THE CHEMISTRY TEST

The day-light had come to an end, and darkness sunk in. Even more darkness had sunken into Ben’s heart when he realised that if he failed the chemistry exam the next day, he would be unable to persevere with the pre-med program. All Ben wanted to do throughout his whole life was to become a doctor. Then memorise of the last couple of weeks sank in. He remembered when he had entered Yale, he thought he would be amongst the top of the class. But a week later after entering Yale, he automatically realised he wasn’t that bright in comparison to the prodomenetly white students, who averaged in the high ninety percentile. He realised that he ranked lower then every student around him. He thought that if he would retire to the books for a couple of weeks he would be at the top of the class again.

Soon, Ben learned how hard Yale work could be, it was nothing like he had encountered at South-western High School. The professors at Yale expected all the students to have done their homework before classes had commenced. Then use that homework as a basis for the days intense lectures. Unfortunately, Ben had never before approached this kind of method and found himself lost during the lessons. His method back at high school was to study what he wanted during the semester and when exams came around to study like mad.

Ben constantly questioned himself if he would ever complete his medical studies the way he was heading - he knew his chances were slim. Ever since he entered Yale his grades were slipping, especially in chemistry. He had no knowledge of what was prevailing in chemistry class. Ben was precarious about the up coming chemistry test because he did not understand the material. Even as Ben walked towards his suit, (student accommodation at Yale) from his lectures, he could not emit the thought that he had a chemistry exam the next day which he would fail. The only thing Ben knew he could procure in the test was a fail, which disappointed him very much. He then said to himself "What am I doing at Yale anyway?" "Who do I think I am? Just a dumb black kid from the poor side of detroit who has no business trying to make it through Yale with all these intelligent, affluent students." When Ben managed to proclaim this to himself, he continued by saying "Stop thinking about failing" "You can still pull this off. Maybe" Ben knew that know matter what, he had to execute this test and he had to execute it well.

Night, slowly but shorlly, protruded into dusk. The air was filled with myriads of sounds coming from students preparing themselves for classes. Yet, Ben continued to have an incessant dread towards the exam he would have to under-go in just a couple of hours. So he switched on the lamp in his room and started contemplating what other career options he had? Nothing appealed to him, so he through-out a desperate call for help for to God answer (Hopefully). He also said to God - please help me pass or I will never become a doctor. If I don’t become a doctor then what will I be? He also continued by saying- "If you help me Lord I promise you I will never put you up to something like this again." Instantly, Ben knew everything was going to be all right, even though God didn’t flash the answers at him he felt a calm sensation come over him.

Ben desperately analysed his thick interminable chemistry text book trying to memorise difficult equations and definitions. He forced his tired and overworked head to memorise things that didn’t even make sense to him. He also remembered the chemistry teacher stating that if you didn’t get so well during the term you could improve your grade by getting good results on the exam. This stressed Ben even more then he already was. Before falling asleep Ben’s last words were "God, I’m sorry. Please forgive me for failing you and for failing myself."

During Ben’s sleep, a strange dream plagued him. In that dream a strange man proceeded to a board and started writing down notes. Ben was also present in this dream as a student observing the strange man as he wrote equations on the board. When Ben had awaken from the dream , he enthusiastically wrote the equations from his dream down on a piece of paper and then memorised them. (Well the ones he remembered) The dream struck him as strange. Why would he have a dream with all these formulas and answers? Ben put it all down to all the studying he done the night before which was a good explanation.

After Ben had dressed he led himself down to the lecture room with an unfortunate feeling of resentment. After a couple of minuets the lecture room got very crowded with over 1000 students cramming it. The lecture room was large, with massive chalk boards which gave you the impression of how serious Yale was about education. While Ben’s lecturer started handing out exam booklets Ben started contemplating about how beautiful of a day it was to fail. But, by the time Ben had done more then half of the exam, he was amassed that the questions were identical to the ones in his dream. When Ben had completed the exam rapture came over him. He knew he had done enough to pass. In fact, Ben had scored 97, right up there with the top of the class.

It was like a dream come true, Ben knew with the mark he received from the text he was certain to pass chemistry overall. Although, Ben did feel remorse for having to put the Lord up to "helping" him pass the test. This was the story of Ben carsons "miracles" chemistry test."

THE END