There's a drawback: if you need your notes during the exam, you will lose precious time reading them, and you will not have enough time to finish the test. I know, 'cause I've been there. "You can open any book and have any notes in front of you" is a double-edged sword.
I always thought that the methodology of exams is very weird, given that experts always have access to resources. Yes you should know your fundamentals, but resources are still there for reference. Often it will wrongly misjudge many with amazing skills and intelligence as inferior in scores due to anxiety and such, compared to people with simple memorization skills rather than understanding of the subject. 'Tis my opinion anyway.
Depending on what is being studied, maybe. A surgeon operating on a patient and something suddenly goes wrong? He can't save their life because of that one test where he had open notes, and doesn't have time to look at resources. Also teaches you to be quick on your feet and prepared for more situations.
Absolutely! Resources help all the time and can be a great way to continue learning. It's a two way street, there will be things you need to remember and things that can be better tested with resources on hand. A good professor will know the difference.
Agreed. Fundamental understanding is key to any field, specially in order to navigate through the information within such fields. But references are available in order to build on that fundamental information.
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