Cheating and Everything

"There is no optical instrument in the world that works beyond the marvel of our eyes," says our teacher in one of her class discussions this early January.

The word problems were already written on the board. Each of my classmates had already crossed their fingers, muttered a short prayer, hoping that they would pass the exam and that the Holy One would forgive them to a sin they haven't done yet.

The subject was Optical Physics, one of the staggering seven physics subjects that is included in my prospectus, along with three basic and four advanced Mathematics, and two basic and three advanced Chemistry courses.

I was the only third year student in the room since all of them were already in their senior years. In other words, I have experienced being 'out of my place' every time our class commences. They have created an impermeable bond that I myself can't enter.

Our teacher said that she only wants to see a calculator, a pen, and a piece of paper in our armchair. Since I am a law-abiding citizen, I followed her instructions obediently and started solving the problems. Though I don't want to admit this, I was also confident that I could get some answers from my seatmates because they are my seniors.

Then, suddenly...

"Ryan! Psssssssttt... Do you have answers?" Then, another one. "Ry! I can't answer this. Help me. Give me some sample answers so I could get some idea." Then, I was like, "Holy Cow!" My world fell apart. First, it's because my supposed to be 'source of answers' has turned out to be a pool of irresponsible students. Secondly, I badly needed to acquire a good score in that exam so that I can get a grade higher than 84-85.

Since I've got no other choice, I started to take the exam seriously and started solving the questions religiously. And when I say religiously, I hoped that God would give me back my mathematical genius. Perhaps, genius is just an over-statement so just please bear with me.

Number one. Yes! I knew the answers to the two unknown variables. I smiled and felt happy about it. Then, they asked for my answers and I gave it to them. Number two. Yes! I was  able to answer it as well and I was sure about it. I shared my answers again. THE MARVEL OF THE HUMAN EYES. Number three. SKIP. Number four. SKIP. Number five. Maybe! I wasn't sure about my answers. So I went back to number three and answered it, hoping that I could at least answer it by chance or luck.

I answered the essay question somewhat perfectly. How are rainbows formed? Rainbows are formed when rays of light are in contact with gas or liquid in the atmosphere. Therefore, we can assume that rainbows will never occur unless there are raindrops in the atmosphere. The ray of light will pass through each droplet of rain, causing the ray to scatter and form different colors, like a spectrum that consists of blue, purple, red, orange, etc. This effect is also known as 'Rayleigh Scattering', named after the Nobel Prize Winner, and English physicist Lord Rayleigh.

Then, I passed my answered sheet. Thank you BRO sa wisdom! Astig ka talaga! Kung wala ka eh siguro wala rin akong naisagot! Patawarin mo ang mga klasmeyts kung nagkasala! Kasi alam mo rin na ganun ako paminsan-minsan.