The Exam

The exam will have four parts: identifications and three essays.

1. Identifications: There are two sub-parts. In the first sub-part, you'll be asked to listen to five short selections from Beethoven's 5th, identify the movement in which each selection appears, and say a little something about that movement and its place in the symphony as a whole. In the second sub-part, you'll be given a list of several passages or characters from the works. Your job will be to name the source of each and explain (briefly, in no more than two or three sentences) the importance of the passage or character to the work as whole.

2. Essay I: In this part, you'll be given a choice of essay topics in which you'll be asked to work with two of the works. The works for this essay will be A.P. (After Plato). You'll want to use specific examples from the works in question, so it won't hurt to have a good handle on the main characters and concepts of each of the works.

3. Essay II: In this part, you'll be given another choice of essay topics. Here, you'll be asked to compare and contrast three of the works we've studied. Anything we've read (or watched or heard) this term will be fair game for the last two essays.

4. Essay III: And, of course, in this part, you'll be given another choice of essay topics. And, of course, you'll be asked to compare and contrast four of the works we've studied.

   A good essay will be like a good paper: it'll be well-organized with a central point and that point will be developed in each new paragraph. A good essay will be specific, using particular examples from each work. And a good essay will offer fresh insight into the question instead of rehashing the same old.

See the library's Exams on Reserve page for a couple of examples from Freshman Studies gone by.