Question Leaked on Chem 7 Midterm

Students of a former Teaching Fellow (TF) of Chemistry 7, “Principles of Chemistry” (Chem 7) saw a question from a previous exam in the class—which was then repeated on Monday’s midterm—prompting a change in the class’s grading policy for the semester.

In an e-mail to Chem 7 students late Tuesday night, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Hongkun Park, who teaches Chem 7 for the first half of the semester, explained that some students in the class had received private, paid tutoring from a former Chem 7 TF, and that they had seen the question during that time.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics Xiaowei Zhuang, who will take over teaching Chem 7 for the second half of the semester, said she could not identify the tutor or the students involved. She estimated that the former TF tutored approximately 20 of the almost 300 current Chem 7 students.

One or more of these students chose to come forward after the exam, saying that their tutor “used exam problems from previous years as examples” during the tutoring sessions, Park wrote in his e-mail.

He added that “no one acted with ill intention,” but that the situation created a “problem of unfairness” that needed to be rectified.

He proposed allowing students to drop the midterm if they score better on the final exam as a remedy that would be “equitable for all.”

He also said that students who had seen the question beforehand did not perform better than their classmates on the midterm.

In his e-mail, Park stressed that neither the students nor the tutor acted with malicious intent, and that he took personal responsibility for the leak.

“If this incident were anybody’s fault, it should be mine: I should have checked the questions further, made more new questions, and should not have assumed that the previous exams would [not] be available to some of you,” he wrote.

“It was a very difficult day for me,” Park added in an e-mail to The Crimson yesterday.

Despite Park’s assertion that he is responsible for the incident, Zhuang said that she too is at fault.

“I share any blame,” she said.

Zhuang also praised Park’s handling of the incident, saying that he “is doing his best in solving the problem.” In class today, students applauded in appreciation of Park’s effort to find a solution, Zhuang recounted.

Invoking the cliché, “hindsight is always 20/20,” Zhuang said both professors wish they had foreseen the potential for an incident like this, and that the teaching staff will attempt to identify and coordinate with private tutors to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

Chem 7 student Ofole U. Mgbako ’08, said he was surprised the incident had even occurred.

However, he said that after he learned the specific circumstances of the leak, “it seemed like a pretty innocent situation.”

Mgbako praised the actions of the students who came forward about the advantage they had received on the test.

“This is a situation just showing the integrity of the students here,” he said.

—Staff writer Matthew S. Lebowitz can be reached at mslebow@fas.harvard.edu.