What Scala?

[Walter Bright]

Sean Kelly wrote:
> I definitely would try to avoid universities where multiple-choice tests are the norm
> (oddly, I've heard that UC Berkeley falls into this category, and as a result it's also
> apparently a haven for cheaters).  I went back to finish my undergrad degree recently
> and despite being at a large state school the classes were all a reasonable size and
> the grades derived from a combination of homework and actual problem-solving
> quizzes and exams.  Now a prospective employer may not know or care what format
> your classes followed, but I'd personally put more stock in a degree that was obtained
> from as few multiple-choice tests as possible.


As I said before, as a matter of school policy, Caltech did not allow 
multiple choice exams. It also, as a matter of policy, did not allow 
homework to be part of the grade (unless the homework was the whole 
point of the course, like a lab course). The homework could only be used 
as a bias in case the grade was on the edge or there was some special 
circumstance.

In other words, the grades were based on the midterm and final. This 
naturally made finals week very, very stressful. On the other hand, if 
you never went to class, never did any homework, never saw the 
professor, swooped in and aced the final, you got an A. There were some 
that did this <g>. I was in awe.