If you are unfamiliar with the situation, you can read the whole article here, or you can read my blurb below.


Elijah Brown is an undergrad at Maryland’s Anne Arundel Community College taking an accounting class with Professor Red Beatty. As per usual classroom protocol, Mr. Beatty administered an accounting test and allowed for his students to bring in a 3×5 index card to use on the test. The kicker is he did not specify the size of the index card in a unit of measurement. Seeing the loophole in the situation, Elijah took that as an opportunity to bring in a 3ft by 5ft index card.

Let me just slow clap Elijah Bowen into this… *clap*… *clap*… *clap*…
One step for a student, one GIANT leap for undergrads.


I died when I heard about this. This is the kind of wit college students thrive off of. Not that we are always trying to “catch” the professor messing up, but it does leave a warm fuzzy feeling when you can out move the teacher who has a masters or 20+ years experience in the subject they’re lecturing. 


Dedicated undergrads spend weeks preparing for tests, quizzes and research papers to get them ready for finals.  There is a lot of pressure placed on students to retain a lot of information in a short amount of time. Bless the professors that allow cheat cheats but BLESS YOU [Elijah Brown] for even cheating that system.


Students are constantly trying to figure out what it is the professor wants. They drop little hints here and there saying “This will be on the test,” but most of the time the test hasn’t even been conceived yet so how are teachers going to remember everything they say will be on the test WILL BE on the test? 


I am an advocate for doing the bare minimum but also doing a job well done. Bill Gates once said, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” I think you should get in contact with Mr. Gates there Elijah and see if he has any projects lying around for ya.


I have to admit I am kind of jealous that I was not this dexterous while I was going through college. I kind of want to go back through all of my syllabi and catch some of my not-so-favorite professors in a slip-up. I won’t, but I had to share the thought anyway. 


Although, I have to admit. Putting together such a massive cheat sheet, it makes sense Elijah hardly had to use it. Maybe this could be a new studying tool for the millennials. Professors, look to the wise. Give your students a 3ft by 5ft cheat sheet opportunity and they may just surprise you by filling it out causing them actually to study. 


In the end, I’m glad Professor Beatty still let Elijah use the large cheat sheet. He can’t even be mad at Elijah for seeing through the lines on this one. Of course, Prof. Beatty won’t be so naive next semester, so incoming accountants better stay on their toes.