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I’m not sure how pervasive it was overall, but I did witness one glaring example during my first semester.It was during a time when I took a very relaxed policy about attending lectures for my Calculus class. Meaning, I didn’t go.I was required to attend the smaller group sections, where attendance was taken, but every lecture could be skipped with no short-term repercussions. No teacher or coach or mom could make me go. The freedom was intoxicating.I was the embodiment of why high school graduates decide to take gap years, or why some countries have mandatory military service starting at age 18. A person who regularly skips class at a school that costs $50,000 a year so that he can sit in his room playing an online flash game called Slime Soccer is not ready for college.Unsurprisingly, I fell behind fast.I don’t know what I expected, jumping straight from Algebra II, the last math class I completed in high school, to calculus at an Ivy League. It was like trying to compete in an Iron Man without knowing how to ride a bike (the reason I didn’t drop the class was because I was convinced I had to major in economics if I wanted to get a job that made real money upon graduation).The first homework assignment felt like it was one of those ploys where the teacher tries to find a math genius by secretly giving the students unsolvable problems. Turns out it was really basic stuff that most people had mastered in high school.Still, I was always a good test taker, so I figured I’d somehow pull it together for the first exam.Nope. I got a 23/100.It’s never good when your test score isn't even a good baseball batting average.The next night, I went to a free tutoring session after basketball practice.Ten minutes after it began, I was in tears. Something inside of me snapped as I tried and failed to understand the basic properties of vectors. The tutor was great at math but not at emotional support. She tentatively patted my back the way you might pet a dog if you’re not really a dog person. Bless her for trying.When the session ended and I was left alone with my thoughts, I noticed something odd. It wasn’t that I was sad, it was that I couldn’t turn it around. The part of my brain that normally pumped me up and told me everything was going to be okay had abandoned me.I turned to that trusty section of grey matter for support, but all I got in return was, “Sorry man, I’ve got nothing. You’re screwed.”That’s when I first contemplated cheating, which was a big step for me. I’d never been a cheater. Growing up, it was an ironclad rule of mine: no cheating, ever. It was a way of separating myself from the people I saw as weak-willed losers.I got back to my dorm room, face still a bit puffy from crying while at the tutor, and mulled over a new lifestyle of sin.“Is this a life-defining decision? Does every evil person have this slippery slope moment? Was Jeffrey Dahmer once at a fork in the road, where one small decision was all that stood between normalcy and eating faces?”I decided that no, cheating wasn’t going to make me a bad person. Morality is malleable when you’re staring down the barrel of your first F.I mean, no one wants to cheat, but sometimes that's what you have to do to survive.Or when you really, really don't want to study.So, I joined up with some basketball teammates that night and copied their calculus homework.That wasn’t so immoral, I told myself. After all, most of the people I interacted with copied homework. I wasn’t a monster. Isaac Newton was the monster. The world was just fine without calculus.And thus started a rationalization a routine that would continue unabated for the rest of the semester. I started creating loopholes and justifications at a torrid pace, and like the cumulative effect of millions of exhaust pipes slowly eating away at the ozone layer, the scope of what I considered acceptable behavior got bigger and bigger.My chance to really embrace the devil on my shoulder, by attempting to cheat on an actual test, came a few weeks later. Our team was leaving for a road trip that happened to overlap with my second calculus midterm. It was the first time a trip conflicted with an exam, so I assumed that I’d just take the test when we got back from Maine.But no. Myself and three other teammates took the test in a small office next to the calculus lecture hall on the day before our road trip. The test was supposed to be proctored by a TA, but she stepped out of the room shortly after handing out the exam.If you’ve ever wondered how your favorite NBA player got great grades while attending an elite college even though he believes the earth is flat, it’s probably because he took a lot of tests where the proctor just happened to step out of the room.But instead of the cheating bonanza I was hoping for, paranoia set in. Were there hidden cameras? Had she just run to the bathroom? Was this a weird psych experiment?Whatever the case, my (so-called) friends, who were so keen to let me copy their problem sets, now stonewalled me. (It was almost the exact opposite of the time a similar thing happened to me in high school.)The TA didn’t come back for an hour, but we still soldiered on alone.I ended up getting 58/100, which was more than double my first score, but still an F. That's when I learned that there is no such thing as an F+, which I think is a little discouraging.There was now only one exam left. But, because the final was worth 35% of our grade, there was still hope that I could pass the class.Now was the time to really buckle down and make a plan — a plan that didn’t involve studying hard, missing basketball practice, or depriving myself of any fun activities. Those were