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Write a story about a test or exam with a dangerous or unexpected twist.

Posted in Short Story on Jun 13, 2025

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✍️ 48 stories

Did I Get an A?

Submitted to Contest #307

“Mr. Lang, a word,” Principal Russo said, wagging a chubby, come-hither finger at me from his office doorway.I sighed, adjusting my tie—a soft purple silk number splattered with little green question marks.Russo’s eyes flicked briefly toward the Riddler-inspired tie before grumpily meeting my gaze.A wry smile found its way to my face. Russo hated my outfits, but I had tenure, so there was nothing he could do about it.Still, he made little effort to hide his disdain for anything outside the old-fashioned. With his neatly pressed collared shir...

36 likes 19 comments 19
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Crushed Rose

Submitted to Contest #307

On campus in May, the roses in the plastic tubs are blooming. It’s still too early for sunflowers, though she remembers them being around during the early weeks of that carefree first year when the best part was making new friends. Rosie had felt free then, capable of doing anything, overcoming every obstacle. If fate and sheer hard work had given her the chance to escape the demons of her past, she didn’t want to get it wrong. Except she had, and it was all because of him! Telling herself she’s only visiting his office before the first exam...

19 likes 15 comments 15
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Know Thyself

Submitted to Contest #307

Jordan was just a few months into his sophomore year at MIT and the leaves had mostly browned and fallen from the oak trees lining the walkways outside of his dorm room when he received the email on a rainy Tuesday evening inviting him to participate in a new study that was set to begin shortly. From: david.corvalis@mit.eduTo: jordan.maxwell@mit.eduDate/Time: 10-30-2026 5:43 PMRe: Invitation to participate in research project Hello Jordan, I am very pleased to inform you that your application to our upcoming research study has been accepted ...

18 likes 30 comments 30
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The Final Algorithm

Submitted to Contest #307

The bell rang like a fire alarm—shrill, unavoidable, and echoing through the hallways of Lincoln High. Room 304 filled with the low thuds of backpacks hitting the floor and the nervous rustling of notebooks being stuffed away. Thirty juniors shuffled into their seats, most still half-chewing breakfast bars, others tugging earbuds from their ears like they were removing life support.On the whiteboard in a thick, smug marker: FINAL EXAM: AI SYSTEM PILOT PROGRAM. Underneath, a hastily scrawled note in Mr. Delaney’s handwriting: “You may not lea...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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The Testing Tower

Submitted to Contest #307

This is it. All those months of torture from the other students and even the teachers, and it’s all led to this. I stare up at the Testing Tower, but even craning my neck all the way back, I can’t see the top. The sides go on for miles so there’s no way to see around it.I glance over at the best thing this university gave me, my first real friends. Ava is anxiously pushing her curls behind her ear while Felix is muttering to himself. We’d be idiots not to be nervous. Our classmate shift around us, the air crackling with anticipation. What st...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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Backspace

Submitted to Contest #307

My gaze traced the path of a single rain-droplet as it slid down the windowpane beside me. I was supposed to be watching my students as they took their final exam--to make sure no one was sharing answers or sneaking glances at surreptitious notes scribbled on the inside of their forearms. What did it matter when I would be watched later, to make sure that I was going against the very principles this institution swore it valued? The Academy touted its integrity, diligence, and, and courage, making it easy for every student to trust the resul...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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Back In My Day...

Submitted to Contest #307

Murmuring conversations simmered between magical faculty members, forming a bed of sound that was immediately halted with a scattering of gasps. Vincent had slammed down the ever-warm coffee pot, which had faithfully served the staff room for generations, exerting a little more frustration than intended. The deafening clatter of iron on ceramic shocked all of Eldrich Castle’s teachers into silence, and forced a wince of regret into his scrunching shoulders. He had not wanted the attention he was now going to get. “Everything okay, Professor ...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Admitted or Eliminated

Submitted to Contest #307

The morning starts with an empty fridge. Jonathan opens the door and sighs: no sign of ham. Just a jar of jam, forgotten in a corner, with a sticky lid.He resigns himself, quickly spreads jam on a slice of bread, covers it with another, and wraps it in a napkin.— No time, no time...He puts his backpack on one shoulder and rushes toward the door.— Bye, Mom! he shouts over his shoulder.— Take care, Jonathan...But he's already gone. His feet run toward the bus stop, clutching the jam sandwich in his hand.He arrives at the stop just as the bus s...

