I’m pretty sure academia doesn’t run on “my source is that I memorized it from somewhere” or “this research was conducted entirely on my own with no help from anyone at any juncture” anyway. Some memorization of basic things is cool and good (hot take: using a calculator to look up 5+8 is a waste) but extensive rote memorization (plus the whole cram mentality) is also a waste.
When telling us that we’d have to memorise portions of the periodic table for exams in uni, my professor also pointed out that there is not a single chemistry lab in the world that doesn’t have a periodic table somewhere on the wall and testing us this way was a waste of time.
I had some professors that only implemented limits on cheat sheets because they noticed an adverse effect when students would bring more than they could reasonably use for a test and run out of time.
The act of making a good cheat sheet also has the effect of not needing that cheat sheet much, its like tricking students into studying things for understanding rather than forcing memorization.
I made every cheat sheet in like 10 minutes by screenshotting each chapter summary and any equations I saw.
in Thermo, it was just the scaled images of each solution to every homework we did, and then I could copy that work while substituting the question’s values to get an A-
A lot of traditionally “good” students will complain about open book exams though, since the questions generally tend to require you to go beyond the rote text book ones.
For instance, in 1st year phys the final tutorial question was open book, gave you an extra possible 5% above 100% and was simply “calculate the total power output per year of Wolf 359.” A full third of the class complained it was an unfair question.
Death to strict proctoring
Long live the online open-book take-home exam
I’m pretty sure academia doesn’t run on “my source is that I memorized it from somewhere” or “this research was conducted entirely on my own with no help from anyone at any juncture” anyway. Some memorization of basic things is cool and good (hot take: using a calculator to look up 5+8 is a waste) but extensive rote memorization (plus the whole cram mentality) is also a waste.
When telling us that we’d have to memorise portions of the periodic table for exams in uni, my professor also pointed out that there is not a single chemistry lab in the world that doesn’t have a periodic table somewhere on the wall and testing us this way was a waste of time.
It’s like 120 elements, who has the space to keep track of them all, especially the obscure ones?
Hydrogen and a bunch of other bullshit
Astronomers be like
Metals etc
Something something oxygen nitrogen carbon
Memorising the first 20 really does speed up organic chem though.
my physics profs hated memorization, and gave us extensive formula sheets for exams, plus let us bring a sheet with whatever we wanted on it
I had some professors that only implemented limits on cheat sheets because they noticed an adverse effect when students would bring more than they could reasonably use for a test and run out of time.
The act of making a good cheat sheet also has the effect of not needing that cheat sheet much, its like tricking students into studying things for understanding rather than forcing memorization.
I made every cheat sheet in like 10 minutes by screenshotting each chapter summary and any equations I saw.
in Thermo, it was just the scaled images of each solution to every homework we did, and then I could copy that work while substituting the question’s values to get an A-
Unless you’re really drunk, then it’s ok
idk, I think a lot of anti-communist padding in popular non-fiction comes from ‘I’m sure I heard this somewhere’.
A lot of traditionally “good” students will complain about open book exams though, since the questions generally tend to require you to go beyond the rote text book ones.
For instance, in 1st year phys the final tutorial question was open book, gave you an extra possible 5% above 100% and was simply “calculate the total power output per year of Wolf 359.” A full third of the class complained it was an unfair question.