Open Exams Isn't It Obvious

K Sera discusses that some portion of exams should be open. Micah and Phil discuss the corner cases. 
 
Note: Phil is in charge of the release dates of the podcast, and he messed up the order! This is episode 122, it should have released before the Pizza one!
 
Show notes: N/A
 
K Sera's after thoughts:
My opinions haven’t changed. I think memory retention is a skill, of course, but so is researching and organizing data. I think most people in most situations don’t need to know a fact or statistic off the cuff. Why can’t we have at least some exams that reflect that? 
 
How likely is it that the average person will ever need to recall the exact date Simone Biles won her first gold medal? How many people would need to know the exact chemical structure of olive oil? Sure, some people might need to know these facts, but do they need to have them memorized for a sudden pop quiz from their boss or the public? Probably not. I think it is more likely that they will research and compile the information and then report or use that information as needed.
 
Micah’s example of needing to know history by rote is kind of ridiculous. “You know it or you don’t,” he says. Really? History is history. It’s a record of things that happened. Unless you are a professor giving a lecture or you are on a trivia game show, it’s pretty unlikely you will need to know hyper specific historical facts in the moment. And if you don’t know it, go look it up! Cross check with various sources!
 
Other subjects have higher consequences for mistakes and hard deadlines. It is actually vital for a surgeon to both understand and effectively communicate accurate information in the moment. Memorizing equipment names and knowing human anatomy can be a matter of life and death.
 
There also might be instances where you will want to have certain information memorized for emergency situations. What to do in an earthquake. Where to take shelter during a tornado vs. a hurricane. Basic survival information might be worth memorizing if you ever find yourself stranded without your phone or an internet connection.

So, I stand by my initial premise. It is obvious to me that some exams should be open book/open notes.
 
Phill's after thoughts:
I took my Midterm last week that had "2 pages of printed/handwritten notes" for the exam. I did achieve my minimum target grade (I only need C's to get reimbursed for the schooling from work). Honestly, it was nice not having to remember every single little formula, but I think that it also (for me) served as a crutch, because the exam is timed so it really does "slow things down" if you can't do things by heart. Basically, it's a balance between "how much can you learn things by heart" and "how much can you save time from needless studying/drilling" and I think that cheat sheets serve a good balance, but if there wasn't a cheat sheet available, I'd have devoted way more time in really mastering the problem sets. Basically I got a C (worth 20% of my grade) and I am not too happy but also not too unhappy about it.
 
I think that the homework, labs, and projects are meant to be the "open-book and cooperative" portion of the learnings. The exam has more of a "performance" flavor to it, where it quizzes on an individual level if they are understanding the fundamental concepts. When we first recorded this episode, I hadn't started my return to college classes yet, and so my hot take on the subject was from almost 20 years ago. Now, after revisiting the academic exams in a more recent timescale, I think exams are meant to be the "bare minimum a person should know on an individual basis per the fundamentals of this subject" and that may require a closed book and timed (with cheat sheets) test. That is assuming that the other parts of the class are really about the "learning of the subject" and not just busy-work/fluff material.
 
In corporate land, it would be crazy to not look at ref