So before one of my classes ended today, my professor (for two out of three of my subjects this semester) gave the class some pointers for review for the coming midterm exams next week. Believe me when I say that he almost already told us what to expect, i.e. possible questions, what topics to focus on, etc.

Then after, he gave us some advice (non-verbatim):

“Don’t worry about grades. I won’t be grading you in the absolute sense. In a perfect world, if all of you flunked the exam, I am obliged to give you failing marks. That’s fair. But our world is not perfect, and so I would be grading you relative to one another. That is, if all of you failed, your grades would still be high. (But that wouldn’t be a good thing, would it?). Again, don’t worry about the grades. Grades are negotiable.”

Bless you, professor. I’ve been worrying dead hard these past few days about the midterms. Words such as these can encourage, not in the sense that I should become lax, but to do my best in the exam.