Did You Pass Honestly?
Imagine a ballerina dancer who after years of hard work learns that she’s been made prima ballerina in her ballet company.
Picture the eyes glistening with joy of the young girl who’s been accepted in a football club that will train her to become a professional player.
Feeling the emotion of the student who receives her Ph. degree, after many sleepless months of research and studies.
Do you know what unite these three very different individuals? It’s a sense of achievement; they are all experiencing the pride of the person who has reached their objective. Life is filled with little tests – some official, others less – that we take and try to pass. But only the one who passes honestly can truly know what it means to be satisfied with herself. If you’ve cheated, in a way or another, you know that your achievements are not real. More importantly, you know that there can be no relief because the results are fake.
Cheating yourself into thinking you’re doing fine
Sometimes, you can find yourself accidentally believing that you are on the right track because your behavior has made you unable to perceive the truth. If you’re struggling with addictive coping mechanisms, for instance, such as smoking when you’re stressed out, it can be difficult to get rid of the vicious circle. You smoke when you’re nervous, but your mind believes that you can’t relax unless you’ve had a cigarette. Taking back control begins with little steps, looking for a replacement or gradually reducing your consumption. However, if the alternative sustains your nicotine addiction, you might be fooling yourself by believing that you are on the right path. Similarly, another common way of lying to yourself at a party is to use a whizzinator to beat the urine test. While it’s a fun gadget that can be used in a bachelorette party, don’t use it as an excuse to drink more.
Learning just to pass
Students often feel uncomfortable at the idea of cheating for a test. They want to earn their degrees, and consequently, they want to learn truthfully. However, a common mistake is to learn just for the test. Once the test has passed, you immediately forget the knowledge. There is no gain in massed repetition over a short period of time before the exam; if you can’t remember after the test, what makes your knowledge valuable or even real? A lot of students prefer crammed learning, which implies that there will be little left of it once they leave college.
Stop googling the answers
If you’re trying to boost your resumé, you’ve probably taken a look at online certificates you can add to your skills and competence. The majority of online tests are free or rather inexpensive and can be taken from the comfort of your own home. Unfortunately, many let you research the answers as you’re taking the test – and you can even find some online retailers selling you the solutions such as here with the AdWords Display exam. At the end of the day, while you can display your certificate validation on your CV, it’s fair to say that you may not have the relevant skills.
The bottom line is that nobody can monitor your achievements. But if you’re going to be proud of yourself, you should try to pass honestly and durably the tests you set for yourself.