No, it was literally a surprise exam. In Introduction to Quantum Mechanics. Not a pop quiz, not an ungraded activity. A Surprise. Exam. At least, it was for me. Everyone else in the class knew about it. Here’s the story:
The class meets on Mondays and Thursdays. On Monday, April 18, the professor finished lecturing through the last of the material. He told us that the next two regularly scheduled classes, the 21st and the 25th, would be cancelled, and then the class after that (April 28th) we would go over the last few homework assignments. So the fact embedded in my brain was, “one more quantum class before final.” I also knew that according to the school’s final schedule, the quantum final was scheduled for next week, and that our last scheduled class was today. So, knowing those pieces of information, I concluded that he had messed up counting the days he wanted to skip class, and that we were skipping class on the 28th as well, in order to go over the homework assignments today in preparation for the final next week. Ha. Ha. Ha.
So I walked into that classroom expecting to go over homework for an hour. Instead, exam! Surprise! :eek:
The good news is I think I did better on this exam than either of the other two, and I did well on the other two. Fortunately, the quantum mechanics exams are not cumulative, open book, open integral tables, so it’s all about thinking on your feet.
Afterwards, the professor asked us how it went. I responded, as I walked out the door, “It was a glorious battle! Songs will be sung of this day!”
q’apla!
