[ghshephard]

So, I agree with you in large part. The instructor failed his students. By pulling questions out of a test-bank that would likely be available (and obviously was) to his students, he both signaled too high a level of accomplishment to those students who had the exam, as well as too low (in comparison) to those who didn't have the exam.

I think the ethical lines that were crossed by the students were more clear if the students realized that _the exact questions_ had been found on a test they had studied from. If there were students who realized that they had studied from the same test, then that is where they had a personal responsibility to stand up and say "Hey - This isn't fair. I've already _seen_ these questions, I had an advance copy of the exam."

Nobody is saying this was an unspeakable wrong. It was the moral equivalent of keeping an extra twenty that your ATM machine accidentally disbursed to you. It's the rare individual that goes into the bank to report the error, but it's the right thing to do.

[anthuswilliams]

I've been in several university classes that issued practice exams which contained questions that showed up word for word on the test. It's actually pretty common.

I suppose if I found the actual test listed the questions in the same order as the practice test, that would be worth noting. But it doesn't sound like that's the case. The professor and his students merely pulled from the same test bank. Since it is so common for questions to be recycled, even years later, I have a hard time finding fault with the students. I think the professor is entirely to blame.