I am a sophomore in high school and I made an idiotic mistake. I cheated on an English final because I wanted to maintain my A in that class (please don’t judge). My teacher caught me cheating and gave me a zero on the test. She even told me that she will write me a referral for cheating. I apologized and begged for her to not put this incident on my transcript because I was afraid that it will ruin my chances of getting accepted into a good college. She thankfully showed mercy and said she will not write me a referral, but my grade will remain a zero on the final. I was okay with that. I was so grateful, I thanked her for her consideration. But here’s the problem, I’m a very paranoid person who stress over every little thing and I can’t help but feel like she will still write me a referral for cheating even though she specifically told me she won’t. What if she gets mad when she goes over my test and realizes how much I’ve cheated? Even though she told me she won’t report me, I have a hard time believing her because normally, when a person cheats on a FINAL EXAM, the consequences are very harsh. My only consequence is a zero. What is the likelihood that she will report me without me knowing? AM I overthinking? I highly regret cheating on this final. It was the most stupid thing I’ve done this year
You cheated on a Spanish final AND an English final? Maybe the first time could be a credible mistake, but come on now.
Also, you’re asking anonymous people on a forum the likelihood of your teacher’s action. How would anyone here know?
Sorry I meant “english” on the other one not spanish. I just edited that over.
I don’t recall seeing a place on a transcript where cheating would be recorded. But that isn’t the issue for me.
You say that you cheated to maintain an A average in that class. I fully understand wanting to maintain that grade. What I don’t understand is why you felt impelled to cheat instead of studying hard enough to make sure you performance of the final was equivalent to your current class average.
Cheating is far more than an idiotic mistake; it is a form of stealing and you knowingly engaged in it. What if you hadn’t been caught? I assume you would be good with that. Your teacher caught you and you tried to beg your way out of the consequences, perhaps successfully.
Oops, my bad is not a reasonable or acceptable response to cheating, in my estimation. Your are concerned that your actions might impair your opportunity to get into a good college and are paranoid that your teacher may impose your school’s sanction for cheating on a final when she realizes the extent of your cheating. What would your reaction be if another student in the class cheated to maintain an A?
You don’t want to be judged. I would not have judged you if you had shown regret, embarrassment, and contrition about cheating. Your cheating could have been a hard lesson you learned early in high school. I don’t know if the teacher will make a referral.
You are under-thinking. Perhaps receiving the penalty would help you sort out the difference between your desires and the gravity of the offense.
But I didn’t STEAL anything because i didnt copy answers from anyone. We had to do a lot of memorizing of definitions and instead of studying the definitions, I wrote them on a card and used it on my test. Since I have a perfect gpa, i feel the pressure to maintain it because there’s a lot of competition for scholarships. There’s always so much competition which made me feel under pressure. Believe me, I wouldn’t want to cheat again after today. And yes I am very fearful that my teacher might change her mind and decide to put this on my transcript. I worry a lot about my future and I should of thought of this before I decided to write definitions on a card
If there was no suspension, principals, or parents involved, then this can’t possibly go on my permenant record right? And if my teacher were to change her mind and put this on my permanent record, what are the chances that colleges will see this if there’s no suspension or anything? Cheating wouldn’t go on my permanent record if there was no suspension involved right? And would I be kicked out of NHS if cheating were to go onto my record?
Well what choice do you have other than to just hope she’s telling the truth? Nobody can predict the likelihood for you. I think you’re pretty lucky if she is being genuine…
You should be kicked out of NHS. The National HONOR Society shouldn’t be too hot about cheating.
Wow… this is very concerning. You don’t seem to care about the fact that you cheated, rather than the fact that you are going to get in trouble.
That teacher SHOULD write you up.
To be honest, if you are cheating and have done it a lot, you deserve what you get. Especially with honors students, cheating should be intolerable. There is no excuse for it. You should be lucky that your teacher is letting you off the hook with disciplinary action.
Ok everyone here is seemingly bashing you instead of giving you answers. It probably won’t end up on your record, but this should still be a wake up call not to cheat. If you hadn’t cheated you would have had a better grade in the class. You took a risk and it failed big time.
Teachers most often keep their word but your paranoia is probably rightful punishment. That said dont do it again, work hard, and get good grades! That should help you get out of this hole
You should be afraid. I too share the thought that maybe this is just the only time that you got caught. I actually feel bad for you that you have this kind of pressure on you to be perfect, where is that coming from?. You can not expect a teacher to lie on a reference. Some references that my daughter have received have specific questions that need to be answered such as 'level of integrity" and explanation for the rating. The hard truth is is that you really do not deserve to receive a reference that says anything other than the truth. I really hope that you have learned your lesson and that you will really earn the grade that you get from now on. I do know of someone who was given a reference with a low rating on integrity and it was mentioned to them at their interview. The person who did the reference put down their honest opinion. The student did not get in. Hopefully if this does happen, you can be prepared to explain and discuss what you learned from the consequences. Your answer can and should not be that you are upset because you got caught, there should be remorse. The zero has probably caused your GPA to take a huge hit. Be prepared to be honest with your parents and anyone else who questions this if & when it comes up.
Generally my response to cheating would be something along the lines of “take the zero, don’t do it again, and don’t worry about it.” Kids get dinged for doing stupid things all the time, and a one-time incident won’t harm you much in the long term.
Your response to @zannah 's post, however, was…unsettling, to say the least, and prompted a lengthier response.
Your first step should be to stop trying to justify your act; the “competition [you] face for scholarships” and the fact that you were “under pressure” in no way validate what you did. The comment about cheating being “stealing” is right, but you seem to have missed the point: in knowingly cheating in the academics/scholarships/apps game, you are effectively stealing from other students whose opportunities may be limited by your actions. You are not better than these kids. You are not more deserving than these kids.
Your next step should be to accept that you’re going to have to deal with the consequences here–whatever they may be. It sounds like you’re just going to get a zero on the final–in other words, you got off extremely lightly. I’ve seen kids face serious consequences for erroneous citations and paraphrasing–kids who weren’t even aware that what they were doing could be construed as cheating. I’ve seen kids face serious consequences for casually discussing test questions with others who had taken the same test–again, doubtful that the kids even considered it cheating. A few levels up from that, a kid who gets nervous during a test and glances at another student’s scantron is going to face major ramifications. What you did is still a level up from that: premeditated cheating (given the manner in which you broke the rules).
Again, your teacher probably won’t write you up; teachers are people like the rest of us, and they understand that kids sometimes make poor choices. That being said, you should make a greater effort to understand why what you did was wrong, since it sounds like you still have a lot of work to do in that department.
Thank you Sethm2015 for a genuine answer to my question! I will definitely take this as a wake up call