humor on exams Forum

[nealric]

I actually had a friend who tried to make a few jokes on his/her crim law midterm 1L year. The professor e-mailed him/her after the exam (never had spoken to this person before) JUST to tell him/her he didn't appreciate the jokes and an exam is not the forum to try to show off you humorous mannerisms and he demanded more professionalism in the future or it would adversely impact his/her grade. Nuff said.

That prof is a douche. Nuff said.

[law_noob]

exams blind graded. and after the fact, dont the profs only know the grades? Unless the prof gave that exam a specific grade in order that he get know who wrote it,.....seems fishy to me, wouldn't that be considered an unfair grading tactic

[beach_terror]

exams blind graded. and after the fact, dont the profs only know the grades? Unless the prof gave that exam a specific grade in order that he get know who wrote it,.....seems fishy to me, wouldn't that be considered an unfair grading tactic

What in gods name are you trying to say?

[JOThompson]

exams blind graded. and after the fact, dont the profs only know the grades? Unless the prof gave that exam a specific grade in order that he get know who wrote it,.....seems fishy to me, wouldn't that be considered an unfair grading tactic

What in gods name are you trying to say?

Translation: If exams are graded blindly, how did the professor know the identity of the humor fail student?

[beach_terror]

exams blind graded. and after the fact, dont the profs only know the grades? Unless the prof gave that exam a specific grade in order that he get know who wrote it,.....seems fishy to me, wouldn't that be considered an unfair grading tactic

What in gods name are you trying to say?

Translation: If exams are graded blindly, how did the professor know the identity of the humor fail student?

Ah thanks. No, the teachers can see who got what grade after all the grades are locked in. To my knowledge, any grade bumps also have to be put in before the grades are locked in.

[12262010]

wtf? just spot the damn issues and argue each side.

[Blindmelon]

Last year, my Property Professor was a hoot, so I worked in some humor here and there on his exam because he seemed like he wouldn't count it against me. I tried not to force it, but I thought it had its funny points. I ended up with an A+ in that class. I felt really prepared for the exam going in though, but I'm also freakin hilarious.

Long story short: I don't think it really matters as long as you don't look like you're forcing it.

Prick. Then again I did the same thing with the same prof, same outcome, haha. I guess we know what to do on our exam this year.

[law_noob]

sry about the bad post. my god, my brain is burnt

[forty-two]

I actually had a friend who tried to make a few jokes on his/her crim law midterm 1L year. The professor e-mailed him/her after the exam (never had spoken to this person before) JUST to tell him/her he didn't appreciate the jokes and an exam is not the forum to try to show off you humorous mannerisms and he demanded more professionalism in the future or it would adversely impact his/her grade. Nuff said.

On the other hand, one of my profs openly complains that exams are usually too boring and that he always wishes someone would make a joke or two. Also, he grades based on feel (no points and no checklist). So, I think it depends on your prof and how naturally funny you are. But if in doubt, I'd err on the side of boring.

[goosey]

Just don't do it. You may think you are funny, but in all likelihood you probably aren't, and it really could do a hell of a lot worse than good. Will it get you points? NO. Will it possibly piss the professor off and make them more critical of your exam, which you seem to think is a time to practice your career as a stand up comedian? YES. So why do it?

OP - I actually had a friend who tried to make a few jokes on his/her crim law midterm 1L year. The professor e-mailed him/her after the exam (never had spoken to this person before) JUST to tell him/her he didn't appreciate the jokes and an exam is not the forum to try to show off you humorous mannerisms and he demanded more professionalism in the future or it would adversely impact his/her grade. Nuff said.

I think I have a pretty good answer now overall from the responses, but just to clarify, because I think you (and everyone else) is misunderstanding what I said: I would *not* be making jokes on my own..I would just be repeating what the Professor said. Meaning, if he explained something using humor, I would use that same humor.

