Stupid finals!

I'm not complaining that I have finals, but rather that professors are so unprepared to give finals. It's quite irritating how several times per exam we're interrupted because of a mistake in wording, lack of a correct answer choice, duplicate answer choices, etc. Even that's not as bad as this.

Consider the following question. Chose the best answer.
(Question is irrelevant)
A. Mostly True
B. Mostly False
C. Never false
D. True
E. False

There was a series of questions with those answer choices. What the hell is that? What does "mostly" mean and how is it different from true/false. What is the difference between never false and true?

That's messed up! :haha:

bobrob2004 wrote:

That's messed up! :haha:

Yeah it is! Plus it's psychology so it's sort of implied that nothing is ever always true or false but then again the professor and textbook don't tend to use words like "generally" or "mostly" so what are you supposed to pick.

Here's a few questions to show the absurdity of these choices:
1+1=2
Well that seems like true works. But then again, it's never false so that works. Then again if you get into theoretical math that isn't true so maybe mostly true is best? Of course what does mostly mean? Perhaps you're really into theoretical math so maybe mostly false is actually the best choice. If you're really, really into theoretical math maybe false is actually the best answer.

When leading after 1 inning, a team will win.
That's false, they could easily lose. Then again they'll win more often than not so wouldn't mostly true work? But then again, it's way too soon to tell so mostly false probably works best. It can be false so never false is wrong as is true.

Well, it was a psych exam...

TigerLily wrote:

Well, it was a psych exam...

Yeah, but I was doing poor enough in that class as it is. I don't need stupid questions like that. What really pissed me off is while I had to guess on almost every question because I'm an idiot, most of the ones with these stupid answers were ones I actually knew. Of course I'm going to get them all wrong because the answer choices suck, but I could have explained these I better pass this stupid class

I have been known to give the prof an extra sheet explaining the answers when they suck like that!

That reminds me of the psych prof at MSU that had us read all kinds of books, and then the test questions all began...

According to Dr. Karin...

those sucked because he 50% of the time did not agree with the books! I did not CARE WHAT DR KARIN FELT, I wanted to know the truth...

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I have been known to give the prof an extra sheet explaining the answers when they suck like that!

That reminds me of the psych prof at MSU that had us read all kinds of books, and then the test questions all began...

According to Dr. Karin...

those sucked because he 50% of the time did not agree with the books! I did not CARE WHAT DR KARIN FELT, I wanted to know the truth...

Yeah, I hate those kind, too. Another one that pissed me off was getting into reinforcement schedules. It was like assume a rat is on a VI_{3 minute} (3 minute variable interval) schedule for 15 minutes and press the lever once every 5 minutes. How many times will it be rewarded? What is the maximum number of rewards it could have had in those 15 minutes had it pressed the lever more?

The first answer is 3, but that's not necessarily true! It's a variable reinforcement schedule so there's only reinforcement on average ever 3 minutes. It's possible that the rat only got rewarded twice! For the second part I guess they want 5 but it's variable! It could be infinity!

Anyways, that's going off on a tangent and for those who haven't taken a class in fundamentals of learning (and why would you - it sucks!) this is a worthless post.

It is not worthless, it just shows how stupid some questions are!

My first psychology class nearly 30 years ago = D
My most recent psychology class in 2003 = A

It's all about learning how to take the stupid tests. I was VERY dismayed to find that out.

Remind me never to take any of those classes! I need to know what's right and what's wrong. That's why I like accounting so much. Assets = Liabilities + Equity every time! The IRS will get you if it doesn't!

laprimamirala wrote:

My first psychology class nearly 30 years ago = D

I'm kind of worried about 2 of my classes this quarter. I'm really struggling to care at this point and there's a chance that I might get a D in one (or both) of them which would ruin everything. I don't think you get course credit if you get a D and I can't retake any classes. I graduate in September if and only if I pass every class. My lease to my apartment runs out at that point so I really need to not fail. Too late to worry now though - the finals for those two classes are over.

