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<p>Past exams, if given out to some, should be given to everybody I think, because otherwise the professor is encouraging an unfair advantage for some. I think past exams are a good diagnostic to find out whether you have studied enough and are really only that, since the questions can vary a lot from year to year.</p>
<p>As for homework, certanly not because you don’t learn anything by copying answers. Whether it is “unfair” or not is a different issue. I personally check my answers after doing them as completely as I can if there is a solution guide to the book because I figure I can check my own answers for free and it costs some points for the TA to do the checking for me. But otherwise, I think it is just that many times, having the solutions in front of us encourages us to take the easy way out and not think through the problems.</p>