More than 1,000 pupils penalised for phones in GCSE and A-level exams

How could anybody possibly ‘smuggle’ a smartphone into an exam hall and hope to get away with it? Back when I took my International Baccalaureate (IB) in 1999 we were only admitted into the hall with our standard school-issued tracksuit with pockets reversed and in stocking feet, and if we went to the bathroom during the exam the examiner would inspect the stall and distribute us pre-approved toilet paper rolls that hadn't had notes rolled into them. The blinds were down so that nobody could signal us from nearby buildings. Calculators, if allowed, were distributed from a stock of standard units with no pre-saved programmes or text files stored onboard. We were instructed not to tap our pencils on the desk's top or tap our feet or even crack our knuckles because it could be a method of communication and thus be grounds for disqualification. Our positions were randomised.

Those protocols were bloody rock solid, and rightly so: there's absolutely no doubt that whomever was awarded whatever deserved it. We students understood that these measures were in place to protect all of us from any shadow of a doubt whatsoever. I didn't find it in the slightest disturbing and all but the weakest students accepted it, and we better students were protected from the otherwise incessant badgering of those who would otherwise want to copy.

I found it all quite thrilling really.

P.S. I was no saint: I analysed the non-examination protocols and found multiple vulnerabilities that I harnessed multiple times to postpone inconveniently timed tests. But it would have never occurred to me to cheat.