non-negotiables in my warped world view.Sitting in my dorm room and pondering my dilemma, I realized that there was no need to overcomplicate things. How had people cheated since the beginning of time? They just snuck glances at the test next to them. So I decided to leverage a skill I’d honed on the basketball court since I was seven — my peripheral vision.After reframing all my hours of basketball practice as “study time,” I felt better about having barely reviewed any actual math leading up to the test.The day of the final, I chose a desk directly next to a smart girl I knew from my section.I felt jittery but ready. As the proctors handed out the tests, the “positive self talk” part of my brain finally reemerged. But now it was more like the ramblings of an unhinged business tycoon justifying a shady deal:“Yeah, you’re cheating, but for a good cause! And what is morality, anyway?”“You should never tell a lie, but what if you tell a lie to prevent a murder? Didn’t Kant say that was okay?”“Well, calculus is like a serial killer hell bent on slitting the throat of your future career prospects. You can’t sit back and let that happen.”After writing my name on the exam, I took a look at the first problem, I guess magically hoping it wouldn’t be gibberish. It was.So, I turned my head 10 degrees to the left and glanced at my classmate’s test. She was off to the races, writing quickly and legibly. I had to scramble to keep up. But then I noticed something printed on the top right corner of her exam:BI looked at the same spot on my exam:AOh lord.I checked the questions and realized hers were different than mine. Then I realized that there were multiple versions of the test, and that no one within my range of vision had test A. There went my plan.As I scribbled down equations, hoping for partial credit, my thoughts drifted to the future. Would I get kicked off the basketball team for failing? How would I tell my parents? What were the pros and cons of going to the bathroom and calling in a bomb threat?An hour later, the test ended and I was put out of my misery. I left the lecture hall feeling worse than the time I pooped my pants on the way to a high school basketball game. I couldn’t even cheat right. What hope did I have?When the score was posted online, I was unsurprised to see a 59/100 staring me in the face.I barely had time to digest this depressing news before another email came in telling me that I could view my final grades for every class.I figured I’d rip the band-aid off, so I logged in to the online portal. My eyes shot past French, Econ 101, and Expository Writing, going straight to Calculus.I stared in awe.C-I passed! And my parents would assume I was having normal academic growing pains, not that I’d become a craven cheater, devoid of all values and self respect!I was so elated I decided to walk over to the math building to talk to my calculus teacher, Sarah. (not her real name)She was the angel of a TF who taught our small group section and the one who gave me the passing grade. I wanted to shake her hand and maybe give her a hug.I also wanted to confirm my grade was real. I didn’t see how exam scores of F-, F+ and F+ could equal a C-. But hey, I am pretty bad at math.I found Sarah in our classroom, sitting behind her desk. She closed her laptop and smiled.“Hi Drew, what can I do for you?”“Hey, Sarah! I just wanted to say thanks. I can’t believe I passed. And, just...thanks.”“Drew, you had a positive attitude, you showed tremendous effort, and you had a burning desire to improve. Plus, you improved your performance on every test. I think with continued practice you will make a fine math student.”Now that’s how you see the positive side of an awful situation. She probably went on to an illustrious career as a political advisor.When I got back to my dorm room, I had another email. This one was informing me that I should fill out teacher evaluations for something called the Q Guide. This was a survey of the student body used to collect feedback about classes and teachers, which was then used by students to pick their classes.We rated each of our teachers on things like how clear their lessons were, how much passion they had for the subject matter, and, most importantly to slackers like me, how hard the class was.That’s when I realized that grade inflation had been working behind the scenes for me the whole semester. People always said it was a lot harder to get into Harvard than it was to get through it. Now, I believed them.I don’t think any young teacher of an entry level class wanted to be known as teaching “the hard class.” So, as a young TF trying to climb the ranks, what were you to do? It seems that some of them were as ethically flexible as I was.Sarah followed up our meeting with a nice email: “Thanks for always trying so hard and best of luck in the future.”Translated, that reads: “We both know what happened here, you lucky little bastard. You better give me a high rating in the Q guide.”Or maybe everything was just graded on a curve, and I actually didn’t do that bad in relation to everyone else. (Which is its own form of grade inflation.) Regardless, from that point on, I worried less about the prospect of failing a class. And it was so nice to know that I didn’t have to cheat.I probably should have paused at that point to reflect on what I’d become, what I wanted to achieve, and how I could avoid the temptation to cast aside every value I held dear when times got tough. But stressed out, kind of depressed, 18-year-old know-it-alls don’t have time for such petty concerns — there was so much Slime Soccer to be played.If you are interested in more stories like this, I just published a book! I’d be thrilled and grateful if you read it.

