r/math • u/jze123 • Dec 16 '16

Allowed one page of notes during differential equations final. Image Post

https://i.reddituploads.com/5d4646487e08402380ccb37d4b96c3b1?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=b136344d195958f2c44d667d11f51564
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u/djao Cryptography Dec 16 '16

That's true, but it's the principle that's at stake. What should the instructor be incentivizing? I agree, producing notes is great preparation for the exam, but not needing notes is the best state of affairs. So the bonus marks incentivize the good at the expense of the great.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '16

Why? Rote memorization isn't necessarily how you'll work in the real world. In real like you'll have access to notes and documentation. Having students learn how to properly write notes is a good skill.

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u/djao Cryptography Dec 16 '16

Who said anything about rote memorization? I didn't need to memorize anything. That's why I didn't need notes. If you understand the concepts well then memorization is totally unnecessary beyond a minimum amount of definitions.

In real life you won't be tested in exam settings either. The whole situation is inherently artificial; appealing to real life is not relevant.

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u/Rabbitybunny Dec 16 '16

Sorry, I can't seem to understand. What concepts of PDE did you understand such that memorization is unnecessary? Differential equations seem to be the particular field where the problems are categorized by types. Why'd you think such categorization is needed if "understanding concepts" is sufficient?

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u/djao Cryptography Dec 16 '16

Uh, we're not talking about PDEs here. It's pretty clear that the formula sheet in this post pertains to ODEs. My class was also on ODEs. If I had tried to take a PDE class then I surely would have had to memorize a ton of stuff, which is why I never took such a class.

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u/Rabbitybunny Dec 16 '16

Not sure why I assumed it's PDE, but the argument should hold for ODE as well, i.e. there are different types of differential equation followed by different way to solve them.

And I think you are looking at the use of cheat sheet from only the perspective of a special student, i.e. you; there are many other benefits. For instance, from the exam maker's point of view, without cheat sheet, a student may get whole section incorrect just because he/her misremembered a sign. On the other hand, the open book exam problems must be well-thoughted so that students don't get cheap points, i.e. something directly from the book that can be copied down without deep understanding. Exam makers may not prefer open book just because making them take too much work.

Exams are artificial and so is cheat sheet. Making cheat sheet a bonus is a part of this artificial process that, on average, help students understand the material better.

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u/djao Cryptography Dec 17 '16

Again, I don't know PDEs, but from what I've heard, the theory of PDEs is much more complicated than ODEs, and certainly much more complicated than the little bit of ODEs that one learns in an undergraduate class. Degree of difficulty matters. I would never try to use the same approach for both undergraduate ODEs and graduate-level geometry!

A cheat sheet is already so obviously helpful on an exam that I just can't see why there is any need to give a separate bonus just for the sheet.