<p>I'm homeschooled, and so I have to arrange to take exams at private centers and so forth. In my last A-level exam, the person who was running the test center (who knows my parents quite well) came and offered to give me as much extra time as I needed when my exam time finished (which was cheating, obviously). </p>
<p>From what I recall, I could've improved on my answers, but I lied and said I'd done all that I could - the lesser of two evils. I thought that, if I said I could use the extra time, the invigilator would've insisted that I take the extra time to finish.</p>
<p>I thought this would highlight the fact that I learned that, sometimes, you can only pick the best option, not the good one. And it did seem like the more moral thing to do. But I thought it might make me seem dishonest - and make my test scores seem suspicious (I only got that one qualification from that particular test center, though, and I intend to mention that subtly). </p>
<p>You did well to be honest, but how much of yourself does this incident reveal? </p>
<p>Aim for the topic that allows for the most personal, detailed, honest and revealing essay. If this topic allows for that, great. If not, imo look further.</p>
<p>Well, it was pretty much a personal struggle, because it was the last A-level exam I took (and so it was going to decide whether I got an A or a B; there was a lot hanging on it). It was very tempting to take the extra time, but looking back, I did the right thing (I actually ended up getting a B on the paper, but got an A overall regardless).</p>
<p>What I’m worrying, though, is the fact that I’ll have to specifically state that it was the last exam in order to highlight this. And then the adcoms could find out exactly which test centre it was (and also worry about how accurate the examiner’s marking turned out to be, although this was the only time I did an exam at this centre, and I got As most of the time at the other school I did tests at).</p>
<p>Also, I did kind of lie when I told the examiner I’d done all I could, because I could definitely have improved on my answers. What I would like to emphasize is that I learned that, sometimes, there is no right option.</p>
<p>Oh, the ideal thing to do would be saying that you didn’t do everything you could, but don’t need any more time. It’s not a good idea to write about this.</p>