Is this cheating?

[Solver]

Notes have to be your own work, not copied. The idea is that forming effective notes aids learning.

The idea is that the education system again insists on applying the same methods to everyone. They're in no position to judge how notes affect everyone's learning by demanding those notes to be shown - I understand that's the case here.

[Flubber]

This sounds idiotic

Someone that has copied the entire chapter is at a disadvantage as against a person that has bothered to shorten and summarize it. The former has to go through all sorts of extraneous words to get to what the latetr has at hand.

I have never heard of open notes-- In law school we usually had open exams where you could bring in any materials you wanted, including the text book-- BUt no one brought the text books since who needs to be leafing through 1000 pages of material

[Japher]

good point Flubber

[Skanky Burns]

The same option is available to everyone as well - to copy the chapters and claim they are your notes. Unless it is a 2 hour test that you only need half an hour to complete, the need to be familiar with the material beforehand or the "notes" won't help you at all.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Solver

Notes have to be your own work, not copied. The idea is that forming effective notes aids learning.

The idea is that the education system again insists on applying the same methods to everyone. They're in no position to judge how notes affect everyone's learning by demanding those notes to be shown - I understand that's the case here.

No it isn't. You are allowed to bring your notes to the test. You don't have to. But you can't bring the textbook to the test.

[Solver]

Ahh, okay. As previously said, I didn't know what "open notes" meant.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I had students who did this all the time when I gave open-note tests.

It's not cheating. It's just incredibly f*cking stupid. The point of notes is to distill the important stuff in the chapters; bring in the whole chapters, and you have to use crucial test time wading through the chapters looking for the important stuff.

No student of mine, using that strategy, ever seemed to get above a D on a test -- and I was an easy grader.

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Solver
Ahh, okay. As previously said, I didn't know what "open notes" meant.

When are you go to copy the links?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
It's not cheating.

It was never allowed on any of my open-note tests. YMMV, but as you said, it's stupid anyway.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Notes have to be your own work, not copied. The idea is that forming effective notes aids learning.

Actually, in memorization based classes (e.g. dates&names or chemical formulae etc.) I often copied straight out of the book... I memorize by writing, so the easiest way was duplicating the material needed to be memorized.

I think this isn't cheating, and if the teacher did not give a limit to notes (some teachers I had allowed say 1 8.5x11 page front+back in whatever font size you like, leading to some interesting font choices for maximum readability at 4pts) then it's not a problem.

Oh, and open note is fine for college but not for HS, in my book. In HS you should still be learning the groundwork of subjects, and how to think like an historian/mathematician/writer/etc.; while in college you should be learning specifics, and thus having reference material at hand is quite reasonable.

[snoopy369]

Oh, and the next person who says "would of" I'm totally going ballistic on. (The next person who says it not for the purpose of annoying me, anyway.)

It's "Would have", not "would of". Please-for-the-love-of-God-or-whatever-metaphysical-or-philosophical-construct-you-choose-to-worship-or-believe-or-support. It's painful.

[Kuciwalker]

Oh, and open note is fine for college but not for HS, in my book. In HS you should still be learning the groundwork of subjects, and how to think like an historian/mathematician/writer/etc.; while in college you should be learning specifics, and thus having reference material at hand is quite reasonable.

You should have figured that out by middle school at least; if you can't think by the time you're in high school, I don't know how much can be done for you

[snoopy369]

Nah, HS you still are learning the groundwork for your future endeavors. Even if you're in vector analysis in HS (as I was) you are ultimately learning the groundwork for later mathematics studies (well, I wasn't, as I decided math wasn't for me after vector analysis, but ...)

That's how the school system is structured in America, though. You learn nonspecific information up through 12th grade, then you go off and specialize ("major") at some point shortly thereafter (usually within a year except for slackers). It's not until you are taking classes in the specific subset that is your major that you're really learning the specifics for your future career.

Spend a few years in college and you'll understand, young Kuciwalker.

[Kuciwalker]

I did nearly half of my math degree in HS

[snoopy369]

Yet you still haven't read (or understood) a word I said

Perhaps you should've studied harder in English?