Test Banks, Professor Evaluations, and Tag Team Attendance: How College Students Have Learned to Not Learn

Perhaps getting a bachelor's degree meant something 25 years ago but today's college students see an undergraduate degree as the stepping stone to applying for graduate school, where the real learning begins. This is belief is one of the reasons why students are developing every concept imaginable to make the grades they want without having to learn as much of the class material.

While the concept of cheating or using study techniques in order to get better grades in the classroom isn't new, the concept of a systemized arsenal of techniques used to get the grades without putting in the work is not something Universities were not expecting.

The Bankable Test Bank
Stocked within quite a number of professional societies, Greek sororities and fraternities, and various collegiate clubs one will find the test bank. The student test bank takes advantage of professors who use the same or similar tests year after year. It is filled with the old tests, test reviews, and copies of annotated student notes that professors hand out to students. A good test bank can go back for years, showing a trend of what questions will likely be on tests, and thus helping students to avoid memorizing anything, no matter how important, that will not be on an exam.

Professor Evaluations
Students are no longer willing to take the risk of walking into lecture on their first day of class without having some background information on their professors. A few websites have popped up that have united students together in the noble goal of avoiding all professors who are difficult graders. Websites like Pick-A-Prof.com post the grades that professors give to students. These webpages also display student comments about how easy or difficult professors are on grading, presentation, and whether or not the class is fun or boring. Some student organizations take it upon themselves to have members to fill out evaluations of professors and store them so those members have the inside track on which professors are the easy graders.