Once upon a time there was a class that guaranteed a golden A- for an easy B+ understanding of the material.
Many students in Baker Professor of Economics Martin J. Feldstein's massive Social Analysis 10 class-better known as Ec10-believe this class to be their golden ticket.
But their faith is predicated on a widespread misunderstanding of the impact of the unit test program-a somewhat complicated part of the course's unique grading procedure.
The program has been in place since before Feldstein took over the course in 1984, and has undergone few changes over that period.
But despite Feldstein and his teaching fellows' best efforts, confusion and frustration about the system prevails among many of the class's over 1000 students.
The tests- optional pass-fail quizzes spaced throughout the semester-are designed to be easily passed.
There are no time-limits, opportunities to retake each test, and infinitely sympathetic graders.
"The thing I've figured out about the unit test," said Adrian Foo '04, "is that you can go in and get most of it wrong and still pass if you sit down and have your grader explain where you went wrong."
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