Everytime I write a cheat sheet, I remember most of the things I wrote down.. so it's a pretty good study method for me too.

But yes, I have cheated.

Freshman year of highshool was the first time I even really cheated on homework (copied from the back of the book without doing the work myself). To this day I feel guilty for not doing what the class asks for, and whenever it comes down to copying homework or BS'ing an essay, I simply take the zero and not turn it in.

Part of this may be that I went to a charter school for three years during middle school (6th - 8th grade). 22 kids in my grade, and class size of five kids or less for most of my classes.

As for tests, no. In all honesty and sincerity I cannot remember ever cheating on a test.

Cheating is an art. The best way is to make a small cheat sheet (no larger than a gum wrapper, unfolded) and write as small as you can on that. Keep it small, b/c you should always be prepared to EAT THE EVIDENCE if the teacher gets suspicious. If there is no cheat sheet when you are questioned, they can't prove a damn thing.

Hide the cheat sheet in your sock. Then, pretend to scratch your leg during test time, and then there you are.

No. I'm very hard on myself when it comes to any activity I take seriously, and learning something in my classes is important to me. I actually approached an instructor once to let her know she'd forgotten to mark one of my questions wrong on a midterm. Her response was basically, "what's wrong with you? take the free point." But that's bull****, which I let her know (then she was happy to take it off - the magic of swear words). I want to know where I actually stand in regards to understanding the subject. Given this, cheating would be the most backwards thing I could do, and I can't see myself doing it. I've nearly failed a couple courses because of this, but i know where I stand in those subjects (namely in a pit of ignorance). Other courses I do quite well because I work my *** off.


I'm hard on myself because I want to improve. I don't want to run into someone I used to know in ten years and exclaim, "I'm just like I was in high school!" If I'm going to stop changing, stop growing, stop improving myself, then I might as well be dead. In fact I'd prefer it. When my art (the most important thing in my life) seems to be going nowhere, I can become extremely unhappy. It's hard to hold on to the faith that it will get better. Working, and concentrating on doing my best, gets me through those times. One professor who I've had for a couple of studio courses told me that if I keep being hard on myself like that, my work will continue to improve but I will never be content. But if I were content, why would I continue to work? If I had what I wanted, it wouldn't be necessary to pursue it. Awkward simile time! It's like I'm hunting self-actualization and test results are foot prints on the path. I'd prefer the footprints be real and not just some disingenuous juvenile stamping them in the mud.

I'm not saying I have some irreproachable, ethical argument on why it's better to be honest than dishonest (I'm not Plato). I just know that for me things like cheating are unbearable. This may require some understanding of Kant, but.. it may be my actions that align themselves with moral duty stem from social conditioning or personal inclinations rather than being caused by duty itself, and thus aren't "good" at all but just naturally occuring outside of reason. I don't know. It's who I am.

Once, this far. As in looking answers from a source without permission.

Once, while I was taking a spelling test in first grade I looked at a wall that was covered in Thanksgiving stuff to see how to spell the word "thanksgiving".

I felt so bad about that for the longest time.

I have never cheated on a test.

I get most aggravated when I see those who do in the act. I have busted people before.

Never cheated.

People who cheat = morons

I have on occaisonal mid-term tests, but 99.99% of the time I don't.

And I wouldn't even think about it in major exams, like A-levels. I'd rather get a crap mark then no marks in anything.

Damn...that sure is elaborate! How did the guy get caught?

Some girl in a school not so far away tried to cheat by sowing some notes into the hem of her skirt which was a school uniform, then the examiner started wondering why she was bending over to scratch her knee every so often.