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You hand out practice problems for an exam because you want students to do the problems, not because you want them to read the solutions; the mechanism is that

You hand out practice problems for an exam because you want students to do the problems, not because you want them to read the solutions; the mechanism is that the student works all the problems they can and then asks in office hours or review session about the problems they couldn’t do. That's so ridiculous it's hard to believe anybody could say that with a straight face. First of all, to a first approximation nobody goes to "office hours". I mean, this is Real Life we're talking about here - your instructor's "office hours" are basically never (ever) going to be at a time when it's actually possible for you to go even if you wanted to. And if you do go, is your instructor going to be capable of explaining things in a way that makes sense anyway? How many of us have known math teachers who are simultaneously A. perfectly competent to solve a problem and B. completely incapable of explaining how to solve the same problem to somebody else? Never mind that all of this requires that you find your instructor approachable / friendly / whatever enough that you'd feel comfortable going to their office and interacting with them individually in the first place. Basically, "office hours" are not a realistic solution to anybody's problem, with rare exceptions. Review sessions? Great, except for now the feedback loop between "do homework problem and get stuck" to "get explanation" is on the order of days. Yeah, that's effective. I don’t think it’s bad to include solutions, but I would never say that not doing so makes it “impossible to study.” That's because you're too myopic and unimaginative to consider that not everyone studies and learns the same way you do.

deleted 5y ago
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tzs 5y ago
> I mean, this is Real Life we're talking about here - your instructor's "office hours" are basically never (ever) going to be at a time when it's actually possible for you to go even if you wanted to. Why would it be hard to go to office hours? These are schools where most students are full time students who live on or near campus and will have largely similar schedules. It is not hard for an instructor to have office hours at a time when most students in the class will be able to come. > And if you do go, is your instructor going to be capable of explaining things in a way that makes sense anyway? How many of us have known math teachers who are simultaneously A. perfectly competent to solve a problem and B. completely incapable of explaining how to solve the same problem to somebody else? If that is the case then how likely is it that it would have been helpful if the instructor had provided a written solution with the problem in the first place?
- mindcrime 5y ago
  These are schools I'm not speaking in regards to any specific schools, but rather to the general principle. In my experience, many students (myself included) had plenty of obstacles to attending "office hours" - jobs, other classes, volunteer activities, etc. I won't dispute that there are some circumstances where some students can (and do) take advantage of this, but it doesn't seem to me that - broadly speaking - "office hours" are particularly effective strategy for most people. If that is the case then how likely is it that it would have been helpful if the instructor had provided a written solution with the problem in the first place? Good question. I suppose it depends in part on whether the instructor themselves made up the problem & solution, or it it came from a 3rd party. In either case, at least if you have a written solution you tighten up the cycle time to finding out that your understanding is flawed, which opens up more opportunity to pursue alternate explanations - maybe an online forum, a private tutor, or just consulting a different book, etc.

deleted 5y ago

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tzs 5y ago

> I mean, this is Real Life we're talking about here - your instructor's "office hours" are basically never (ever) going to be at a time when it's actually possible for you to go even if you wanted to. Why would it be hard to go to office hours? These are schools where most students are full time students who live on or near campus and will have largely similar schedules. It is not hard for an instructor to have office hours at a time when most students in the class will be able to come. > And if you do go, is your instructor going to be capable of explaining things in a way that makes sense anyway? How many of us have known math teachers who are simultaneously A. perfectly competent to solve a problem and B. completely incapable of explaining how to solve the same problem to somebody else? If that is the case then how likely is it that it would have been helpful if the instructor had provided a written solution with the problem in the first place?

mindcrime 5y ago
These are schools I'm not speaking in regards to any specific schools, but rather to the general principle. In my experience, many students (myself included) had plenty of obstacles to attending "office hours" - jobs, other classes, volunteer activities, etc. I won't dispute that there are some circumstances where some students can (and do) take advantage of this, but it doesn't seem to me that - broadly speaking - "office hours" are particularly effective strategy for most people. If that is the case then how likely is it that it would have been helpful if the instructor had provided a written solution with the problem in the first place? Good question. I suppose it depends in part on whether the instructor themselves made up the problem & solution, or it it came from a 3rd party. In either case, at least if you have a written solution you tighten up the cycle time to finding out that your understanding is flawed, which opens up more opportunity to pursue alternate explanations - maybe an online forum, a private tutor, or just consulting a different book, etc.