Two weeks before their final year second semester exam in the civil engineering department, the structural engineering lecturer announced to the class that they would be required to go into the exam hall with the Design Codes & standards book, which they'll use to answer the compulsory question.
He made it simple for them to get it anywhere, and it's not necessary to buy from him, which means they can print or photocopy to get their own copies.
Also, he thoroughly emphasized that on no account must anything outside the Design Codes be written on the book. He took his time to emphasize on that because he knew what the students were capable of—he knew that some of them could inscribe some malpractice particles in a clever way and no one would notice.
A week after the said, some market-oriented persons in the class got a business out of the Design Code and Standard Book; they made a photocopy of the book and began to sell it for $3 per one.
Ajax, a financial struggling guy in the class, found it so hard to purchase the book with $3 and he planned to collect from his friends and personally photocopy it, which will cost him $2.
That special Friday morning when he got to school, he pleaded with his friend, Eric, to collect his book so he could go and photocopy, but Eric directed him to Jessica, who was looking for someone to buy one of her books because she had gotten one already when her boyfriend bought another one for her. So he met Jessica, and she released the book to her at the rate of $1. What a big relief for him!
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When he got home that Friday evening, he took his time to open the 130-leaf book to search for anything that could implicate him in the exam hall, but he found none.
On Monday (the exam day), they all sat at their respective seats, and before the exam, the lecturer emphasized again that once he sees anything implicating in the Design Codes and Standard Book, he'll fine the student for malpractice.
The exam kicked off, and the lecturer began to move from one seat to another, flipping the books to search for any implicating items, and just as expected, he caught a lot of people, both those that smartly inscribed some cheat words on the Design book and those that just had a single handwritten word on the book unknowingly.
The exam hall became chaotic and noisy because all the caught candidates were shouting while trying to plead not guilty to what was found on their books, which the lecturer did not give them a listening ear and was still on his business searching for the remaining ones.
Ajax, with full confidence, was busy writing when the lecturer got to his seat. With boldness, he handed him over the Design Code and Standards book without the lecturer demanding. The lecturer noticed his boldness and smiled. As the lecturer was busy flipping the papers, Ajax was busy writing, and the next thing he heard from the lecturer was "Mr. Felix, bring a malpractice form for this guy to fill." The lecturer called for the supervisor.
Ajax was shocked to have heard that. He raised his head to look at the lecturer's face, and he saw the angry face of the lecturer.
"Sir, what did I do?" he questioned the lecturer, looking surprised.
"What is this?" The lecturer asked him while pointing to a handwritten word ("parallel") on the booklet.
"Sir, I wasn't the one that wrote this; as you can see, the word was photocopied along with the material, and beside, this is no way related to the exam," he replied the lecturer with boldness as he tried to justify himself.
The lecturer gave him a deaf ear and continued his business of searching, and as he was doing that, he was announcing with a loud voice, "You'll be served an examination malpractice form once I find anything implicating on your Design Code books."
The continuous announcement by the lecturer got Ajax more weakend; he realized at that point that he had f*cked up and has to dance to the tune of the music.
His exam booklet had been seized already, and he had been forced to fill out the exam malpractice form.
At that point, his exam seat neighbor advised him to get another booklet to start afresh; otherwise, he'd end up losing everything because the seized booklet wouldn't be returned. He took the advice and began to write from scratch again. He tried all possible ways to meet the deadline, but it seemed impossible because he had already wasted almost three hours.
Ajax wasn't among the dullards in the class; he geared up and did his best and was forced to submit when time was up.
After the exam, all the victims rushed to meet the lecturer to beg for mercy; they pleaded for about an hour, and the lecturer decided to pity them on two conditions: they must appease him with $4 each, and their last booklet would be used instead of the first.
They had no option but to agree; it's better than facing the school's malpractice panel. In a gify, a lot of them brought their money while Ajax went out to borrow from his friends, which took him some hours to succeed. Before he could return, the lecturer had left, so he searched for his number and called him; the lecturer sent him his account number, and he transferred the money there and his mind finally got relaxed.