Finance was my favorate, and easiest class I ever had to take, I should have gone that route, but I went the Management Info Systems route, which had lots of accounting, finance and stats, to go with all the computer language and computer construction classes. Then I piggybacked it with an engineering degree in computers. Such fun! I enjoyed the masters degree more since it was in counseling!

catbox_9 wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

My first psychology class nearly 30 years ago = D

I'm kind of worried about 2 of my classes this quarter. I'm really struggling to care at this point and there's a chance that I might get a D in one (or both) of them which would ruin everything. I don't think you get course credit if you get a D and I can't retake any classes. I graduate in September if and only if I pass every class. My lease to my apartment runs out at that point so I really need to not fail. Too late to worry now though - the finals for those two classes are over.

All you can do is pray you passed, at this point! I sure hope you did.

Grades are overated;


George W Bush had a 2.0 GPA and became President

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

All you can do is pray you passed, at this point! I sure hope you did.

I hope I did, too Test is probably graded by now since they're just scantrons (what ever happened to real tests?) so it's just a matter of typing everything into the computer and posting it online.

As for you what you should have done, don't feel bad. I'm 5 classes away from graduation and have yet to enjoy a single one of them. I thought I might like psychology as I really enjoyed intro to psych. at a community college when I was in 10th grade, but every psych. class here has well...sucked. I probably would've liked film studies but it's way too late for that. Oh well.

You will pass Catbox!

learning how to learn -
what an expensive concept to teach in college

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I have been known to give the prof an extra sheet explaining the answers when they suck like that!

That reminds me of the psych prof at MSU that had us read all kinds of books, and then the test questions all began...

According to Dr. Karin...

those sucked because he 50% of the time did not agree with the books! I did not CARE WHAT DR KARIN FELT, I wanted to know the truth...

That was my Philosophy class last semester. Loved it to pieces but a lot of it was knowing names (Aquinas, Hobbes, Descartes, Russell, James, etc.) and their opinions (none of which I shared).

this hobbes? just kidding!

catbox_9 wrote:

I'm not complaining that I have finals, but rather that professors are so unprepared to give finals. It's quite irritating how several times per exam we're interrupted because of a mistake in wording, lack of a correct answer choice, duplicate answer choices, etc. Even that's not as bad as this.

Consider the following question. Chose the best answer.
(Question is irrelevant)
A. Mostly True
B. Mostly False
C. Never false
D. True
E. False

There was a series of questions with those answer choices. What the hell is that? What does "mostly" mean and how is it different from true/false. What is the difference between never false and true?

Those kinds of tests make me want to....

laprimamirala wrote:

this hobbes? just kidding!

Aww, I wish!

UPDATE:
Going into that test I had a C- going I got 55% on the final...

Spoiler:

catbox_9 wrote:

UPDATE:
Going into that test I had a C- going I got 55% on the final...

Spoiler:

Yeah!!!! Told you you would pass.

Passing = good

55 percent?


Congrats to Catbox just the same!

gs78 wrote:

55 percent?

Yep :haha: I don't know what the average was but it must have been lower than that since 55% brought my grade up. Average was probably 45% or so. The first two midterms the average was close to 60% but finals are usually harder.

Is it graded on a Curve?

gs78 wrote:

Is it graded on a Curve?

Typical in some college programs! I hated it in college engineering classes, we would have Arab students in the classes and in their schools, HS = our 2nd year of college! Try passing when they grade on a curve and these guys come in, mess up the class average, then leave.

The problem really isn't their schools, it is our high schools. Kids have to pass a 9th grade test to graduate 12th grade! We have the dumbing down of our education system! My parents kept complaining at the stuff they taught in the 1960's and on, that they learned the same stuff at least 3 years earlier than when I learned it. Sad thing is, my grandpa quit school after 6th grade, to work, and he had a better education than I did after 12th grade!

And sadly these days; There are people with Degrees that can't even find work or work in their field of study

Yea, they say a 4 year degree is really worthless now! And at what they charge per credit hour, that sucks!