Cal Poly faculty received an email last week telling them to “study the smart way, by using old exams,” so they could “kick ass on finals and get ready to start summer ‘fratbatical.’”
The spam email advertised “Fratfolder,” a “college exam database” website launched by Alex Baldwin, a student at the University of Texas.
Exams from Cal Poly were found in the database, for Computer Design and Assembly Language Programming (CPE 229) and Calculus III (MATH 143), as well as folders for materials by professors John Bellardo and Grace Goschke.
Goschke, a biological sciences professor, said learning that students were posting her class work on the website was disheartening, but it was only a practice exam posted, not the real final.
Using Fratfolder “is cheating, obviously,” Goschke said. “You pay a lot of money to come to school, you’d think you’d want to make the effort to learn something.”
Goschke said that professors go through a lot of trouble to ensure students are not cheating, and that “in general, no one is trying to surprise anyone. I give students online quizzes, and they’ve already seen pretty much every question on the exam.”
The Fratfolder email said obtaining old exams is “all free, we only ask you cheers us next time you do a keg stand.” It also said having previous semester’s exams to study was a better idea than using study guides.
Some students agree with the idea.
“I think it would be a really good idea,” bioresource and agricultural engineering senior Alex Paulsen said. “It would be a good resource, and give a good idea of a professor’s style and how they would test you.”
Paulsen said he would definitely use the website, and did not necessarily find it unethical.
Not all students feel the same way. Social sciences junior Veronica Kontilis said websites of that nature take away from education, especially in an environment where students study and work hard to learn.
“It’s hard to earn an ‘A’, and something like that is unfair and unethical,” Kontilis said.
Kontilis said even so, many students at Cal Poly probably use the site.
“It’s not illegal, but it is unethical,” said computer science professor Bellardo, who is one of the professors linked to on the website.
Students who use Fratfolder are “jipping themselves from their education,” Bellardo said. While his exams have not yet appeared on Fratfolder, Bellardo said there are always going to be resources available for students who want that information.
Bellardo said by claiming copyright of course materials, professors can have more authority over where their material is posted.
This is not the first website that allows students to post and share exams. At postyourtest.com, both students and faculty are encouraged to share class material.