But what's on the exam?

As much as I dislike my exams this semester, I pretty much know what to expect every time. This wasn't the case for a particular class I took in undergrad many moons ago.

Here is the conversation in class the day before a midterm:

Prof G: "The midterm will have 4 or 5, questions. S, how many questions did we decide on?"

Prof S: "Four."

G: "Right, there will be 4 questions. What did we decide, S? Can they bring the book?"

S: "Yeah, they can bring the book, but it won't do them any good."

G: "So you can bring your book. You won't need your calculator. You won't need a table of units. You'll have to rely on reasoning."

Student: "How should we study for this? Should we study the notes or the book?"

G: "I'd say, both."

Different student: "What will the questions be like? Will they be kind of like the problem sets or from the book?"

G: "Both."

Me: "Quantitative or more conceptual?"

G: "Both."

Student: "Can we get a previous year's exam."

G: "Well, we've never given a midterm before in this class, so that's not really possible. Sorry."

Student: "But can you give us an example of a midterm question?"

G: "I suppose. Hmm. Well, you have this reservoir of a certain height. You need to build a dam. How would you build a dam to get what you need? S, any other examples?"

S: "Nope."

G: "Tara?"

TA Tara: "Nope."

G: "Alright, then. See you all on Thursday."