[JOThompson]

Just don't do it. You may think you are funny, but in all likelihood you probably aren't, and it really could do a hell of a lot worse than good. Will it get you points? NO. Will it possibly piss the professor off and make them more critical of your exam, which you seem to think is a time to practice your career as a stand up comedian? YES. So why do it?

OP - I actually had a friend who tried to make a few jokes on his/her crim law midterm 1L year. The professor e-mailed him/her after the exam (never had spoken to this person before) JUST to tell him/her he didn't appreciate the jokes and an exam is not the forum to try to show off you humorous mannerisms and he demanded more professionalism in the future or it would adversely impact his/her grade. Nuff said.

I think I have a pretty good answer now overall from the responses, but just to clarify, because I think you (and everyone else) is misunderstanding what I said: I would *not* be making jokes on my own..I would just be repeating what the Professor said. Meaning, if he explained something using humor, I would use that same humor.

I'd still discourage that. There may be a disconnect between his in-class persona and his exam expectations.

[beach_terror]

Just don't do it. You may think you are funny, but in all likelihood you probably aren't, and it really could do a hell of a lot worse than good. Will it get you points? NO. Will it possibly piss the professor off and make them more critical of your exam, which you seem to think is a time to practice your career as a stand up comedian? YES. So why do it?

OP - I actually had a friend who tried to make a few jokes on his/her crim law midterm 1L year. The professor e-mailed him/her after the exam (never had spoken to this person before) JUST to tell him/her he didn't appreciate the jokes and an exam is not the forum to try to show off you humorous mannerisms and he demanded more professionalism in the future or it would adversely impact his/her grade. Nuff said.

I think I have a pretty good answer now overall from the responses, but just to clarify, because I think you (and everyone else) is misunderstanding what I said: I would *not* be making jokes on my own..I would just be repeating what the Professor said. Meaning, if he explained something using humor, I would use that same humor.

I'd still discourage that. There may be a disconnect between his in-class persona and his exam expectations.

My Civ Pro teacher is hilarious and cracks jokes all the time. But she's actually very serious when it comes to the exam/grading/professionalism (as seen by a graded review problem). Proceed with caution.

[seespotrun]

Thread conclusion: It depends.

That's law school for ya.

[beach_terror]

Thread conclusion: It depends.

That's law school for ya.

yo good work answering your emails broski

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Edit: To my above post, yes exams are blind graded, but this was a practice midterm, so the prof could see the names. His overall message was don't do it on the final. To the person that said the prof is ridiculous for it, I agree but that is the person that hands out your grade so why do it?

[seespotrun]

Thread conclusion: It depends.

That's law school for ya.

yo good work answering your emails broski

I'm only one man; beautiful and strapping, of course, but still only one.

[beach_terror]

Thread conclusion: It depends.

That's law school for ya.

yo good work answering your emails broski

I'm only one man; beautiful and strapping, of course, but still only one.

Don't undercut yourself.

[rupert.pupkin]

Depends on the professor/joke/situation.
Example: I had a civpro exam where the personal Jurisdiction question used simpsons characters, and the towns springfield and shelbyville. The A+ answer said something to the effect of "It would be hard to tell if Apu, a foreign citizen would know what state he was availing himself to when he marketed to Springfield, as this is a perpetually difficult question"

Professors comment "D'oh"

[Generic20101L]

yay or nay?

My professor is super funny/sarcastic...he has used funny ways to explain policy and I am considering writing my exam in a non-formal way incorporating notes to him in the exam itself, especially after I steal his policy jokes.

Im scared of doing this because he might be one of those people that is all funny but then gets straight to business on exams and whats a professional kind of answer. The pro I see here is that he wouldn't be bored reading it and thus less likely to miss points..and also an overall happy-feeling can only help.

My teacher went out of his/her way to say at the beg of the class NEVER do/say this on the exam. I'm gonna start the exam off with it and at the end say just joking.

[ResolutePear]

Say the wrong thing, and you're going to get burned.

Academic freedom is a pipe dream.

Don't believe me? Tell your women prof's you believe that you believe women should be "pregnant and barefoot".