For as long as there have been exams, there have been people trying to cheat on them.
Over the years, it seems like every opportunity for cheating has been explored. Whether it’s notecards written with microscopic text or the old-fashioned “writing the answer all over your thighs,” countless people have tested their luck by doing everything but studying.
Now, a new cheating device has emerged. How does it work?
What’s This New Cheating Method?
In a video with over 20 million views, TikTok user @iluvstressballs shows a series of notes. In his hand is a blue gel cube. This is the “NeeDoh Nice Cube.”
“When it’s exam season and you’ve become desperate,” he writes in the text overlaying the video.
The rest of the video shows him repeatedly pressing the cube into his notes. When he lifts it, the notes are faintly visible on the cube.
This TikToker isn’t the first to show off this trick. Other videos on TikTok show people pressing the cube into their notes, then removing it to reveal that their notes have been copied onto the cube.
What Is This Cube?
As previously mentioned, this is the “NeeDoh Nice Cube.” According to the company’s website, the Cube is “a fidget toy that satisfies and soothes; NeeDoh is appropriate for anxious tendencies and helps promote focus, attention, and centering.”
There’s no data about how often these stress toys are truly used in school. That said, numerous student newspapers from across the country have written about their prevalence on campus, even at the high school level. Students interviewed for these articles claim that it helps with their attention spans, though some admit they can occasionally be a distraction.
Should You Do This?
Whether one decides to cheat is up to them. That said, most high schools have policies against cheating. If you’re caught, you could face disciplinary action (and you’ll probably have to take the test you cheated on again).
If you choose to do this at the university level, the punishments can be more severe. A professor can fail a cheating student. Plus, if the cheating is bad enough, it may even result in one’s expulsion from the university.
That said, some will decide to do this anyway. If they do, they should know that many commenters under these videos claim that after pressing their notes into their NeeDoh Nice Cube, they were unable to remove them. While some found success using hand sanitizer, soap and water, or using an eraser, others claim their NeeDoh still has writing on it after weeks or months of use.
Do Schools Allow These Toys?
Other commenters under these videos note that their school no longer allows them to use NeeDoh Nice Cubes or any other fidget toy.
“My school banned all squishys including needohs and If we get caught we get it took until graduation,” reads one comment.
“They got banned at my school for this exact reason,” added another under a video showing the cheating method.
But that’s not the only reason a school may decide to ban fidget toys. While many students claim that fidget toys help them focus, the data about whether they actually do this is fairly inconsistent.
For example, one 2020 study investigated whether fidget spinners helped children with ADHD focus. The study found that the children using fidget spinners were less focused than those who did not use them. A 2023 study testing fidget spinners and bouncy bands found a similar result.
Alternatively, a meta-analysis of multiple studies found mixed results, with some students seeing benefits and others not. Regardless, the benefits discovered were modest at best. This means that schools looking for solutions to attention issues should probably look elsewhere than fidget toys.
@iluvstressballs needoh you’re da real art. you’re my number 1️⃣ #needoh #exam #studying #viral #fyp @NeeDoh Official
BroBible reached out to NeeDoh via email and @iluvstressballs via TikTok comment.