I started this blog because I wanted to be cool like Alan, Susan, and Roy. I would also like to tell you all a story about myself:
I think that tests and exams should be tools to gauge how much a person knows, so I am generally opposed to teacher-sanctioned "cheat sheets." Usually when a cheat sheet is allowed, I engage in silent protest by not making one. On one particular occasion, in my high school chemistry class, a teacher of mine, Mr. Camiling, attempted to force everyone to create a one page cheat sheet by allotting class time for that specific purpose.
Being a principled person, I refused to create a cheat sheet for myself and wrote myself a letter instead. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the letter. On the day we created it, we had to turn our cheat sheets in to Mr. Camiling. He passed them back out on the day of the test and collected them when we were finished. From what I recall, it was addressed to "Sean on the day of the final" and signed "Sean from two weeks ago."
I filled a page front and back explaining to myself how I thought tests should test your knowledge, not what you can copy from the book. I apologized to myself in case I had had a change of heart, and reassured myself that I would do well. I hoped for my sake that I had studied. In The end, I am pretty sure I aced the test.
At the time, I thought this was the most hilarious thing ever. I still think it is pretty damn funny.
3 comments:
Excellent.
Are you still opposed to using "cheat sheets"? Personally, I think they make sense in some contexts, especially in science classes where they can be used to write down the values of constants or fancy formulas. Because even real scientists don't remember everything, they have to look up things too. What's important is knowing what to do with those formulas.
No, they are fine in situations like that. But when it is all like general knowledge type stuff, i think they are pretty lame. My chem class was very general.
I make cheat sheets just to end up not using them. I guess a secret benefit of them is that if you make them, you end up learning the crap that is on them so you don't need them anymore.
Post a Comment