Poll: Did your college professors give out review sheets?

Once again I want to pick your minds about college instruction. Did your college professors routinely give you review sheets for the tests? One of my students thinks i'm violating one of his fundemental rights because I don't give review sheets. None of my professors ever gave one out.

Oh, I thought you were talking about the sheets where we review the professor's performance...

I don't remember a professor ever giving out a review sheet for an exam, but plenty of times we were allowed to bring a single sheet of handwritten notes into the exam. Formulas and such.

(I was an English and Economics double major with some CS/Math/Stats courses)

I occasionally was given review sheets, but not often. When I did get them, it was usually something like "your homework tonight is to write 3 potential essay questions for the exam" and then the prof. would compile those into a review sheet.

I had a professor who gave review sheets with ten questions on them, and he told us that five of those questions would be on the test. So we had to review these ten questions, know the answers to them backwards and forwards to get a good grade on the test. And you know what? I actually LEARNED stuff that way. I learned the major points of the lectures he gave and actually could explain the finer points of them to other people (it's about sign langugae syntax, so you really don't want to hear about it). And even though this one class was EXTRORDINARILY boring (my prof was deaf and even though his signing was very lively, the interpreter had a voice that was droning... made you want to sleep SO BAD), I actually came out of it learning stuff.

Most of my other classes didn't have tests or did give out reivew sheets. But none of them were quite as effective as this one.

Such things exist in the college world?
I can only see this appeasing those who are the just-tell-us-what-we-need-to-know-for-the-test types.. worst. students. evar. The closest thing I've ever had to "review" material was coming in the day before a huge science practical and reviewing all the models and material with other students.... and even then it was my own notes.

Review sheets should = book, lecture notes taken by the student, handouts during lecture.

just me .02

Do you want to come to my class and tell them that? :

If I was in your class, I would tell the guy to grow up. If he wants to be coddled and spoonfed, he should go back to middle school.

This is big boy school.

Sexist! This is big boy and girl school.

If you were in my class you'd be the teacher's pet.

that only happened for me once. psych 101. dr. manning gave us what was pretty much the entire final exam several weeks ahead of time so we could study it. so i did. and when the actual exam came, i finished the thing in like 10 minutes and she was actually surprised.

My students would have been all confused if I did something like switch the numbers of two questions. Obviously your prof had similar experiences so was surprised you actually knew the material.

Ha. I'm the only one who hasn't gone to college. :)

That said, even I don't get review sheets anymore, and i'm 3 years short of college.

I don't think I ever remember getting review sheets. Most of my classes had essays instead of tests though.

Still, how hard is it to know what to expect on a test?

You should tell the class that you're going to do review sheets, but photocopy the cover of their text book (if there is one), and pass that out.

I should just print out some of these comments. It is good to know that I'm not the one being unreasonable.

i have had a few profs provide sample exams, being exams from the previous term or whatever, and a solution sheet.

that way you can test yourself on comprehension and gauge approximately how well you know the material.

i appreciate it--but i would hardly expect a prof to supply one.

I do, do that for the final and go over it in class. Finals are different, it has been a long time since they saw a lot of the material.

!!!

okay, so this is for any and all tests?

see i was thinking midterms and finals. all the other tests i've ever had have had nothing of the sort.

Yes some students feel they need this for each and every test.

I got them from some history profs who would give a huge list of key terms/ideas that we should be concentrating on.

I think they are good to help people focus on a semester's worth of information.

I think a lot of my professors who would have given review sheets were the type who just gave us take home exams instead.

I luuuuv take home exams.

Ditto. Of course, I don't think I ever had tests other than midterms and finals. Well, maybe in 100-level German....

i'm a freshman in college and i've only gotten one in Arabic class.� and that was just a list of the topics we've covered, no real elaboration or anything, although we went over it in class.

i don't think it's necessarily going "too easy" on your students if you provide them with one. but expecting one from you is a bit much.�

for some reason i still find it hard to believe that you're a professor. You sound like you're twenty.

language classes, math, and some of the science classes i've taken have had regular tests.

but yah, being an artsier student, there're more written assignments than tests.

