First, I hope you enjoyed the end of daylight savings time as much as I did.
I know you’re all busy with your papers and not thinking about anything else, but it’s time I posted some practice questions for the final on WebCT. And so I did. There is now a quiz of 10 questions that you can take at any time you like between now and the end of the course. The quiz is graded automatically (so you know how you did) but is not factored into your semester grade in any way. I think I could see the results if I went to look but I don’t.
So why take such a quiz?
As you know, multiple choice questions make up a portion of your final exam. The thing is, we don’t have other multiple choice exams in this course, so you have no opportunity to experience how we write exam questions. Hence the quiz.
Our multiple choice questions are different, and they are written according to a rough formula that I will share with you. Most multiple choice exams are tests of recognition. You’ll see the “question stem” and then a list of 4 possible answers. You recognize one, put it down, and it’s the right answer. This is NOT how we write our exams. Instead, we test comprehension. First, we ask that you choose the BEST answer to the question, which means that one answer may be “more right” than another. Our multiple choice questions consist of the following:
A Question Stem
Answer A. The Right Answer
The Wrong Answers B-C-D are selected from the following:
Positions criticized by the author or lecture such as:
–an argument that the author rehearsed for a few paragraphs before dismissing it
–a “common sensism” that was shown to be based on false premises
–or sometimes just the opposite of what the author actually says
Non sequiturs such as :
–a true statement made in the text (or elsewhere in the course) that doesn’t correctly answer the question
–a concept from another part of the course
–an argument advanced by another author
–nonsense combinations of words or ideas from readings and lectures
–finally, if there’s a really good opportunity to make a joke, we might be inclined to take it
Multiple choice theory (yes, there is such a thing in education studies and your prof has read just enough to be dangerous to himself and others) suggests that a good question has at least “plausible” answers and one right one.
EXAMPLE:
According to Todd Gitlin, why is our culture so heavily saturated with media?
a. Though commodity fetishism, we compensate for our alienation from our own labor.
b. Entertainment media are the opiate of the masses, distracting us from the important business of democracy.
c. We seek disposable feelings to compensate for the blasé attitude brought on by the money economy.
d. We live in such a textualized world that we go looking for absent bodies through bodies that are textualized.
e. Communication is a fundamental human need and does not change over time.
f. Media transmit messages which we must correctly decode through our access to frameworks of knowledge.
g. We couldn’t get them out in just one cycle through the washing machine.
A real question would only have 4 possible answers: I just wanted to show you a wider range of wrong answers. The first thing you should notice is that all ideas are attributed to authors. The question begins “According to Todd Gitlin.” This is the humanities–people debate things and take up different positions. We want you to understand how those positions fit together, which means first knowing who said what.
Now, let’s walk through the answers.
a. Gitlin rehearses this position but dismisses it as insufficient (remember his discussion of why he and his friends play basketball?)
b. A commonsensical answer, but one not found anywhere in the readings or lectures.
c. The correct answer. Gitlin turns to Simmel’s analysis of the blasé attitude brought on by the money economy (to operate in modern bureaucracy, we essentially turn away from our own emotions).
d. Sort of, kind of, Carolyn Marvin’s answer to the question. Not quite right, and anyway, we asked you for Todd Gitlin’s answer.
e. A total non-sequitur (and not true!), though it is within the realm of possibility that the correct answer will reject the premise of the question. Also the opposite of what Gitlin argues.
f. Lots of phrases from Hall’s essay used in a nonsense sentence.
g. Thank you, I’m here all week. Please tip your bartender. And try the fish.
IN CONCLUSION, it’s probably a good idea to practice, which is why I made you the quiz. Take it with a friend and reason through the answers, or take it with your coursepack and notes in front of you so you can figure things out.
For the actual final, you are allowed a single study sheet — 8.5″ by 11″, double-sided, single layered, in your own handwriting only (not typed, photocopied, silkscreened or long-penned) with your name and ID on it, and to be turned in with the final.
