The choice is simple, says a 19-year-old college student from the Bronx who calls himself "G."
"You can study -- or you could cheat," said G. "Some people find it easier to cheat. I find it easier to cheat."
Why does he do it? Because the answers to his exam are waiting back in his dorm room, where his buddies are ready to send him the answers via some quick text messages. Or even easier -- he's got the Web in the palm of his hand.
"I could just use my phone go to Google.com, and that's it," says G.
And he's not alone. Recent studies, including one from Rutgers University, show up to 64% of college kids admit they've cheated on tests.
Dr. Teddi Fishman, of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University, told NBCNewYork why the problem is so widespread.
"It used to be the case you could only cheat off your neighbor," said Dr. Fishman. "Now you literally can look at the tests of anyone in the world."
But what may be most surprising is, some of the confessed cheaters don't think it's wrong.
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"I had a 1.8 I brought it up to a 2.8," said G. "If the teacher doesn't see me, I didn't cheat. That's how I feel."
His friend who gave his name only as Pete, a college student in Westchester, compares his choice to text and cheat to baseball sluggers, who took performance enhancing drugs to keep up with the competition.
"If I study for three and a half hours and a kid next to me didn't study," says Pete, "He's gonna get the A and I'm gonna lose thousands in scholarship money because this kid has a .1 higher GPA than me?"
Experts say the best way to foil the cheaters is to devise cheat-proof tests, with essay questions and analysis, where the answers aren't previously available anywhere -- including the Internet.
