Students should use whatever resources are available. I encourage study groups, and they really help a lot. So what if they are internet based groups. Other profs need to realize that study methods are flexible.
On the other hand, what I do NOT want to see is students just "getting answers" and not learning. Sure, you may get thru one homework, but when it comes to the exam, and you don't know how to do the problems because you copied rather than bothered to learn: too bad, so sad, here's your F. Don't bitch to me about it. Suck it up, and study properly next time.
As for argument about the books being used over and over again, and all the questions will be gone in the space of 3 semesters? That's a crock of crap too. If the professor be too lazy to at least modify the problems slightly, the can't complain if students memorized the problem and got it right. Example: I gave my freshman class a practice exam to study from, and on the real exam did things like change starting concentrations by half, or change NaOH to Ca(OH)2 (thus changing the stoichiometry). It was *really* easy to separate the memorizers from the ones who actually learned the material.
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Students should use whatever resources are available. I encourage study groups, and they really help a lot. So what if they are internet based groups. Other profs need to realize that study methods are flexible.
On the other hand, what I do NOT want to see is students just "getting answers" and not learning. Sure, you may get thru one homework, but when it comes to the exam, and you don't know how to do the problems because you copied rather than bothered to learn: too bad, so sad, here's your F. Don't bitch to me about it. Suck it up, and study properly next time.
As for argument about the books being used over and over again, and all the questions will be gone in the space of 3 semesters? That's a crock of crap too. If the professor be too lazy to at least modify the problems slightly, the can't complain if students memorized the problem and got it right. Example: I gave my freshman class a practice exam to study from, and on the real exam did things like change starting concentrations by half, or change NaOH to Ca(OH)2 (thus changing the stoichiometry). It was *really* easy to separate the memorizers from the ones who actually learned the material.