A Story on Honesty Is the Best Policy: Model Answer and Marking Notes
Quick answer: An original 180-word exam story on 'Honesty is the best policy', with notes on how it earns content, organisation and expression marks and three other ways to take the topic.
A story on 'Honesty is the best policy' needs three things to score: a character who has a real chance to be dishonest and would gain from it, a visible moment of choice, and a consequence that follows from the honesty without being a cash reward. The proverb is the moral, so it belongs at the end or in the title, never in the first line. The model below runs to about 180 words, the length most school papers set; trim the middle paragraph to bring it down to 120 for the CBSE Class 9 pattern.
This is the most-set values topic in Indian school exams, which means examiners have read the found-wallet plot several hundred times. It still works, but a small change of setting and a reward that is not money will lift your answer out of the pile.
The task
Typical wording: 'Write a story in 150 to 200 words with the title Honesty Is the Best Policy. Add a suitable moral.' Or, as an outline: 'a boy at a shop ... a customer overpays ... the shopkeeper says keep it ... the boy's decision ... the result.' Either way the marker wants the choice on the page and the result shown, not announced.
Model answer
The Extra Note. Aarav spent every Saturday morning behind the counter of his uncle's sweet shop in Pune, weighing laddoos and counting change. He liked the work because it was simple. On the last Saturday before Diwali the shop was so crowded that he could barely hear the customers.
A woman in a grey sari bought two boxes of kaju katli, pushed some notes across the counter and hurried out with her phone at her ear. Aarav counted the money after she had gone. She had paid four hundred rupees too much; two notes had stuck together.
His uncle shrugged. 'She will not come back. Put it in the box.' Aarav looked at the notes for a moment, then ducked under the counter and ran into the lane. He found her at the auto stand, still on the phone, and held out the money. She stared at it, then at him, and finally laughed.
On Monday the new school librarian smiled at Aarav from behind her desk. It was the woman in the grey sari. She never mentioned the money. She did not need to.
Why it earns marks
Measured against the three heads most boards use:
Three other ways to take the same topic
Use these if the found-money plot feels too familiar.
What writers can take from this
- Give an adult permission to be dishonest; it makes the child's choice sharper.
- Show the hesitation before the honest act, one sentence is enough.
- Let the reward be something other than money.
- Keep the proverb out of the first paragraph.
- Name the objects: the sweets, the note, the stand.
- Cut to 120 words by removing the uncle's dialogue and one sentence of the ending.
Try it yourself
Write a 180-word story titled 'The Wrong Mark' in which a student is over-credited in an exam and must decide whether to say so before the results are pinned up. Do not use the word 'honest' anywhere in the story.
Questions
What is the word limit for a story on honesty in the exam?
Whatever the question states. CBSE Class 9 sets 100 to 120 words; most school papers set 150 to 200; ICSE compositions run 300 to 350. The model above is 180 and can be trimmed or extended by one scene.
Can I write the honesty story in the first person?
Yes. First person suits this topic because the temptation can be felt directly. Be careful not to let the narrator explain the moral; the events should carry it.
Is a moral compulsory for 'Honesty is the best policy'?
The title is already the moral, so a separate line is only needed if the question asks for one. If it does, write 'Moral: Honesty is the best policy' on a new line after the story.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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