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I’m a college student. For a recent test, the professor originally said that the test was extremely difficult and long and therefore they were going to send us a picture of the exam an hour and a half before we had to take it. They said an hour and a half would not leave enough time for people to look up answers online. We were also allowed to bring a notecard for use on the test.

For some reason they were not able to send the pictures, so they said they would make it a take-home test. I was elated, and switched my focus to a different exam I had later that evening.

At our next lecture, the professor announced that we were taking the test in class that day, but open-note. I was obviously not prepared at all, and had not even brought the proper notes for the test with me. The result was me leaving half the test blank.

How should I proceed? Is it reasonable to fight this grade?

Caliber srt4
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    Common reason to change it like this is to prevent known or suspected collusion/plagiarism among groups of students. But they should have given enough notice that you could bring your notecard. Best practice is to always carry your notecard with you around test time (look over it and revise it when have spare moment), also keep it online and/or on a flash drive, not that any of that helps you now. How many other students did not have their notecard due to the late change? – smci Nov 22 '19 at 23:16
  • Just curious: What would have been the purpose of the original idea of sending a picture an hour and a half before the exam starts? In fact, we know that people attempt to lookup answers online during an exam (e.g., found as questions with "I NEED THIS URGENT" on various SE sites), so it is certainly possible to do significant research online (or discuss methods with co-students) in that time window. -- Or would they expect everybody to submit solutions worthy of 3.5 hours of elaboration within an officially 2 hour time frame? – Hagen von Eitzen Nov 25 '19 at 07:57

2 Answers2

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I'm a bit perplexed why they choose to do it that way. If one is doing major changes to an exam, then the students need to be informed of that in due time. I'm assuming you are not the only one who was negatively affected by this behavior? Assuming the situation is as you've described it, I would myself had lodged a complaint at the central examination office or whichever unit is responsible for that at your college. The issue is not that the teacher changed things regarding the exam, it's that the students weren't given enough time to prepare for it.

Adam at Avidnote
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    Thank you for the input and yes I spoke with other students who felt the same way and they also felt unprepared. – Caliber srt4 Nov 22 '19 at 04:23
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    If you were to all form a complaint about this, it may lend more weight to the argument. Either way, I hope it works out for you. Best of wishes! – Adam at Avidnote Nov 22 '19 at 10:44
  • @Calibersrt4 I'm not sure if this is an answer, so I'm putting it in as my opinion here: You don't want to fight the grade. Maybe ask your professor to reconsider including the grades in the final grade or maybe ask him to consider re-doing the exam but if he has any leeway on your grades (such as merit / demerit decisions) then he can use that to enforce the grades anyway. Might do better if you ask in private rather than in class and mention how others felt the same way, offer to include the entire class' opinion by suggesting that he ask in class about the issue. – John Hamilton Nov 22 '19 at 12:44
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    @JohnHamilton Why would you not challenge the grade? If the exam was changed to be open-note but many students were prevented from getting their notes, the result is clearly unfair and not representative of their abilities. Worse than that, it's serious negligence and incompetence from the lecturer. If it doesn't affect your final result then perhaps you would make a stink privately but not raise a formal complaint; but if it contributes to your course results then you must fight it all the way. – Graham Nov 22 '19 at 15:58
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    @Graham As we have no idea what sort of a person the professor is, he might or might not be someone of distasteful character. I'm just saying I wouldn't challenge the grade itself and rather challenge the entire test but as more of a suggestion instead of a confrontation. The confrontation might just make the situation worse, making an enemy of the professor instead. (We can't expect everyone to be level-headed, kind or understanding) – John Hamilton Nov 22 '19 at 18:45
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    @JohnHamilton If it's affecting the final grade for the OP's entire class, it's already bad enough. As for making an enemy of him, if it's the whole class complaining then it's not really something he can do much about. – Graham Nov 22 '19 at 19:06
  • Look from the point of view of the Professor. The Professor knows himself and tells students at every opportunity that the only way to do well is to come to all lectures, do all the homeworks, and read the book. In fact, the Professor does not think that students who do all that, need to prepare specially for a test, per se. Plus, we are talking about a test here, not a final exam. Final exam is different, most good students DO prepare for exams. I will bet that not only the OP but everybody else too DID not and WOULD NOT have prepared even if they knew beforehand. – Kphysics Nov 23 '19 at 19:19
  • @Kostas you expect every student to carry 5 binders of notes, one for each module, every day they have lectures? What about students who write notes on an electronic device which would not be allowed in a test? Should they print them all out just in case of a test? – Tim Nov 25 '19 at 09:35
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It is generally accepted that students deserve to be tested on their knowledge under conditions that are known sufficiently in advance to allow them to prepare effectively. Coming to class and being told you have to take an exam right that minute when you were previously led to expect a different testing scenario very obviously does not meet that convention.

Simply put, your professor messed up, and in my opinion it is a no-brainer that you (and any other student who wishes to) should be allowed to retake the exam.

Edit: several commenters seem to interpret OP’s story as reflecting poorly on them and their level of preparedness, and seem to be implying that OP is somehow “not worthy” of having their complaint taken seriously. One of them said outright that OP “deserve[s] to fail the test anyway”. I am baffled by such victim-blaming: almost everyone seems to agree that the professor’s unannounced change to the exam schedule and procedures was unfair, and this unfairness was inflicted on the entire class. What difference does it make whether OP is a top student or on an underperforming student who would likely have failed the exam even under ideal conditions? The unfairness is the same, and the remedy is also the same: both the top student and the underperforming one should be given an option to retake the exam.

