has not just been occurring within APUSH, but also other subjects such as AP Physics, taught by Ken Jones.

“My immediate response was that I was angry that some of my colleagues would have put the answers to questions online, when specifically they had been asked by College Board not to do that,” Jones said.

Jones noted that the problem is not in the students’ choice to use the answers.

“If the students find them online, then they’re going to use them…and you can’t really prevent that,” Jones said.

Instead, the problem occurs because the AP answers are online in the first place.

“If the questions that are part of the AP are online and their answers are online,” Jones said, “then it somewhat reduces the effect of practicing for the exam.”