ENGL 1666: Gothic Tales of Terror

Final Exam Study Guide
Fall 2006

Date of Final Exam: Tuesday,  19 December 2006
Time: 4:00-5:55 pm

The core material of this course includes the assigned readings, media (film and videos), the lectures and discussions, and students will be responsible for all of these on the midterm and final exams.

The take-home essay portion of the final exam accounts for 10% of your final grade for the course, and covers material from the entire semester. You may use your notes and texts for writing this section of the exam. The take-home essay must be word processed, free of mechanical errors, and printed on clean paper in best-quality ink. E-mail submissions will not be accepted. Click here for the list of essay topics and requirements.

The in-class portion of the final exam also accounts for 10% of your total grade in this course, and covers only the material discussed after 10/31 (the date of the second midterm). The in-class portion of the exam is open book only (no notes), which means that you can have with you the texts that we have read since the last exam, and the handout for the film.  You may write in the margins of the literary texts, and use small post-its (less than 2 inches) to mark important passages. You may not write on the backs of the story printouts (you'll need to print out clean copies if you have already done so), nor may you use any other notes.

The in-class portion of the exam must be written in blue or black ink only. You must write clearly and legibly (I can't give credit for anything I'm not able read), and should save at least five minutes to proofread your work.

The exam format will consist of three sections:

I. ESSAY (take-home). Due at the beginning of the exam period (100 points possible).

II. "OBJECTIVE" (in-class). Multiple Choice--TEN total items (20 points possible). The BEST CHOICE will be asked for.

III. IDENTIFICATION (in-class). Short-answer --FOUR total items (80 points possible). You will be asked to identify FOUR quotes out of a choice of ten or so by providing all of the following: 1) the correct title of the work; 2) the full name of the author of the work; 3) a short (one or two sentence) description of the quote's context (this could be a brief description of who/what the quote is referring to or describing, or of the scene in which the quote appears); and 4) a brief (two or three sentences) explanation of the quote's significance to the work as a whole (e.g. what significant theme or conflict this quote represents).

Total points possible for both portions of the exam: 200 points (20% of course grade).

If you have been attending class and doing the reading on schedule, then the basis for doing well on the exam is there. The best way to study is to review your notes and skim the appropriate reading at the same time. As you skim, stop every now and then and imagine how you would identify and comment on the particular passage at which you have stopped. If you can study cooperatively with one or more other students in the class, you can share ideas about how to identify and comment on critical terms and passages from the texts--and get multiple perspectives about how to recognize the works and what is significant in them.