Wow, I totally forgot about doing this. It was a great trick in a pinch. Dropbox offered me a much better solution to do the same thing in college, which was to submit my assignment on time, via a Dropbox link in email, but to a blank word file. It always gave me several hours to finish my papers.
Now, I'm on the other side of it. My spouse is a teacher and I get to see the base tactics that some students try to pull off and the hair-pulling toll that hundreds of these paper cuts inflict on teachers when they have to chase down students.
My memory of what happens when they are caught is that that “<something something>, stress, grandma, sick, boyfriend/girlfriend, dog, car, flatmate <something something>, I’ve learned a lesson, please let my attempt at cheating slide.”
Faculty gives compassionate consideration and everyone moves on. Used to infuriate me.
When I worked retail at a big box store in college, the operations manager kept a spreadsheet tally of the death, disease and mishap that afflicted store employees.
After Christmas at the annual party he announced the total death toll (it was like 80 people and 50 pets for a staff of 120), and presented the person with the most fake death a funeral basket of flowers and summer sausage.
The payoff here (looking like a giant asshole) doesn't seem worth the risk (publically humiliating someone who had the worst year of their life and lost a ton of family and friends)
How would you abuse that? Choose to drop 3 results, that's your choice. Then get an emergency and have to forgo a forth. Well, that truly is your own fault since you chose to drop the first 3.
But when dad calls up the administration and reminds them of how much he's paying for the course, little Karen gets allowed to have that '3' number increased to 6...
Now, I'm on the other side of it. My spouse is a teacher and I get to see the base tactics that some students try to pull off and the hair-pulling toll that hundreds of these paper cuts inflict on teachers when they have to chase down students.