What Is Cheating?

Cheating is when a person misleads, deceives, or acts dishonestly on purpose. For kids, cheating may happen at school, at home, or while playing a sport. If a baseball team is for kids who are 8 or younger, it's cheating for a 9-year-old to play on the team and hit home run after home run.

At school, in addition to cheating on a test, a kid might cheat by stealing someone else's idea for a science project or by copying a book report off the Internet and turning it in as if it's his or her original work. Copying someone else's words or work and saying they're yours is a type of cheating called plagiarism (say: PLAY-juh-rih-zem).

How Do People Cheat?

Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways, like:

• The benefits of cheating are obvious – improved grades in an environment where failure is not an opportunity for learning, but rather a badge of shame. When students do poorly on a test, there.
• I'm an all honors junior I high school. I've been awarded student of the month, got on Superintendent's List every quarter of my high school and I get straight A's. I was out of school for a week to take care of a familial situation in Florida. I missed a quiz in AP US History and I.
• Cheating is wrong. However, there's a bright side to everything. After all, making a cheat-sheet is essentially the same as making study notes, and once you've made the notes, you're already more than halfway there; that's a commonly known school tip and trick. Moreover, it requires a lot of.

• sneaking answers to a test
• breaking the rules of a game or contest
• pretending something is yours when it isn't

Cheating is wrong. However, there's a bright side to everything. After all, making a cheat-sheet is essentially the same as making study notes, and once you've made the notes, you're already more than halfway there; that's a commonly known school tip and trick. Moreover, it requires a lot of.

When people cheat, it's not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game or contest.

It's tempting to cheat because it makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn't solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won't help on the next test — unless the person cheats again.

Sometimes it may seem like cheaters have it all figured out. They can watch TV instead of studying for the spelling test. But other people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home too.

Why Do Kids Cheat?

Some kids cheat because they're busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can't pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a 'good reason' for cheating, cheating isn't a good idea.

If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn't study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don't have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.

A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.

What Can Happen if Kids Cheat?

Many kids feel tempted to cheat once in a while. Most resist and do the work instead. Some kids cheat once and feel so bad that they never do it again. Others get caught and decide it isn't worth it. Unfortunately, some kids start cheating and feel like they can't stop.

Kids who cheat may feel worried about getting caught. Whether they are caught or not, these kids may feel guilty, or embarrassed, or ashamed — or all three. Even if the cheater feels fine or doesn't get caught, that doesn't mean it's OK. If you see someone cheating, or if someone asks to copy your work, you can tell a teacher or another grown-up.

/nintendo-game-genie-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cheats.html. Kids who get caught cheating might be given a 'zero' score on the assignment, be sent to the principal's office, and have their parents contacted. Worse than the bad grade may be the feeling of having disappointed other people, like parents and teachers. A parent may worry that you are not an honest person and a teacher might watch you more closely the next time you're taking a test.

Cheaters cheat themselves in a way because they don't make an honest attempt to learn as much as they can. For instance, if you cheat your way through spelling tests, you won't learn how to spell. That can catch up with you when you get older! And adults who cheat — at work, sports, or in their relationships — get into serious trouble, far more serious than a bad grade on a spelling test.

Making a Comeback

There are plenty of reasons why a kid shouldn't cheat, but some kids have already cheated. If that's you, it's never too late to stop cheating. Cheating can become a habit, but like other bad habits, a kid can always decide to act better and make better choices. It might help to talk the problem over with a parent, teacher, or counselor. Choosing to play fair and be honest again can help a kid feel relieved and proud.

There's an old saying that cheaters never win and winners never cheat. This may sound confusing because sometimes it seems like cheaters do win — at least for the moment. But kids who don't cheat are true winners because, when they win, they do it fair and square.

I've always gotten good grades, but not always for the right reasons.

It seemed I was more driven by the desire to do the best and not my best. I wanted to get the highest grade, not gain the most knowledge. But can you blame me? Sometimes school feels like a series of tests invented to torture us seven hours a day.

So, during a total moment of weakness, I cheated on a test. All at once I made a huge mistake and learned a valuable lesson.

(Photo Credit: wavebreakmedia via Shutterstock)

The Class

The class was chemistry, and my teacher, who I'll refer to as Mr. Teapot* (this was a joke between me and my best friend–you had to be there), was the classic chemistry teacher. You know, the kind of boring, nasally, monotone character in a television show who can't possibly be real, but is. Every day he wore short sleeve button-up shirts tucked into his khaki pants. His glasses had never been in style and he practically interrogated a student if they asked to be excused to the bathroom.

