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Take home exams can actually be quite brutal, but are rarely encountered in large (i.e. 100+ student) classes because they usually result in an correspondingly
by beloch 14y ago
Take home exams can actually be quite brutal, but are rarely encountered in large (i.e. 100+ student) classes because they usually result in an correspondingly brutal amount of marking. I've had them only in a few senior undergrad courses and grad school.
Why are they brutal when you have your notes, books, the web, etc. available? They're usually not based on spitting back answers you were given or can look up. You actually need to use what you've learned to produce something novel or, at least, very esoteric. e.g. I've had exams where I was asked to look up a paper and reproduce the unpublished proof to get from equation (x) to equation (y). Such proofs are often not published because the authors are freaking geniuses who view the derivation as obvious, and getting to the point where you can do the same proof with intense effort is one point of the course! These exams are often fiendishly difficult and/or open-ended, so you will be working like a crazy fool from the moment you get the exam until it must be turned in. This sometimes means pulling an all-nighter (or more). (I despise all-nighters as the last resort of poor planners, and hate being forced into them.) Time is such a constraint that, if you didn't study and absorb all the course material thoroughly prior to the exam, you will likely not be able to get much done in the time allowed. Frequently nobody in the class will actually finish, and it's really just a matter of how much you can do relative to your peers, and how well.
Collaboration during preparation was never forbidden in my field, although I hear other disciplines (especially humanities) can be quite different. Collaboration during the test is usually discouraged, but obviously students are on the honor system. If any actual copying is detectable from what is handed in you can bet it was egregiously bad. If Harvard was able to make charges stick to 70 students, you can safely bet that twice that number cheated their hineys off, but many were just a bit smarter about it.
- blablabla123 14y agoNot so much difference to exercises in difficult courses I encountered. But we called that homework. (Germany)
- slurry 14y agoWhich is why German universities are consistently at the top of international rankings, right? Oh, wait...
- coldarchon 14y agoDo you really come here just to flame people? That comment was so useless like you being here ..
- blablabla123 14y agoI thought the international top 20 equal the U.S. top 20. Seriously, think about it, it just cannot make sense. Nobel price winners come from all countries. A university does not need to belong to the U.S. Ivy League to have smart alumni. However... The Ivy League is really expensive and well-known. In fact people like George W. Bush studied there. It is almost like a self-amplifying loop.
- matwood 14y agoBingo. I had an Automata class where the final was a 5 question take home exam. It took me about 15-20 hours to complete all 5 proofs, and I still only received a 98. I jumped over what I thought was an obvious step in one of the proofs :/ The only stipulations for the exam was no collaboration and show all work.
- sigkill 14y agoThis is true. When the professor asks, if you want a take-home or an open book it's usually a trick question, and you always supposed to ask for a closed book test. Grad school, doubly so.
- jhspaybar 14y agoThis is definitely true. I remember walking in to a computer architecture course, felt prepared, and then the teacher said it was an open book final right before handing it out. He had a stack of books for those who hadn't brought theirs as well. Needless to say, one of the scarier tests I've taken and while half the class seemed to sigh with relief, my stress level jumped...and rightly so. Open book or take home exams done right are downright scary.
- wisty 14y agoHow can you prevent group-work in a math exam? The reality is, there's a few "twists" (non-intuitive steps) in every proof. If you know the "twists" it cuts the time down to 1/10th. If you're working in a group, there's a clear advantage, but no way to prove anyone cheated (unless students are dumb enough to copy it out line by line).
- raverbashing 14y agoIn truth, this is the way it should go University should not be about a memory test. Not memorizing all the formulas, etc but building on knowledge, doing something you would be expected to do 'in real life', and of course with all the resources you have. Unfortunately it seems this kind of work is more appropriate to math/engineering/science type of problems. Most of work in other areas is bibliographical research.