I was initially thinking of the informal test bank practice. Undergrads and graduates who "under the table" hand off old exams.

But thanks for reminding me of the formal test bank process. The formal test bank doesn't exist for course exams in many graduate departments but it exists for the preliminary/qualifying exams. The graduate department/graduate school keeps the exam questions (often organized by exam year) and publishes them on the website and in files. You have to get permission from the student to read the answers they have on file or have kept in their own records.

But this tends to be a more sophisticated learning process than that of the average (not every, so please no "I used it because...." confessions, folks :)) undergraduate who is looking for quick answers to an upcoming exam.

As you agreed, graduate and law students who use these exams and example answers are aiding in their own learning. They generally know that the literature is too plentiful to choose not to study on their own and rely on old exams. They use it to get some ideas and use as a study guide.

I took a class and made an a in it. Next semester one of guys was taking the same thing, so i gave it to him, definitely the EXACT same tests.

Hurricane effed our test files all up.

Our test files are just copies of tests that girls took. They generally don't have all the correct answers, unless that sister happened to get 100%.

Usually, teachers who let students keep tests are teachers who change their tests every semester.

Any group of friends could compile their own test files, if they so chose.

That said, test files are the most helpful in courses that have so much reading or other information that it's hard to know what's important enough to end up on the test. You can go through the test files and find an old copy, then study what's on the test.

Besides, it's easier to actually LEARN something than to memorize a bunch of answers.

Then you always that teacher out to get greeks who will put the first fifteen answers or so the same on a multiple choice, so the student gets lax and bam, screw you, you're effed.

I had an accounting professor who used the same basic questions each semester but changed the numbers. Few of the students that had memorized or managed to sneak in the answers realized that the numbers were different. Duh.