Personal recount: Write about a time when you were caught cheating and were punnished in front of the class.

Everyone in the world think of themselves as reasonably honest. In fact, all of us had gone through the experience of cheating. Despite of how serious the offence is and whatever reasons or excuses we may have for it, we had did it unintentionally.

Everyone does cheat, no matter how law-abiding you are. I was also not an exception and I cheated others before. When I was in primary school, I hate math. Math is a troublesome subject with full of numbers and formula. I was totally not understand the mathematical terms taught by teacher. Everytime before exam, I had to memorise all the mathematical formula in order to answer the maths questions. It was a difficulty to me and was time-consuming. I hate doing this!

It was the end of my primary five, and I had not prepared for my end-of-year examination. As I studied last minute, I did not have the time to memorise the math formula or even read through the notes which had given by my math teacher. I was panicking and was afraid of failing math. At that time, an immoral idea passed through my mind: cheating. I decided to slip into the Head of Department's room and have a glance of the questions which will be tested during exam. As I know, the question papers were always be placed inside the black cardboard in HOD room. My dilemma keeps pulling me backwards and persuades me to shut off the thoughts, but my leg just could not stop and eventually led me to the HOD room.

I was stunned when I reached the door. My heard was pumping fast and I felt my leg trembling. This was the first time I did this and was very nervous. Finally, I approached to the handle of the door and entered the room. I felt relief that Mrs. Lee was not around and there was no one inside the HOD room. Immediately, I went across to the black cardboard and opened it. As I looked down, I saw a pile of paper with a hand-written list of exam questions and answers on it. I thought quickly: I was not doing something that is criminal. I just want to take a look at the answer. This is the first and also the last time I cheat. I promise I will not do this again. After consoling myself, quickly I memorised a couple. Thinking that I was undetected, I put back the answer script and left the room.

Well, justice was done. My criminal act was witnessed by my teacher. She saw me walking out from the HOD room stealthily and when she entered the room, she saw that the cardboard was left opened. She presumed that I had cheated and ran to my class to call me out. I approached her gingerly, trembling with fear. She told the whole class the irresponsible act I had done. Her words were like a thunderbolt out of a clear blue sky. I stared at her dumbfounded. I couldn't believe that there was someone who had witnessed the cheating process! I could hear the giggles and murmurs of my classmates resounding through the entire class.

I was in disgrace and I shifted my eyes away from meeting anyone else's. Seething with anger, Mrs. Lee announced that I will be penalized for not seating for the math exam and I get a zero. An eerie silence now permeated the classroom. I felt naked and vulnerable as I didn't know that cheating is such a serious offence. I begged Mrs. Lee for giving me a chance, but she walked away in disappointment. I was in great shame and not dare to look up at others' faces.