ENGL 472: Exams

472 Description | 472 Syllabus | Critical Readings

The first quarter, midterm and final exams will require that you read each play, introduction, chapter in Garber, and critical essay carefully and take notes in your text as you read as well as in class during lectures so that you can successfully do the following:

identify specific passages from all the plays studied prior to the exam date;

identify what character or characters are speaking, in what play, and in what situation;

explain the significance of each quoted passage in view of the larger themes or issues it raises, which are central to the play.

state the presumed or definite date, genre, sources, and historical context for each play studied.

The exams will also cover each of the assigned critical essays and each assigned chapter from Garber’s book. You will be expected to explain the thesis idea of each critical essay in 2 or 3 sentences, and you will be expected to have your own critical assessment of each essay. You will be expected to offer an assessment of Garber’s chapters on the plays covered in the exam.

The exams will also ask you to define key terms and concepts covered in class discussion and lectures. Be sure that you take good notes during class. Bevington’s introductions and Garber’s chapters contain many key terms and concepts pertinent to the study of the plays, so be sure you also read these texts carefully, underlining definitions of key terms and concepts as you go.

How to Study for the Exams:

Thus, you should study each play carefully, so that you are familiar with the main characters and actions as well as the deeper concerns that the plays address. Study each play so that you know its main characters and plot incidents. Whenever I read a passage from a play aloud in class or ask students to read from a play, you should mark that passage in your text. The only passages that I will ask you to identify and comment upon in the exams are those passages that either I or someone else has read in class.

In preparation for each exam, you should review each play to remind yourself about which passages were read in class; you should think about the significance of each passage in view of the larger themes or concerns of the play and jot down your ideas about this since this will come up on the exams.

You should read thoroughly and review extensively the introduction to each play in Bevington’s edition for the information about dates of composition, genre, sources, and historical contexts. Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 of Bevington’s edition contain information about dating and sources for each play. The first quarter, midterm and final exams will cover this information.

You should review your focus questions on the critical essays so that you are clear about the thesis idea for each essay. If your own focus question “missed the mark” in nailing down the thesis idea, you should take notes on your focus question before handing it in so that you can learn from class discussion what the thesis actually is. The first quarter, midterm and final exams will ask you to state the thesis idea of some of the critical essays we’ve read and to offer you own critical assessment of the argument in the critical essays.

You should critically analyze each of Garber’s chapters so that you an offer an assessment of it, and you should also make notes of and terms and concepts that Garber covers.

Review your class notes carefully for any definitions of key terms or concepts. Any terms that I have written on the board and defined, that occur in the PowerPoint presentations introducing the plays, or that occur on any of the printed handouts that I have distributed in class may be included on the exams.

Each exam will cover all the plays, introductions in Bevington’s edition (The Essential Shakespeare), chapters in Garber’s book (Shakespeare After All), and critical essays assigned prior to the date of the exam. Exams will not be cumulative, but will deal only with the assigned materials since the previous exam. The final exam will not be cumulative; that is, it will cover only those plays assigned since the midterm exam.

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