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