But Mr. Teapot was a good teacher. He loved chemistry. He loved it so much that he put up with students–who he didn't seem to like quite as much–just so he could talk about molecules and reactions all day long.

I always did my homework and, for one of the first times in my life, it was because I actually had fun doing it and not just because it was a graded assignment. I enjoyed picking through the words, scrambling the information until it made sense, and finding answers in tables full of funny names like Selenium–which totally sounds like a pop star element.

The Test

The chapter test was on Friday. Teapot's tests were notoriously hard but I wasn't worried because I had studied so much I could solve the problems in my sleep.

I was feeling confident up until Friday morning. Word had spread that the test was impossible and everyone was flunking it. Even though I studied and totally understood the topic, I was starting to doubt myself. I couldn't stand the idea of this test weighing down my GPA.

A whisper was making rounds that Erin*, one of the smartest girls in Teapot's other period, had jotted the test answers on a slip of notebook paper. My friend Ryan* had the slip. And he was asking if I wanted it.

Suddenly I felt like the knowledge was escaping me like a leak I couldn't patch up. I couldn't remember the steps but had the element name, Selenium, looped on repeat like a song you can't get out of your head. I panicked. And I took the test answers.

(Photo Credit: wavebreakmedia via Shutterstock)

Cheating On Test Game

The Problem

'Okay,' I told myself, shaking nervously, 'You'll only look at the answers if you get stuck. You'll only use the cheat sheet to check yourself.'

I had never cheated on a test before. Sure, maybe I'd copied a friend's homework once or twice when I ran out of time, but I had never ever cheated in class, in front of the teacher, on a huge test.

I looked down at the exam, which was color-coded so every other student had a different version. Every question utilized the step-by-step equation that had dissolved from my brain only hours before. But I closed my eyes and pictured the chalkboard full of Mr. Teapot's chicken-scratch handwriting. Slowly, I worked my way through the first problem. I was doing it! I didn't need the dumb cheat sheet. I had this. Until I looked down.

Video Game Cheating

They say to never look down and this is why: instant, heart-stopping fear. I made the irreversible mistake of glancing at the cheat sheet that I had slid under my test. I had bubbled in A and Erin had written D.

It couldn't be. I was so sure of myself.

The Solution

In that moment I was faced with the decision of trusting myself or trusting the reputation of a stranger. I sort of knew Erin because I had taken Spanish with her the year before. It was true, she was really smart and always got good grades. I didn't know anything else about her, but for some reason I trusted her more than myself.

I erased my answer and bubbled in D. That's when everything went downhill. I tried to go back to my plan of solving the equation before checking the cheat sheet but I couldn't. Any ounce of composure I had maintained went out the window when Erin and I had conflicting answers.

I battled over every question. Change it to Erin's answer or keep my own? In the end I copied all of her answers with sweat beading at my hairline.

I had to wait for the perfect moment to turn in my test so that I could discretely cram the cheat sheet into my backpack before Mr. Teapot could see. Our tables were lab stations and our chairs were metal stools. Basically, it wasn't easy to hide. I finally stood abruptly, but as I went to take a step, my foot got caught on a leg of the stool causing the seat and I to fall flat on the floor. As if out of a movie, the slip of answers floated into the air and wafted gently to the tile floor like a feather.

Cheating Games Online

I almost came clean right then and there, from the cold floor of the chemistry lab. But as I looked up to confess, Teapot still had his eyes on his desk, no doubt flunking students from earlier periods. I grabbed the slip and stuffed it into my pocket. Classmates were smirking from my truly embarrassing fall. I bolted to my teacher's desk and profusely apologized for the commotion. I hovered probably too long trying to look completely innocent.

The Aftermath

School Test Cheating Games

A week later Mr. Teapot handed back my test with a big red C- next to my name. Never in my life had I gotten a bad grade before. I mean, to me a bad grade was anything lower than a B. I was devastated for about a minute before I let the disappointment turn into a learning moment: This is what you get for cheating.

Is He Cheating Test

(Photo Credit: Africa Studio via Shutterstock)

Cheating Girl Games

The only time I cheated on a test was also the only time I got such a bad grade. I would never find out what happened with that answer sheet, because word on the street was that Erin got an A. Had she mistaken the test version she took? Had she deliberately marked the wrong answers? Had I ignored her answers, would I have gotten a better grade?

It was too late for these answers to make a difference. But at least I learned my lesson: Always trust yourself.

*Names have been changed.

Cheating on a test is something you will never forget. You know what else never escapes your memory, no matter how hard you try? Your first kiss. Especially when it's as awkward as THIS first kiss story.