I had an interesting experience giving my exam to my 400-level English course yesterday. I wrote a hard exam, I will admit--but they brought it on themselves by begging to be allowed to use their books. I said, "that is fine, but recognize that if you have access to your books, I will be more likely to ask difficult questions." So I asked difficult questions. One of them was a question based on their own reading of Paradise Lost Books 11 & 12 . . . I'm pretty sure that no more than 15% of the class bothered to read any of it (which, admittedly, is their prerogative).
One student who has been particularly needy/aggressive also chose to under-prepare for the exam (i.e., essentially not study). While bright, she isn't bright enough to ace an exam if she walks into the classroom cold. So she did, and when she turned the exam in, she loitered around simpering as if to help convince me to "give" her an "A."
And she wanted to know why I looked rather nonplussed.
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