Cheating in Exams

These days it is prevalent in every place, be it the board exams, college or that of an institution like NIIT. By resorting to unfair means, we are generating an incompetent work force. Many get screened at interviews when it turns up that their scores defy the knowledge that they possess. Yet many sail through them and contribute to a faulty system.

Who is to blame? The system that is unable to stop these occurences or the students whose conscience has hit an all time low? Probably both. But, I would give more weightage to the latter.

What are exams all about? What do we have them for? It is to test ourselves and see how much we have learned. Aren't the marks supposed to depict our preparedness? Yet people only believe in one thing, scoring the maximum possible marks. There's nothing wrong with that but to bend the system and use means that are not meant to be used for this purpose is wrong. Who are we cheating? The system, the whole thing we call examination and most importantly ourselves. Most people don't realize this last clause or don't give a F*** even if they do realize it. All of this has led to a thing that is more of a formality where people by hook or crook game the system of test.

You'll hear amazing responses from people who justify their actions. Let me quote one from one of my closest of friends, "I cheat but its not like I don't study anything at all. I cheat stuff that I haven't managed to read." My question is, aren't you still cheating, no matter in what quantity? You are getting marks for things that you didn't study. Is it fair to those who study day in and day out yet score lesser marks? We condemn injustice in other forms as soon as they are seen, yet forget to do the same when we are at the fruitful end.

My conscience drives me mad if I do any injustice. Because of that I don't cheat in exams, although at times I did crumble to the external pressure and told other's some answers (that is cheating too). But, not once did I ask for help from any of them. It feels so wrong to do that. I have been through the hardest of exams, the Class XII Chemistry exam being one such. We had some 20+ chapters in our course and all I had managed to complete was chapter no. 1 (Atomic Structure) and some bits & pieces from here and there. The situation was so pathetic that I didn't even want to sit for the exam. It was only due to my dad and one of his close friends' persuasion that I went for it. With nothing to loose, I was pretty relaxed about the whole affair, knowing that only a miracle could make me pass. And miracle it was, with correct answers of 17 marks and another 6 from the rest 17 fillers, I had secured the pass marks of 23. And no I didn't cheat a thing from the peers. It all happened by God's grace, my teacher's teaching and whatever little hard work that I had done.

Today, I am devoid of studying anything but Computers. This is what I love doing and the exams these days are just a breeze. If I didn't cheat in those years, there's no chance that I am going to do that now and ultimately cheat myself.

I hoped other's could feel the same way and not make a mockery of these tests that we have. But how many are intellectual enough to learn and adapt others' good qualities? Not much from what I see, atleast not when it comes to education.

Legally Adult

Life just keeps getting shorter. Another 365 days have passed by and I am wondering if I utilized them to the fullest. I have seen people change so much over the course of years but I don't think that applies to me. True, I have gone through refinements, some good and some bad. But, deep at the centre of all the changes, its still the same person with the same motives, same old introvert thinking; only a bit wiser.

Looking back at the things I did since last year

• Improved my website maxotek.net


• Developed and released new softwares


• Wrote C# tutorials


• Reviewed uCertify's Prekit


• Learnt new technologies


• Found some real friends


• Discovered my intellectual perception


• Made tortoisal progress in the love life

Things I want to focus on this year

• Propose (Since I have the law on my side now)


• Gain strength & speed


• Continue with the progress of educational empowerement

Bull Shit

It all turned out to be miserable as I was given a poor 64%. I still can't come to terms with it. Even at the very last moment before ending the test, I was hopeful of getting the perfect 100. But, the result has made me doubt the evaluation scheme. I believe there has been some sort of threshold implemented, something that won't allow you to score beyond the set amount. In this case 70%. Incase, I did make so many mistakes, I've got to review them. After all, an exam is meant to test our skills and improve from our mistakes, right?

I am wandering between "Should I go ahead and ask for the answers to be shown?" or "Should I just leave it and move on." While, doing the former would require a lot of effort and might also involve some amount of aggression, the latter would be like accepting my limits. Even 10 more years of study wouldn't fetch me more marks, 'cause that was the maximum amount of preparation I could ever have.

Exam time is nearing

Preparations are done for tonight's exam, Module Test 3. I've touched all of the chapters and managed to grab most of the information. What awaits now is the test itself and the question, "Can I get the perfect 100?"

Module Test #3 @ C#

Its been three months since we began studying C# as an addition to our First Semester's curriculum. Delayed as it was, everyone's keen on getting it done with Monday's Module Test #3. This time around there are two books and a total of 25 chapters. The first few chapters of both the books are easy to deal with, especially because of previous experiences with C++. But, the latter halves are mind boggling. Add to it the course completion rush that has become synonymous at the Semester ends.

I've managed to grab fair amount of concepts in the last couple of days. With 2 more days in hand, finishing the course shouldn't be that difficult. My aim this time (as always) is to get the perfect 100 that has eluded me. Judging by the order of my results (76, 82, 86, 89), the perfect score might just be around the corner.

Programming & Me : Part 1

Warping back to the very beginnings, when I had just begun coding...

I was in class VI back then. We had just begun studying GW-Basic as a part of our curriculum. Thanks to the excellent teachers, especially Sir Bhaskar Kar, I managed to grab most of what was meant to be taught. Being the easy paper, that it was, getting high percentages wasn't difficult.

I think the availability of plenty of time and the slow pace of the curriculum helped most of us be really good at coding and develop a general sense of liking for it. However, it wasn't until the quaterly exams of class VIII, that I really chose it as my destiny.

The 99/100 helped me get recognition, as people finally started noticing Mr. nobody. Even though I shared joint highest with Amrita Mishra, it was me who got all the fame, predominantly 'cause she was well known anyways.

It wasn't like the paper was the easiest ever, just the fact that, I had the theory part covered for the first and infact, the only time. I noticed a shining light in my otherwise dull life; a light that I have been following, ever since.

End of a Hectic Day

Looking back at the things I had to put up with - Rush for the exam, sit down for 2 hours with MCQ questions, pay the fees, take more than a handful of books back home on a way filled with all sorts of chaos. Whoo! Its been some day.

Close to 100%

OOP in C++ was a piece of cake. I had all the answers done in around 1/4th of the time alloted. But, due to the effing 'Rules', wasn't able to leave the premises before 1 hour had gone by. Even then I had to literally fight my way through the rugged institute.

It was really annoying, they don't use any method to stop the student's from cheating and talk of 'RULES'. Anyways, its all well that ends well. I should get pretty close to 100% in this paper, but for the 'Who knows evaluation scheme'.

Moving on to the next one, which is comprised of 3 text books. Realistically speaking, its going to be really hard to pass this one. I'm gonna do my best and hope for the rest.