14 Embarrassing Cheater Moments

1. Forced Injury
   The final exam in our home economics class was to crochet on the spot. I never learned to crochet because I’d always ask our house help to make my projects. So on the day of the exam, I wrapped a bandage around my pointer finger and told my H.E. teacher I broke it during a volleyball game. She examined it closely and noticed it was bandaged the wrong way. She insisted on accompanying me to the clinic where the nurse could properly rewrap the bondage. I freaked out on the way there and just ‘fessed up. I never felt so embarrassed before. —Leslie, 16
   
   
2. Copy Caught
   For my foreign language class, we had a take-home exam that consisted of writing a Spanish dialogue. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of making one so I copied a dialogue from my mom’s old Spanish primer. When the paper was returned to us, our teacher lectured about plagiarism. “You know who you are,” she said, looking straight at me. It turns out that she had a copy of the old primer too.  My classmates all witnessed my face turn different shades of red. —Arwen, 18
   
   
3. Take Two
   A particularly strict teacher caught my barkada cheating on an exam. She surprised us by saying she wasn’t going to report us to the Dean of Discipline. We were relieved! But our relief turned to shock when she announced that she was going to make the entire class take a retest instead—one that was much harder! The retest was so difficult that nobody passed. Our classmates hated us for an entire semester. —Millie, 16
   
   
4. Pass the Message
   My friend and I once tried to cheat on an exam together even if we were seated on opposite ends of the room. He motioned for me to give me the answers to six multiple-choice items.  When I told him the correct answers, he didn’t understand me. So he hissed back, “What? Coffee?!” I started laughing because I thought it to be a stupid guess (Where’d that come from?) Then the worst thing happen—our teacher caught us. That was the last time I tried to give answers from someone across the room! —Toffee, 17
   
   
5. White Lie
   I was enrolled at a weight training class. Our exam was to use all the gym equipment and do a required number of sets and repetitions. I wanted to get a good grade but there was no way I could complete the required sets and reps since I wasn’t physically fit. I decided to complete half of the requirements and tell the teacher I did all. A classmate asked me how many stomach crunches I made. I told her the truth. From across the room, the teacher also asked me how many crunches I made. I lied and doubled the number to 100. My classmate, who didn’t know about my scheme, wondered aloud, “I thought you said 50!” The teacher gave me the evil eye. Yikes! —Iris, 19
   
   
6. Mimic Mess Up
   We had graded recitation on a chapter I didn’t read up on. Unfortunately, my name was called! My seatmate tried helping me out by whispering all the answers to me. I must have sounded like a parrot repeating her answers word for word! I guess I wasn’t concentrating because when she said, “Heidi, wait lang. There’s a missing page… I don’t know the answer to this one,” I recited her exact words! The class laughed so loud at this booboo. —Heidi, 13
   
   
7. In My Pocket
   I was caught putting a slip of paper in my pocket during a test. It really had some answers to the test so instead of handing it over (which could have led to my suspension), I gave the teacher another piece of paper from the same pocket. It was only after she looked at it I realized it was the slip of paper where I doodled my crush’s name on! After class, she gave me a talk about obsessing over boys too much. I wasn’t caught cheating but it was humiliating just the same. —Lee, 15
   

Read more on the next page.