Although I never had a good reason to cheat on a test, I always wanted to just because I had thought of some good ways to do it. I realized that teachers were on the "look out" constantly for cheaters, which sparked my interest. How could I pull it off?

The fist trick requires a special kind of pen. Usually obtained from vacations to Florida, these pens have water in a hollow chamber around the center of the tube. There is usually some kind of picture of a boat that will go from one end of the pen to the other end if you tip the pen back and forth.

The first thing you need to know about the pen is that there is some kind of cap on the end where the eraser would be if it were a pencil. Get that off somehow; usually they just screw off. Dump all the water and any other stuff out. Now you can look at it to get an idea of how big the cheat sheet can be. That is the next step; make the cheat sheet.

Once you have properly sized the cheat sheet, write everything you can onto it. You may want to write simple words that remind you of entire concepts, or you may have to write entire definitions. It is all up to you. I would recommend that you do some studying so that you only need to write simple words as reminders.

Now, slip the paper into the hollow chamber and put the cap back on as if it were never taken off. Your cheat is complete, but remember to casually hide it when the teacher gets to close to you. Also, casually hold the pen horizontally as you read it and try to look slightly puzzled, to avoid suspicion.

The second trick requires a new, standard, six-sided, pencil and something to you can use to scratch on it; a dried out ballpoint pen is best. All you have to do is scratch your notes onto the pencil. Press the pen down hard enough so that you can see the writing when the light shines on it, but not so hard that the teacher can notice as he passes. It is a nice little trick, because the notes are only visible when the light shines on the pencil. Just remember to casually hold it horizontally as before.

My third trick comes from watching magicians on television. When they want a card, which you pick from a hand full, to disappear, all they really do is put a rubber band around it and it slides into their vest. How interesting that is! I modified it to work with sleeves since students do not usually wear vests to school.

To make this trick work, you need something that will stay firmly on your forearm, a rubber band, and your cheat sheet. I will explain the process using a dog collar. Put the collar on your arm and tie the rubber band to the collar. Now put a hole at the bottom of your cheat sheet and tie the rubber band to it. Keep in mind that you may need to tape a few sheets of paper together so that the cheat sheet does not tare. Now you can reach into your sleeve, pull the notes out, and hold them in your hand while taking the test. If the teacher comes over, all you have to do is let go! The paper will slide into your sleeve and you will not know what the teacher is talking about! If you are asking why you keep reaching into your sleeve, tell them that your arm itches.

Now that you know my crafty ways to cheat on a test, you can use any one of them or a combination to be more, or less, successful on test day. What have you learned from all this? What you should have learned is that it is better to spend your time studying rather than wasting your time by trying to come up with crafty ways to cheat on a test, how to form them, and how to conceal them. By the time you get done with all that, you could have learned most or even all of the material anyway! So, my ultimate recommendation is that you completely ignore all of the above paragraphs and keep this one in mind. Cheating is just another way of saying "I ll learn it tomorrow," which never comes.