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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/ThrowAwayUser_24601 on 2025-06-03 03:42:29+00:00.
Not today but years ago. So I was in my freshman year of college and found myself looking for an elective course and wanted to take Psychology 101. My degree had nothing to do with psychology but I was interested in the topic. The teacher was a no-nonsense type who was very passionate about the subject and was very much the kind of professor that weeded out freshman by making the course extremely difficult with four exams that made up the entire grade. I was intimidated but he was also an amazing teacher so I decided to stay signed up.
The number one rule in his class was no notes during tests. If we used any outside sources he personally would expel us not only from the class, but from the university itself. I’m not sure if he had actual grounds to do this but it definitely made the class more attentive.
Now onto how I messed up. Months later I was getting ready for my second test of the year and noticed that I also had another test for a History class coming up so I decided to schedule it one after the other (we had a computer system so that students could self schedule when to take these exams in a computer lab monitored by staff. The history test was open book. Psychology test was not. You can probably guess where this is going.
I genuinely confused which test was supposed to be open book and took my psychology test with notes (I did a cram session before the test so I had my notes in my bag as I didn’t have time to drop them off at the dorms) and I didn’t notice my mistake until after the test was over when I clicked on the history test which mentioned it was open book on the first page.
My stomach dropped and I quickly looked around to see the person monitoring the exams was on their laptop and I had no idea what to do. Should I tell her? Keep quiet? Take this as a lesson to be more aware of instructions in the future? Would they expel me over this mistake? How on earth can I explain this accidental cheating without sounding like an excuse? I wrestled with this for a couple of minutes and eventually decided to chalk this up as a blessing that no one noticed and to just be more aware in the future. I took my history test, retook my psychology test without using my notes that time, and went back to the dorm.
The next day I got an email from the professor. Due to some tech errors in the system he couldn’t get our results in the system the week before we were dismissed from the school for break (it was thanksgiving break) so he asked for students to come to his office so he can tell us personally our score. If you’re wondering why he didn’t just email it to us, honestly I don’t know either. I almost didn’t even want to show because I knew I passed but was at least curious about the percentage so decided to head over on the last day before break.
Anyway, I had no classes that day and decided to head over to his office early, but when I get to the building and turn the corner to his door I nearly bumped into another woman around my age practically running out his office crying her eyes out. I thought she must have failed the test and immediately started to feel guilty again. The professor greeted me and must have noticed the concern on my face and he told me that a moderator caught her cheating off her neighbor and he had to expel her from the class and explained he legally had to inform the head of department and it was up to them what would happen to her.
Immediately I felt like the worst person ever and after sitting down and hearing that I passed (I think it was 87/100) I told him I had something important to say. And I confessed. I told him that I unintentionally cheated on his test. His jaw dropped and asked me for more info so for the next few minutes we talk back and forth as I explained that I had another test in a different class that was open book and genuinely got my wires crossed and it was a complete accident. I even told him that I went back to the test and retook it again based off memory and deliberately changed some of the answers to wrong answers to remedy my mistake (this was true btw- the class allowed for one retake per test that’s open for those who failed it but when I realized my mistake I retook it immediately after my history test without using my notes this time.)
After explaining the story he noted that he was genuinely curious why there was a retake the same day as the first attempt and then got real quiet. His only question after that was “Why on earth would you tell me? I wouldn’t have known and you could have just walked on out and gotten away with this scott free.” I told him that I was already feeling guilty enough but seeing the woman before me leave the office devastated about being expelled for cheating made me think how unfair it would be if I got away with it like this (turns out I found out years later that I’m autistic and me getting away with cheating, even though it was on accident was breaking the rules and I personally couldn’t stand for not following the rules).
He got real quiet again and I could feel my heart pounding. I was absolutely certain I was going to be expelled and waiting for him to say something was excruciating, but just when I was about to cry from the stress of it he just looked at me and we had this exchange:
Professor: Have a good thanksgiving break.
Me: I- what? I don’t understand.
Professor: Look I have to lay it to you, but never in all my years of teaching had I ever had any student fully admit to cheating like this. And to be frank I’d probably wouldn’t believe that this was an accident on any other day. But I don’t think you’d have a reason to lie about it and admitting this shows integrity- more than I see amongst other students. I mean anyone with half a brain would just be happy they pulled a fast one over me. I’m not exactly known for being a ‘forgiving’ teacher here.
Me: …I just knew this was wrong and couldn’t stand the idea of passing like this.
Professor: …Enjoy your break. Get out of my office.
I just sat in shock and asked if I was still enrolled and he just waved me off to dismiss me with a “go before I change my mind and fail you now.” I quickly gathered my stuff and hightailed it out of there as fast as I could.
Now there was a punishment of sorts for my accidental cheating, but it wasn’t directed at me specifically. After that test, the professor started assigning one of his teacher assistants to be with the test monitor to keep track of all students of his class taking tests from now on because he wanted someone more aware of his testing requirements to watch the students. I was never called back into his office and wasn’t expelled, but he later emailed me saying that since the retake was a lower score he’s going to log that as my final score and I should assume that as my personal punishment.
He also warned me to never do this again (which, yeah, obviously) and had me schedule future tests so that it never fell on the same day as tests from other classes. I got through the year knowing I most definitely did not deserve mercy in this situation but was so grateful that I did everything I could to comply with his extra rules.
I ended up passing the class with a B+ and to this day I still can’t believe I wasn’t expelled for my mistake. And thankfully never had an experience like that again.
TLDR: I accidentally cheated in a class by mixing up the no notes rule of the test with an open book test from another class. The teacher was notorious for threatening expulsion if students cheated. I fully confessed and was shockingly punished less severely because it was genuinely an accident. Still still had to comply with extra rules regarding the rest of his tests that year. Happily obliged and passed the class with a B+.
Edit: some spelling and grammar fixes