<p>I had a chem exam at the ungodly hour of 8 am this morning. I woke up at 7:40 and just barely made it to class in time, and I felt really tired and out of it during the test. I made two stupid "mistakes" during the exam period:</p>
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<li><p>The rest of the class put their bags in a corner against the wall. I was in a hurry to get to my seat so I just kept the bag at my seat with me. </p></li>
<li><p>I didn't know that there was a periodic table attached to the exam, so I kept turning my head around to look at the periodic table painted onto the wall. It probably looked to the professor like I was cheating off other people's tests. I can tell she noticed, because during the exam period she reminded us there was a periodic table attached to the exam packet. I'm pretty sure that reminder was meant for me. </p></li>
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<p>The professor didn't say anything to me when I handed in the exam, but I'm worried about some kind of delayed reaction. Do you guys think I'll get in trouble for cheating when I was not?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>She either didn’t notice you had your bag or the policy was there to help late comers get to their seats. She would have said something to you if it mattered.</p></li>
<li><p>If the prof called this out, she probably noticed you were looking at the periodic table. Did you stop looking at the wall and start looking at the attached paper once she pointed it out? She probably checked on you later on in the exam to see if the reminder got you to stop looking around, and if it did, then she probably thinks you were doing exactly what you were doing and not cheating.</p></li>
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<p>I once saw a prof walk up the aisle grab a student’s test from the row in front of me (where I could then see that the student had pages of notes on her desk - not allowed) and escort her out of the room. If the prof really thought you were cheating during the exam she would have done something about it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If the professor wasn’t okay with your bag near your seat, she would have told you to move it during the exam (or took it from you and put it against the wall).</p></li>
<li><p>As long as you started using the periodic table attached to the test and stopped looking around, then I highly doubt she would consider this cheating.</p></li>
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<p>If she suspected you of cheating, she would have definitely done something about it before you had the chance to turn it in. You should be fine. :)</p>