system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: There is very little reason for most tests/exams to not be open note/calculator

As the internet has become an increasingly more important part of our lives, we’ve reached a point where rote memorization of facts for most subjects has become more or less unnecessary. Everyone carries what is the equivalent of a calculator, dictionary, atlas, encyclopedia, and any number of other resources in their pocket at all times and sites like Wikipedia that compile knowledge about hundreds of different topics are accessible to everyone. There is almost no situation where either in everyday life or a more specialized career would you have to solve a given problem or otherwise apply knowledge without access to these resources. 

At this point, the skills that should be taught and reinforced far more than memorization are application of that knowledge and problem solving. I find it far less important that a student on a math or science exam be able to recite an equation or formula from memory than making sure that they’re able to use that formula to solve a given problem and determine what formulas they would need in a given instance to find the desired result. 

As someone who’s a college student who is currently attending class online, I’ve had several professors, especially in history or social studies courses, allow students to use notes, textbooks, and in some rare instances even google on exams, but to compensate they have asked more questions in a shorter amount of time to discourage people from spending too much time researching, and I think this is a much more sensible approach. My math, physics, and engineering courses have been slow to adopt this kind of policy (aside from one physics course that has allowed access to physical notes and limited digital resources like lecture notes and Wikipedia). The most egregious example is a programming course I took in person before the pandemic that required us to write code with a pencil and paper without access to any other resources whatsoever. From all of my experience writing code outside of classes a major part of it is researching different methods of solving problems and that entire aspect of the skill is completely lost in this type of test environment, forcing students into an extremely contrived situation that they would never be in under normal circumstances. 

Aside from exams like the SAT and standardized tests (and perhaps even those too), I see very little reason to continue using this outdated testing methodology as it forces students to waste time memorizing information that they could access within seconds in a realistic situation when that time could be used to further improve their problem solving skills.

EDIT: Added paragraphs to improve clarity.

I also wanted to stress that I don’t think students should have unlimited resources and unlimited time. I think the idea should be to make the time limit short enough and have enough questions that students will mostly want to have the information memorized but are allowed to quickly check a few things if they really need it and have the time. I also think that this mostly applies to higher level education, and that for basic skills like arithmetic and basic algebra students should need to learn how to do that by memory. I’m mostly referring to more advanced subjects like physics, chemistry, and higher level math like advanced algebra, statistics, and calculus, and for certain things like squares of numbers and unit circle trigonometric calculations students should be encouraged to memorize that information. I remember having quizzes specifically on those two things and I think for that type of quick knowledge that students will want to know offhand they should be tested on that in the traditional way.
gpt
In life you are still going to need to know some things intrinsically.  If you think about a doctor in the middle of a surgery, you'll need be able to calculate of how medication to provide in an IV on the fly.  

or think about a meeting at work, poeple are going to want to ask you questions about things you know, and you can't always run back to your computer to look it up.

&#x200B;

If anything, kids these days are being coddled by easy access to information and being conned into thinking that they know something.  As a former computer engineer, it was staggering how lost some people could get in a project without there being a tailor made answer on Stackoverflow.