Coming off a test in which the performance of several seniors guaranteed a helpful curve, the underclassmen in professor Angela Cooper's accounting class finally lived up to their hype on Friday, ensuring most of the class passed the midterm exam, 28-22.
The victory was fueled by freshmen Dana Moss and Evan Wynowski, who both answered 93 percent correct in Section II. After the test, a weary Moss said it was all a matter of preparation.
"You have to go in there and give it your best, and that's what we did," Moss said. "We're all on the same team in there, and everyone played hard, both the passers and the failers."
Professor Cooper said she was proud the freshmen didn't let the pressure get to them.
"They were a lot more patient and handled their short-answer questions well," she said.
Also pacing the underclassmen was sophomore Sanjay Lowenstein, who led the class with 13 correct answers in Section III and at one point ran for 16 right questions in a row. The test moved Lowenstein to No. 2 in the department behind Erica Amadori of Tuesday's MGA 311 class.
"We came away with good things," Lowenstein said. "We had some confidence and then got an extra credit point. We pretty much had in our mind that we could stop this losing streak."
Up until Friday's exam, Cooper's class had largely failed four of their last five quizzes. As one of the TAs announced the results, the class captains erupted in celebration with hugs and high-fives. Echoing soccer star Brandi Chastain, Moss even tore off her shirt, running around the classroom in her sports bra.
For those who still failed the midterm, however, the loss was devastating.
"I know some of the juniors took it harder because it was so close," Cooper said. "But the department looks at it that we are taking steps in the right direction. We're getting points, we out-scored that accounting systems class on two sections."
TA Soo-chow Lin said he had no sympathy for students who didn't study before the test.
"To get to question 96, you're probably going to have to go through question 25," Lin said.
Early in the exam, the class was nearly done in by a string of penalties, as the class' second-leading scorer, junior Tom Gutierrez, was ejected for cheating just 10 minutes in. Shortly after, Lowenstein was penalized five points for lateness and several freshmen were slapped with two points each for forgetting their person numbers.
The exam's pivotal moment came with 15 seconds left, at question No. 75. Facing a multiple-choice about the money measurement concept, junior underachiever Mary Feith's pencil broke, but she quickly recovered with a backup to nail the right answer with no time remaining.
"The whole pencil thing was a bit of bad luck, but that's how it goes," Feith said after the test, surrounded by her classmates dousing her in champagne in the commuter's lounge. "I just thank God and my somewhat photographic memory that I didn't really remember the concept itself but I could see it there on the page in our textbook. That helped a lot."
Up next, the class looks to score well on its final on May 1 at 9 a.m. in Knox 20.