Arranging testing accommodation:Make an examination appointment in a timely manner, generally 3 days in advance of the exam, by filling out the student exam form located on the Student Accessibility Services webpage under the menu item "exam information for students"/ exam form.Exams must be scheduled to be taken at the same time as the regular classroom exams and be taken in one sitting.Exceptions to time changes:When extra time accommodations extend into another class periodIllness/injuryIn order for the process to run smoothly, please understand your responsibilities before taking exams at the testing center. Read on to learn about what is expected of students.All students using the Student Accessibility Services exam rooms are bound by the St. Lawrence University Honor Code which can be found in the student handbook.Time changes must be cleared with the instructor and the instructor must notify the SAS office of the agreed upon time change.During the exam, students are allowed to bring and use only the materials that have been indicated by the professor.All students will be monitored by the proctor for academic integrity.If the student has questions during the exam, the proctor will contact the professor either by email or phone.The exam time begins at the time scheduled: the exam will end at the completion of the approved extended time accommodation.Give yourself enough time to studyDon't leave it till the final minute. While some students do appear to thrive on last-minute cramming, it is extensively accepted that (for most of us) this is not the top method to approach an exam. To help sort out your time management setup a timetable for your study. Create down how numerous exams you've got along with the days on which you will need to sit them. Then organize your study accordingly. You may need to give some exams far more study time than others, so locate a balance which you really feel comfy with.Organize your study spaceBe sure to have enough space to spread your textbooks and notes out. Have you got adequate light? Is your chair comfortable? Are your computer games out of sight?Attempt and get rid of all distractions, and be sure you feel as comfy and in a position to concentrate as possible. For many people, this may possibly mean almost total silence, for other folks, background music aids. A few of us need to have every thing fully tidy and organized as a way to concentrate, while others thrive within a more cluttered atmosphere. Think of what performs for you personally, and take the time for you to get it proper.

Get the concepts down first. This seems like logic, but too many of us just read concepts over and over waiting for them to cement themselves and magically make sense -- when all we need to do is back up for a second and then let it all fall into place. Before you spend hours reading things you don't quite get, work on the bigger picture. See the painting before you can zoom in on the details.Outlines will help with this -- it's part of the reason your syllabus is so helpful. If you don't already have one, create one. Then you can concentrate on a portion of the outline at a time.If you don't know the answer, skip it for now. Since your test is timed, the last thing you want to be is preoccupied by the clock. Instead of that ticking getting louder and louder as you stare at the blank question, just skip it. Tackle all the ones you could do with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back and then get to the harder questions. Your mind will be primed with everything it definitely knows, making the rest a bit easier.When you've answered all of the easy ones, go for the ones that have the greatest point value. If you don't answer a question that's worth 10% of your grade, there's little hope for the rest of your test. So if you're in that position, weigh your options.Arranging testing accommodation:Make an examination appointment in a timely manner, generally 3 days in advance of the exam, by filling out the student exam form located on the Student Accessibility Services webpage under the menu item "exam information for students"/ exam form.Exams must be scheduled to be taken at the same time as the regular classroom exams and be taken in one sitting.Exceptions to time changes:When extra time accommodations extend into another class periodIllness/injuryTime changes must be cleared with the instructor and the instructor must notify the SAS office of the agreed upon time change.During the exam, students are allowed to bring and use only the materials that have been indicated by the professor.All students will be monitored by the proctor for academic integrity.If the student has questions during the exam, the proctor will contact the professor either by email or phone.The exam time begins at the time scheduled: the exam will end at the completion of the approved extended time accommodation.