I think most people can agree that taking a test is a stressful experience, particularly because most of the time you aren't allowed to bring in any notes to serve as helpful reminders.
There are a few exceptions, and Reb Beatty, a professor at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland, is one of the rare teachers who actually lets students use a note card during tests.
"I give all my students (in all courses) the ability to bring in a 3×5 note card, with whatever they want written or typed on it," Reb told LittleThings.
But what the professor failed to do when explaining this to his students was specify if the 3×5 dimensions were to be in inches or feet.
So, on a recent test day, a student named Elijah Bowen walked into class with a 3×5-foot note card to use on the test.
"It is the first time I've thought about doing this," Elijah told LittleThings. "[The professor] said, 'alright, I see that I have failed to specify any units of measurement, so take your note card to the very back corner, keep it to yourself and take the test.'"
Reb took a photo of Elijah taking the test with his giant note card and posted it to his Facebook page on September 19, 2017. Since he uploaded it, the photo has received over 27,000 reactions and 24,000 shares!
Keep reading to find out more about Elijah's clever move.
Reb Beatty is an assistant professor of business administration at Anne Arundel Community College.
Before the first test of the semester, the professor told his class they were allowed to write helpful test notes onto a 3×5 note card and use it on the exam.
On the day of the test, one student surprised Reb by bringing in a huge 3×5-foot note card, and the professor uploaded a photo of it to Facebook.
This is the professor's Facebook post from September 19, 2017.
He wrote:
First test day of the semester and as always, I allow a 3×5 notecard. Today, a student shows up with this. Sure enough, it is 3×5… feet. As precise as I am, apparently I never specified inches and therefore yes, it was allowed. Well played and lesson learned for me.
Since the picture was posted, 4,800 people have commented on the photo and more than 24,400 have shared the clever student’s idea.
Elijah Bowen (far right in the photo above) is the clever student who brought in the huge note card.
"When my professor mentioned the test in class he told us that we could bring a 3×5 note card and put whatever we wanted on it," Elijah told LittleThings. "Every time I read a reminder, all I saw was '3×5 note card' without specifying inches! So I decided it would be helpful as well as comical to make a 3×5-foot note card."
The professor explained on Facebook why he allows his students to bring a cheat sheet to begin with:
The approach is that the process itself will force the student to organize his/her thoughts, put material into terminology that he/she understands, et cetera. It is NOT cheating, or going easy on students, or however you want to reference it.
Naturally the professor had a different reaction to Elijah’s take on the note card.
"His first words were, 'Is this some kind of joke?' and I told him, 'No this is my note card,'" Elijah told LittleThings. "After a few minutes of reasoning he decided to look through every email he had sent to us, and if he found anything saying 'inches' I didn't get any notes at all."
Luckily for Elijah, none of his professor's emails specified the dimensions and he was allowed to use his huge note card.
Reb also posted the photo on Instagram. Elijah commented that he hoped he'd passed the test after bringing in such a large note card.
Reb replied to his student to assure him that he did well on the test.
Elijah promised that if he somehow didn't pass the test he would let his professor take his skateboard.
Showing his sense of humor, Reb replied that he'd like to try the skateboard in the hallway since the student didn't fail.
"I passed and did very well on the test," Elijah told LittleThings.
Many commenters applauded Elijah's clever thinking. "Well played, young man," one said.
Please SHARE this post on Facebook with family and friends if you also think Elijah had a brilliant idea!
