A law student used Harry Potter-style invisible ink to sneak 24 pages of ‘unauthorised notes’ into exam

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By Thomas Connelly on

She was caught by students and the invigilator

A university watchdog report has revealed a law student was caught with “unauthorised notes” written in Harry Potter-style invisible ink during an exam.

According to the latest annual report by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), the unnamed female student used “invisible UV ink” to heavily annotate her law statute book, equating to about 24 pages of notes.

Legal Cheek understands that the student may have used a revealing charm smuggled an ultraviolet light into the exam, allowing her to read the secret annotations. Continuing, the report — which used the invisible ink incident as a case study example — states:

She was seen using the notes by other students and the invigilator, who retained the statute book as evidence.

But if you think this is an appropriate exam technique, take note (no, not of the invisible ink variety) of the student’s punishment. Her university, which is not named in the report, failed the student “in all modules for the year.”

However law exam faux pas aren’t just reserved for university students. In 2014 Legal Cheek reported that an Australian lawyer had been struck off after attempting to smuggle notes into a bar ethics exam.

Hendrick Jan van Es, arriving at the exam room with an “unusually large” bundle of notes, was turned away by invigilators. Nipping outside, the hapless lawyer — who initially denied any wrongdoing — separated his papers before shoving some down his trousers and returning to the exam room. Unfortunately he failed to spot the CCTV recording his every move.

Struggling with exams? Read our revision tips open thread here.

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