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Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by fezfight on Wednesday August 03, 2022 @07:35PM (#32337677)
Similarly, with a slight twist, a prof I had used to recommend we read the entire text book, not just the chapters required for the class. It was an open book exam so people figured they could annotate the pages or whatever and didn't bother to follow his adcice. He would often say, 'everything [we] ever want to know is in that book!'

He was right. The final exam was verbatim the practice exam given at the end of the book. As luck would have it, I had discovered the practice exams a week earlier. Once I realized they were identical to the final, I literally copied the answers and handed it in. It was a 3 hour exam and half the class was done in 15 minutes.

Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by fuzzfactor on Thursday August 04, 2022 @02:42AM (#32339904)
I had one where on the first day of the semester, the very first thing the minute the class started, the professor casually said "if you do every homework problem in the book, you'll get an A on the final."

Not everyone was there on time, some students were going to drop & add the class and most people weren't paying attention.

He casually joked for a couple minutes then settled down to get started.

There was never another hint.

When the final came, each question was verbatim from homework problems that were not assigned.

Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by benj111 on Thursday August 04, 2022 @04:16AM (#32340486)
I had an exam once where we were told to read the entire question paper first.

At the end it told you to ignore all previous questions and just do this one.

2nd favourite exam question after an economics multiple choice exam where we had to calculate the probability of passing the exam just by guessing.

Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by The-Bus on Thursday August 04, 2022 @02:09PM (#32346308)
I once had a sociology professor whose final was multiple choice and every answer (out of 50) was a B, except for the last, which was a C.
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by Aeolun on Wednesday August 03, 2022 @08:56PM (#32338180)
That’s a fun anecdote, but horrible teaching.
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by wyclif on Wednesday August 03, 2022 @11:22PM (#32339008)
Here's my little related story. I was in one of my fave used book stores (Baldwin's Book Barn in West Chester, PA) which is not exactly close to where I was living at the time. After browsing for an hour or so and picking out a few books, I spied a title on a top shelf that I thought was interesting but couldn't remember ever seeing before. I pulled the book down and began perusing it, and on the inside cover there was a familiar-looking stamped bookplate that said "Property of <My Name>." I was a little freaked out because I couldn't remember ever owning the book. After thinking about it a few minutes, I dimly recalled lending the book to somebody years ago and I guess it was never returned to me. When I went downstairs to the checkout counter, I showed the older man working that day my ID and the bookplate while telling my story, saying I never got a chance to read this book. He very kindly told me to just take the book and didn't charge me for it, saying "I'm just glad it found its way back to you."
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by fezfight on Wednesday August 03, 2022 @11:56PM (#32339195)
What a lovely story, thank you for sharing.
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by mbg721 on Wednesday August 03, 2022 @11:25PM (#32339016)
It depends what the class was for. I had a sort of similar experience with a physics class where the professor would take a break mid-exam and just give everyone the answers, but it was a class that was a prerequisite for engineering students who didn't care and really didn't need to, and also a stepping stone for the passionate physics students who did care, but would do the heavy lifting later. The prof was well-regarded for spending his time more on helping with true understanding for the students who cared.
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by fezfight on Wednesday August 03, 2022 @11:55PM (#32339186)
That describes my entire education.
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by WalterBright on Thursday August 04, 2022 @11:14AM (#32344004)
Wouldn't you rather learn the material?
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by fezfight on Thursday August 04, 2022 @11:18AM (#32344057)
Sure. Not a lot of learning going on during exams, I'm afraid.
Re:What’s the strangest thing you ever found in a book? by WalterBright on Saturday August 06, 2022 @03:04AM (#32365700)
Cheating on the exam means it wasn't learned.