On 11/12/2011 9:15 AM, bcs wrote:
The/a solution to the cheating problem at anything but the last set of classes is to make the next set of classes *painful* to take if you don't know the materiel from the prerequisite. The point of the class after all is to teach you the materiel (whatever that amounts to) and if you've got the materiel how you got there is irrelevant. That all depends however on a carefully tuned definition of "got the materiel".
Caltech also had a policy that you could not only place out of any class by taking (and passing) the final exam for it, you would even receive *credit* for it. I've seen many that did the former, but none other that went as far as the latter.
However, very, very few students ever managed to pass those exams without taking the class :-) I never even bothered to try.
