<p>Yes, you cheated. The penance is the guilty feeling you are walking around with. The lesson to learn is be prepared next time and not to cheat in future. You must learn to live with yourself as a flawed human being like all the rest of us, who can, nevertheless, strive to be better and learn from his /her mistakes. When you accept this you will have made a major stride towards "growing up" and will also learn more compassion for other flawed human beings.</p>
<p>I totally agree with all the above - don't transfer your guilt to the teacher who at this point can not rectify your grade. What a wonderful college essay this would make - involving the moral concept of unintentional cheating and how it had a profound impact on ones life far after the event. Congrats to you parents on raising you with such morals that would provoke this guilt!</p>
<p>"I really don't know whether or not I cheated -- I guess it depends on whether or not I ultimately would have produced the correct answer on my own"</p>
<p>Your moral compass may be working but it's not a very finely tuned instrument. I suggest you investigate yourself further for motives and their foundations--cheating has NOTHING to do with results, only choices, decisions, and actions!</p>
<p>WOW.... I thought the OP was a joke at first... but I guess not!</p>