Abstract
This study examines the relationships of the personality traits of conscientiousness and excitement seeking with self-reported frequency of premeditated cheating in tests and exams among university students. The results show that the two traits combine to account for a statistically and practically significant proportion of variance in academic cheating. It appears that a lack of effort and a need for high excitement seeking may serve as predisposing traits with regard to academic cheating. A model of the role that the two traits may play in explaining academic cheating is presented.