Should I risk an F in Calculus?

Mikalye
Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:48:55 +0000

By the way, this was, for many years, the grading scheme on the final exam in 6.004 Computation Structures at MIT. There were 100 true/false questions. You gained 1 point for each question you got right, lost one point for each question you got wrong, and your score was unchanged for an answer left blank. If you managed 100 wrong answers on the exam you were guaranteed an A in the course regardless of your performance to date.

I cannot recall anyone trying for it who was not failing the course already. Frankly, not only do you have to know all 100 answers, but you have to KNOW THAT YOU KNOW all 100 answers. If you are certain of 99 of the 100 but are 50-50 on that last one, you are much better off taking the 99 (which will be an A) than potentially going out in a blaze of glory.