I did so few papers in college. If we had computers then i wouldn't have been so adverse to them. I just hated the physical process of typing them up.

That's because you haven't actually heard me speak. If you had you'd think I as 14.

how so?

Will somebody that has heard me speak and likes me field that one?

well, i don't know that i'd describe gordon's voice in quite that way.

but yes, our gordondon has a distinctive voice. it's a bit of a surprise, but then you can't imagine him speaking any other way.

Now I wanna hear it! Gordon, you should put up an mp3 of yourself...singing.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Dear god, woman... you don't know what you just did.

will anyone care to tell me what I have done? I'm excited...

You have asked to hear me sing.

so let's hear it...

I have dialup so uploading takes me forever so sorry, I'm not going to do that. I did once have a recording of me singing Ol' Man River on my profile but deleted it as an act of mercy.

You live in New York right? perhaps you'll see me at a show and I'll sing for you then. Just remember you've been warned that my voice has been banned by the Geneve Convention.

:) I still want to hear it.� But yeah, I'll spare you the trouble. For now.

No, dude.

Trust me on this.

I actually have files of him singing. I keep them for the same reason they keep samples of smallpox around -- to create a vaccine in case of a terrorist unleashing it on the world.

You mean since they use Metallica at Gitmo they could use Gordon's singing, too?

so here's an idea, gordon.

you have trouble getting them to do homework, right?

so--for a "review sheet" make a handout with all of the homework assignments on it,eg. P183 #4-8 , P185 #1, 2, 4d-f or whatever.

Then say that to review for the test, make sure they have mastered the skills that those questions require.

Because frankly, with math, if you've done the homework--you'll probably do fine on the test.

I suggested that but the student wanted me to narrow down the questions to the ones I'd actually give on the test since expecting him to know all the material is totally unreasonable.

o.O

okay so. um. why is he pursuing higher education?

maybe you should hold a review session instead of providing a review sheet. That way you can quickly go over everything you've covered during the term instead of "naroowing it down". Or maybe hold a question/answer session. Or tell the student to come during your office hours and offer him with any particular topic he's having trouble with.�

or you could always threaten to sing for him.

I have in some classes threatened to sing. It works wonders.

The answer to that is simple, to get a good job to make money.

Funny, my kids beg me to sing. And dance. I can't figure out why - neither is enjoyable for an audience...

where do you teach?

New York Institute of Technology.

Wait.
College leads to money?

I take it they're not English majors? ;-)

Correct. English majors don't take calculus.

My friend and I used to play dozens of variations of Monopoly that we invented ourselves. One of the versions was "college monopoly." If you paid tuition you could get a degree. If you got a college degree your got $300 instead of $200 every time you passed go. If you then went to grad school you got $150 every time you passed. Nobody ever chose that option.

I thought the same thing. I responded that all of them did before reading further... in our college I think instructor review sheets were required.

But no, very few of my professors gave out review sheets for exams. Sometimes, if you don't know the material from attending class, you don't deserve to pass (depending on the class and the instructor of course) and if you can't think on your feet (or in your seat) then maybe you don't belong in college.

If you then went to grad school you got $150 every time you passed.

*giggle*

Okay, so wait. Clarify something for me. In this student's mind, review sheet = having the actual questions in advance of the test?

In my world that = cheating.

Tell him that.

No not that actual questions, identically worded questions with different numbers.

I don't see how that's much different than what Gella thought.

It isn't that much different, but it is different. I can tell you from experience that to some students it is a huge difference. If you vary a problem in the slightest it throws them.

I just found out that the other Calculus 2 teacher does exactly that. she gives them a copy of the test to study from before they take the actual test.

Once upon a time in a faraway land there was a great and wonderous beast called Professorial Integrity.

Then it got hit by a meteor and died.

But it left children that eventually evolved into birds.