But let’s assume for a second that OP’s detractors have a point and that their judgment of OP’s command of the material is both correct and relevant. In that case, I would argue, it is even more important that they be allowed to retake the exam. The reason for this is that it is only after doing poorly on a fair exam that a student will have to confront the reality of their poor learning choices and poor knowledge of the material, and face their situation with a clear mind: they will not have any excuses then to cover up for their poor performance. And it’s only after giving a fair exam that the professor can in good conscience assign a failing grade to a student, and that the university can ethically demand that the student improve their performance or suffer negative consequences to their status in the program. The ability to take an exam under fair testing conditions is not some kind of reward for good behavior; rather, it is an absolute necessity for the credibility of the entire system.

The bottom line is, any way one looks at it — whether as a supporter or a detractor of OP, as a skeptic or a believer — one has to reach the same conclusion. As I said, it’s a no-brainer.

Dan Romik
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    So long as the OP accepts that everyone else should be allowed to retake the exam as well, of course. If the OP was the only student who was "unprepared", that might be saying something about the OP as well as about the prof. – alephzero Nov 22 '19 at 12:41
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    @alephzero I agree with your first sentence - edited. The truth or falsehood of your second sentence is irrelevant to OP’s question. The way to test whether someone is prepared is to give them an exam under fair conditions, and this was not done here, so I don’t see why you feel a need to question OP’s level of preparedness. – Dan Romik Nov 22 '19 at 13:36
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    I like the use of 'no-brainer' in this context. I am surprised a prof even contemplates such a chaotic setup. Unless the student missed something important, but there is nothing to indicate in the OP's question that this is the case. On the contrary, the student is organised and disciplined enough to direct their attention to a different test. – Captain Emacs Nov 22 '19 at 14:49
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    @alephzero The surprise of a last minute change in test circumstances could hurt some students more than others for reasons completely independent of their level of preparation. – Bryan Krause Nov 22 '19 at 15:26
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    @CaptainEmacs OP could be the least organized, least disciplined person in the world and they would still be just as deserving of being allowed to retake the exam. So as with alephzero’s more negative opinion, your positive assessment of OP’s organizational skills has no bearing on the question. – Dan Romik Nov 22 '19 at 16:01
  • @DanRomik True, I agree, and I actually gave you a +1, including your comment. However, I thought that I extract my indication of an organised student here, because it contrasts to a disorganised professor and makes clear that the judgement of the professor as disorganised may be founded in reality rather than the figment of imagination of a student who project their own disorganisation on the teaching team (which happens also often enough). In other words, I tried to increase credence to the situation for which you formulated your response. – Captain Emacs Nov 22 '19 at 17:05
  • @CaptainEmacs fair enough. I agree OP’s description of the events is credible. – Dan Romik Nov 22 '19 at 17:23
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    If you can't fill in more than half a test because some details of its execution changed over the course of 24 hours, you haven't learnt the course material very well and in a perfectly spherical frictionless world would deserve to fail the test anyway as a result. However we live in a "test world" where people are expected and even encouraged to learn by rote for tests, so they are afforded the right to "revise" right up until the last moment if they haven't learnt the material properly to begin with. I don't think this is a very good system (what are you testing?) but hey what can you do. – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 23 '19 at 16:08
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    @LightnessRaceswithMonica yes, students have rights - shocking, isn’t it? And professors have a right to design a fair test that a student can’t pass by studying for it at the last minute. OP’s professor didn’t do that, so they (and you) have no basis to complain or judge OP’s character/abilities. OP does not “deserve” to fail in any universe, spherical or otherwise, in which they weren’t given a fair chance to demonstrate their knowledge. – Dan Romik Nov 23 '19 at 16:15
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    @DanRomik Disagree. They had a fair chance: presumably weeks or even months of structured learning. If they ignored that opportunity and instead left it until literally the night before the test to learn some stuff by rote so that they could then engage in their box-ticking/mark-gaining exercise, that is their fault and they need to review what they really want to accomplish at a learning institution (because it apparently isn't learning). Students need to rely less on everything being done for them if they want to succeed in the real world. That's ok though - school isn't for everyone. – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 23 '19 at 16:26
  • Sorry I haven’t replied to anyone lately and thank you for all the responses! I’m going to say this, we don’t know what the test is on until the lecture before the test. I will say it’s my fault for not studying as much but I am taking 4 classes and work 45 hours a week so I don’t have all the time in the world but that’s an excuse, so I shouldn’t complain but I took advantage that we would see the test before it was handed out so I didn’t go as crazy as I should have and because of the circumstances I shifted my focus on a different exam which burned me in the end. Thank you for your inputs! – Caliber srt4 Nov 23 '19 at 20:52
  • @LightnessRaceswithMonica: While I agree with the general notion that students should make every effort necessary to keep pace with the class, rather than cramming at the last minute or hour or day or even week (and when I was a student I did in fact do so most of the time), it does not erase the fact that this incident involved unfairness, because it was open notes, and some students may not bring all their notes because they have other stuff to carry! Even in my case, where I know everything in the notes, taking the test without them would still give me a speed handicap. – user21820 Nov 24 '19 at 15:58
  • The basic issue here is whether "gaining an academic qualification" is a pointless activity carried out in an artificial sterile environment, or whether it is supposed to tell people in the real world something about the owner of the qualification. I guess I subscribe to the second option, but Don Romik et al prefer to the first one. – alephzero Nov 24 '19 at 22:07
  • @alephzero it’s rude to put words in people’s mouths. I never said anything remotely like what you are attributing to me. If you want to disagree with my answer, go ahead, I welcome your downvote and encourage you to share your own thoughts in the form of an answer. But at least disagree with what I actually said and not some straw man version of it. – Dan Romik Nov 24 '19 at 22:18