13 likes 0 comments 0
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The Final Assessment (With a Bit of Garnish)

Submitted to Contest #307

“What do you mean, this is my final test?” “Mason, The Company has provided this opportunity to redeem yourself in their eyes, and recover a very valuable piece of nostalgia as well from someone who shouldn’t possess it. I don’t see what the problem is.” Paul adjusted his earpiece, and checked his firearm. He had four more clips in his holster, so there should be plenty. “Why also do you insist on calling me Mason? You know my name, Lime, and I’ve told you several times, you can call me Paul.” He could hear the stern look through the earpiec...

11 likes 8 comments 8
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Dark As Ink

Submitted to Contest #307

Tick, tick, tick …the relentless clicking of the second hand needled my brain as I tried again to focus on the paper in front of me.I watched as the tip of my pen dipped, its point pressing into a circle on the answer sheet. I slid my eyes to my right, then left, but everyone was intent on their own test. Mr. Stein sat at his desk in the front of the class, the very embodiment of the numerous childhood nightmares he was responsible for, as his gaze roamed the room. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck as he zeroed in on me, lingering for ...

7 likes 3 comments 3
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The Annotated

Submitted to Contest #307

The letter arrived in the final week of the final term of autumn. Thick cream envelope. Crimson wax seal. No return address. Inside: a single card, printed in fine black ink. _You have been selected for The Annotated Oral._ The handwriting below was not printed. It was too angular. Too exact. _Tonight. South Archives. Third Vault._ Julian Raye had heard rumours. Whispers passed between exhausted students at midnight in library corners. “The Annotated Oral,” they said, with a shrug or a shudder. One student each year. No syllabus. No wi...

7 likes 6 comments 6
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In Vivo Veritas

Submitted to Contest #307

Gaslight flickered along the tiled walls and danced across the faces of the professors in the gallery above, perched like birds of prey. A portly man stood in the first row and stared gravely down at Thomas. Thomas kept his eyes fixed on the man’s waistcoat button, which was threatening to burst at any moment. The man cleared his throat. “Mr. Greaves, it is a pleasure to see you come this far in your medical education. This nation finds itself in no small want of capable young physicians. I took up the profession myself in the years followin...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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All the Pretty Failures

Submitted to Contest #307

Trigger warning: This story contains mentions of substance abuse and physical violence. The radiator in Room 103 had been bleeding rust since the Bush administration and nobody at Millhaven Community College remembered anymore whether the stains on the linoleum were from water damage or something meaner. Meredith sat at the pressed-wood desk that passed for a teacher's station and watched five adults pretend to write essays about overcoming obstacles while the real obstacle, the one nobody talked about, pressed down on them all. December in ...

7 likes 3 comments 3
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Question # 24

Submitted to Contest #307

Noah’s brain didn't happen to show up in Caraway Hall with the rest of his body that day, the most important one, the day of his final.A good thing it was open book.Still, he wished he hadn't stayed up so late drinking and playing Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. It was hard enough taking an exam on a full night's sleep with his ADHD.The scratching pencils, erasers rubbing, pages flipping—were all bad enough, but the steady tick of the old brass clock above the dry-erase board were altogether unbearable. They pounded hard against his hungover ner...

7 likes 4 comments 4
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Final Exam

Submitted to Contest #307

The room buzzed with a nervous, electric tension as the senior chemistry students tore open their final exam envelopes. Fluorescent lights hummed above, casting a pale glow over rows of lab benches. Scratch of pens, rustle of papers, and the occasional sigh of anxiety filled the air. At the front of the room, Professor Alton McClain stood with his arms crossed, a steel-jawed figure with gray in his beard and wariness in his eyes. He had spent thirty years teaching chemistry at Langley College, long enough to know when something felt... off. ...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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