The older (and wiser?) a professor gets, the shorter their exams get. It seems like they all start out as untenured associate professors, giving 8-hr take home exams, because it appeals to their idealistic sense of wanting to test you on "the law", not your ability to write the fastest.

But each time, the exam changes. First they impose a word limit. The word limit gets shorter. The 8-hr take home becomes a 6-hr take home. Then it moves from home to in-class. 6 hrs becomes 4 hrs. Then 3 hrs.

I think it must be that professors eventually realize that giving more time doesn't improve the quality of the answers, nor does it affect the curve. It certainly makes more work for them though. Now if you had tenure, would you be going out of your way to make more work for yourself? No, of course not.

28 Apr 05