Exams

*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*

*/Follow us on Twitter/* [1]

In a previous blog I wrote about the cheating scandal surrounding the Air
Force and the required exams for those who control nuclear missiles.  As a
university professor I hate exams for many reasons.  First off, students
study for the exam, rather than to learn (which is especially stupid if you
need the subject material in your profession).  I also hate exams because
they lead to marking.  I hate exams since they show clearly where I have
failed as a professor.  I hate exams as they lead to cheating.  I hate
exams because they are a pain in the big fat posterior to create.

However the best reason to hate exams is something that I read today;  "This
is what I hate about exams.  They only show you can answer somebody else's
question, when the most important thing is: Can you ask a new question?
 It's the new questions that produce huge advances ..."[1] [2]

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[1] [3] Joshua M. Epstein, 2008,  "Why Model?", Journal of Artificial
Societies and Social Simulation, Vol. 11, no. 4 12

 


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