Old Ivy College administers exams in a specially built Examination Building adjacent to East Quad. The exam rooms are well-lit and pleasant, with few distractions. Students taking exams sit at desks that are positioned sufficiently far apart that collaboration is difficult.
Testing procedures make cheating nearly impossible. Students must show credentials to a burly security guard upon entry. Devices of any kind must be stored in lockers. Under the "troika" system, three different professors develop the questions for each exam, and each student receives three sets of questions, so no individual professor knows more than a third of the questions on any one exam.
Megan caught on to this right away. Back in October, while eating lunch with Roderick, she commented about the "troika" system.
"I'm going to have to study," she sighed.
Roderick sipped his drink. "Well, yes, that's kind of why we're here."
"I'd have to blow all three of them to find out what's on the exam."
"That wouldn't be a problem for you, would it?"
Megan feigns outrage. "I'm not that slutty," she says, reaching over and mock-punching him in the shoulder. "But come to think of it..."
"Anyway, some of them aren't into chicks," says Roderick helpfully.
There is no curve. In theory, everyone sitting for an exam can fail it, or get a perfect score. The test measures absolute knowledge, not relative knowledge.
This morning, Roderick has results from the Logic I exam. Perfect score: he's a lock for Mr. Whitehead's Logic II Seminar. Molly, Megan, Anna, Henry, Natasha: not so much. Roderick promises to help Molly and Anna; Henry will buckle down and study harder; Natasha will get her father to pay for tutoring, preferably by someone as well-hung as Umberto. Megan proposes to go and see Mr. Whitehead to see if he will agree to let her into his seminar.
"Better wear kneepads," quips Roderick.
Molly is puzzled. "Why would she do that?" Anna leans over and whispers something. Molly blushes.
"I hear he's into BDSM," says Natasha. "Hope you're feeling submissive."
Megan shivers. "I could totally use some punishment right now."
Anna changes the subject. "How'd everyone do in Rhetoric and Math?"
"They haven't posted the scores yet," says Roderick. "But I thought it was okay." They discuss the exams, and agree that the Rhetoric exam was tough, but the Math exam was fairly easy.
That evening, Roderick sits on his bed reading quietly. He and Molly have pledged not to sleep with one another until exams are finished, to avoid distraction.
Someone knocks on the door. Roderick answers. It's Megan, buxom and bubbly, her hair slightly disheveled.
"Hi, can I come in?" she purrs. "I've been naughty."
