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Author Topic: Rant: This is a test; this is only a test  (Read 1594 times)

Offline InnaBinder

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Rant: This is a test; this is only a test
« on: October 30, 2012, 06:53:30 PM »
Prelude: This is just ranting to get it off my chest.  No doubt there were other things I could have done in the situation.

I'm taking a freshman-level class in one of the Earth Sciences at college as I continue the world's slowest march toward an undergraduate degree.  We just got back the most annoying take-home exam I can recall seeing or hearing about.  Highlights include:

1. Professor expresses an expectation of 9 hours plus spent on the exam - over the course of one weekend, for a freshman-level test.  I've had junior-level courses that didn't expect that long an investment of time, over a longer turn-around on the assignment.

2. A literal, pedantic reading of the "academic honesty agreement" we were required to sign means that telling another student, or my parents, or another professor WHAT I GOT ON THE EXAM puts me in violation of terms, and subject to disciplinary action.

3.  Please identify the hardness of this specific mineral which is not listed on any of the allowed sources from which you may draw.  Leaving it blank, saying "unknown" or "Not listed in allowed sources" gets listed as a wrong answer, while giving the right answer gets marked wrong if no source for the information is given.  Giving a source that's not on the allowed list as the origin for your answer both gets marked wrong AND gets you reported to the Dean for academic dishonesty.

4.  Given a scale of [for example] 1: 20000 and a river that takes up [for example] 21 inches in length on the map, how big is the map?

 :banghead
« Last Edit: October 30, 2012, 07:00:59 PM by InnaBinder »
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Offline bhu

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Re: Rant: This is a test; this is only a test
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2012, 07:09:01 PM »
Perchance is your professor burned out and bitter or suffering from depression?
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Offline InnaBinder

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Re: Rant: This is a test; this is only a test
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2012, 07:56:22 PM »
Quote from: bhu on October 30, 2012, 07:09:01 PM
Perchance is your professor burned out and bitter or suffering from depression?
No, that's me.   :P
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Offline Shadowknight12

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Re: Rant: This is a test; this is only a test
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2012, 01:26:55 AM »
Welcome to the Bullshit Test.

This is very common all over the world, a relic from past times where education was something you had to suffer for, and it was only for the smartest, most dedicated and most resilient. It's much like the abuse cycle or the idea of hazing. By subjecting people to Bullshit Test after Bullshit Test, you raise a group of people who firmly believe that they had to "earn" their place, and they'll be damned if the next generation doesn't have to go through what they went through!
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