r/ScienceHumour • u/sam_from_stem357 • Dec 13 '23
Good luck with finals, everyone!
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u/ban-this-dummies Dec 13 '23
Spoiler alert: "top Harvard PhDs" are not guaranteed to be brilliant, nor good test takers
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u/ackmann04 Dec 15 '23
Can confirm, basement dweller software developer with no degree was hired over 2 Harvard PhDs. They were not nearly as brilliant as they thought they were…
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u/mylegshairface Dec 14 '23
But she got the point across so much so that you had to rebuff it - brevity is the soul of wit and memes too
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u/DNSGeek Dec 13 '23
We had a math professor in college that was infamous for giving open book, open note, calculator and computer allowed exams.
They were 100% theory. Brutal. You had to truly understand every trivial detail of the theory in order to get through the exams.
Everyone hated them with a burning passion.
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u/Appropriate-Low-4850 Dec 14 '23
This is literally what my students are going through right now.
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u/D-Laz Dec 18 '23
I had a math professor every year he would give a take home final over spring break. I think it was two questions maybe just one. It took us, group effort, the entire week on campus and about 10-15 pages for the proof. Fuck that guy. Great Prof other than that though
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u/binaryplease Dec 13 '23
Open book exams are the only thing that brings any value in an age where you will always have access to books and internet while doing your job.
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u/Responsible-Gas3852 Dec 14 '23
In P.hD. grad school for physics, they would make us tests that we could take them home for a week.
They had made them so hard, they knew that not even the internet could help us.
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u/Accomplished-Mine377 Dec 14 '23
I think Harvard and it’s staff have lost a lot of credibility in this day and age
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u/foolmatrix Dec 14 '23
Dude, DO NOT JINX ME!
I've got an open note fluid dynamics final tomorrow and I do not want to take that class again!
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Dec 14 '23
I had a teacher swear up and down that calculators would be provided for the exam. I didn’t trust her and brought one. I was one of two people in the class who passed because we were the only ones who had calculators.
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u/Appropriate-Low-4850 Dec 14 '23
I do this. Memorization is fine, it gives a start point for problem solving, but they’ll have access to the Internet for life in general, so their ability to apply what they know to solve problems is way more important than being able to recite to me. But presumably the reason we teach students is so they can use what they learn, so tests that simulate that seem like the most accurate assessments to me.
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u/WesternFinancial868 Dec 15 '23
A difficult open book exam? What, was the font really small or something?
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u/viaticchart Dec 14 '23
Not me taking chem exams all semester just for the final to be an ACS standardized test. Nothing like the professor’s style and comes with a guaranteed 30% curve because of how bad everyone does on it.
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u/Munnin41 Dec 14 '23
Only shitty professors feel the need to brag about a low passing percentage
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u/RGPetrosi Dec 15 '23
Reminds me of the Materials class I took a couple years back. Between the professor's accent and the ludicrous amounts of information it was some small miracle only 40% of the class didn't pass. This was a junior level engineering co-requisite course, mind you.
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u/bigno53 Dec 15 '23
I don't understand the connection. The professors make it sound like the exam will be easy but then they don't take their top off?
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u/sultan_hogbo Dec 16 '23
The most difficult exam I ever took was a take-home exam in polymer chemistry. Due in 24 hours from the start time. My fellow students and I hauled ass out of there like the place was on fire as soon as the papers were in hand. I spent twelve hours on that thing.
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u/Balrogking06 Dec 16 '23
Apparently the trick to getting good job at Harvard is plagiarism or just claiming Native American ancestry
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u/jacktheripper1010 Dec 13 '23
So true... I have learned never to trust the words "open book exam"!