At our CC, organic chemistry is taught he same everywhere. The problem is that professors lets us use our notes for exams, quiz and final exam. Does it seem fair? If a person were to make good notes, it will easily be an easy A.
And yes, I got a D because my parents were out of the country. So I had to do so many things on my own that semester. Cleaning house, making my food and etc. Is this the future of learning?
I’m not sure what you’re asking. Are you saying your professor allowed notes or someone else’s professor allowed notes?
Either way, you’d have to put in the effort to take good notes and study them well. In my program people bemoan open-note / open-book tests because they know that means the exams will be super hard. You can have all the information in the world available to you, but if you don’t know how to apply it, or if the professor throws a few curveballs to make you think, the notes / book won’t do you any good.
Heat Transfer was open everything for me – book, notes, homeworks. The average on the first exam was still 60%, even with an extra credit problem.
Yes, that’s the future of learning, because that’s what being at college is like.
You have to learn to prioritize. If your homework isn’t done or you have to study for an exam, the dishes and other household chores have to wait.
As long as the professor is consistent then it allowing students to use notes is perfectly fair.
And many students live on their own and attend college.
You should work on your time management and note-taking skills as you move forward.
Open note/book exams tend to focus on problem solving/application rather than answering basic facts, so you need to master the material before the exam so that you can use the notes as a reference during the test. Your observation that students with good notes got A’s is likely explained by the fact that the students who made good notes were probably students who spent a long time preparing for the test. As @bodangles said, even having access to the book during an exam doesn’t mean that everyone will ace the exam. Students who assume that they don’t need to study for an open book/open note test tend to find out the hard way that it’s not enough to have materials at the exam if you don’t know what to do with them.
I doubt your grade would have been better if notes weren’t allowed. You are looking at the wrong thing. You didn’t take good notes, study enough, and organize your materials for the final. And many adults with more responsibilities than you had take college classes and juggle taking care of themselves and others (my SIL got an A in organic while juggling a full course load, 2 small kids, and 4 pets).
If you struggle with taking notes, perhaps go to a professor ahead of time, compare notes or create a study guide with a friend, do practice problems, or study with a group. It is important skill to have. In any case, many college students are living by themselves and are required to do many of the things you listed above. Surely certain things could have waited if you had an important exam coming up?
You are the brink of a lifetime when home, family and work compete for your limited time. An open book test is night designed to be easy. You need to be sufficiently prepared that you can take an open book test in which you might consult your notes for fine points. Open book tests do not measure how quickly you can look up a bit of information.
I hate to break it to you, but that is what life is like. Plenty of students live alone or are the head of their household. Most do not have butlers cooking/cleaning for them.
Open note tests are the professor’s discretion. The logic behind it is students often learn the material very well by making the notes for use on tests.
In any case if the professor announced he or she was using open notes for quizes and exams, it would have been wise to make sure that you took good notes throughout the semester, or at least paid extra attention to them for this class. Like you said, taking good notes would only help your grade and this seems to be like the situation in which external influences would probably impact you the least.
I had to commute from home to school. So I lost one hour of driving instead of studying. I really don’t care about the grade I got. I have another chance to take it and plus I will be living in the dorms! Yes, It’s going to be a tough living style for me but I already experienced it with it.
Most students commute from home to school - maybe not at your particular college, but nationwide. And everyone with a job has to commute from home to work. If you spend an hour commuting, try to make it up elsewhere (maybe you get an hour less free time than everyone else does…sacrifice).
Of course it’s fair to let you use notes. Everyone has the exact same opportunity to take really good notes and do well on the exam.
Where there will be open-note tests, professors with different requirements than others teaching the same class, the need to manage your own time, cleaning, buying snacks for yourself, and keeping track of when the dining halls are open.
Might be good to have an action plan of some sort to help if all of the above start to affect your study time?
Wait, you got a D “because (your) parents were out of the country”???
Come on, read that again. As an adult, not as a child looking for excuses for his own lack of preparation.
If you weren’t capable of being home alone, you should have made that clear to your parents before they left-- I’m sure they could have found a relative or friend to watch over you.
Otherwise, this one’s on you.
Here’s one for you: I had a professor in a tough class announce that the upcoming test would be open book. That was a relief, because it was steel design and there were a lot of formulas to use. We showed up the day of the test and the guy says, “Well, I changed my mind. It’s not open book, after all.” We were furious, but that’s life! You do the best you can and move on.
@MaineLonghorn that’s awful!
I think it’s awesome more teachers are allowing notes. Instead of focusing on cramming and memorization (which people forget immediately after moving on to the next class) students can be tested more on the application of concepts. I learned a lot more from my current microeconomics class because we were allowed cheat sheets with formulas and graphs, so we could answer questions about more complicated concepts.
Also it is a sneaky way for professors to get you to study…
it is about the application of the material, notjust memorizing it. Real life is open note…it is up to you to apply it.
Seriously?..because your parents were out of the country?
“Students who assume that they don’t need to study for an open book/open note test tend to find out the hard way that it’s not enough to have materials at the exam if you don’t know what to do with them.”
This. Successful students take good notes. Then if they are unclear about concepts they work additional problems from the book or go back over notes and texts and fill out their notes. They try to replicate what was done in class and if they can’t do it, they go to professor or TA. Because even if open book/notes, if you don’t really understand the material, you likely can’t finish the whole test. Yes you should have to spend more time on it outside of class. But if you keep up with it as you go you won’t hit a week when you are overloaded and “time to study” becomes a factor. Although obviously tests require some extra work.