English 102: Mid-Term Exam Fall 2002
Specifications and Suggestions
Exam Format and Directions: The directions here are copied directly from
the exam itself.
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Multiple Choice Questions: 20 @ 1 point=20 points
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Directions: For each, choose the best response. (1 point each)
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Matching Questions: 20 @ 1 point=20 points
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Directions: Match the character with the description. No character is used
more than once, but some characters may not be used at all. Any unclear
or ambiguous letters will be marked as incorrect. (1 point each)
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Identifications: 6 @ 5 points=30 points
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Directions: For each of the following quotes, do the following:
a. Identify the source of the quote by title and/or author (1 pt); b. Identify
the speaker of the quote (1 pt); c. Identify the context of the quote--what
is happening in the story at the time of the quote (1 pt); d. Describe
the significance of the quote to the story--does it bring up a prominent
idea, theme, symbol, ideology, etc? (2 pts)
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Sample:
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Quote: "Zachary smiles, and I wonder if he's feeling different.
Because standing out here waist deep in Gossimer Lake, next to my best
friend, I'm feeling different--light and good and maybe even holy."
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Response: This quote is from Kimberly Willis Holt's When Zachary
Beaver Came to Town. The narrator, Toby, is the speaker, and he is
describing his feelings toward the book's end when he and his friends have
just finished baptizing Zachary Beaver. It is significant because it shows
the culmination of the theme of baptism in the book. Here, we see Toby
feeling renewed after having felt depressed because he hadn't lived up
to his obligations to Cal when Wayne died.
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Contrasting Quotations: 2 @ 15 points=30 points
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Directions: Each of the following is a pairing of two quotations
from the texts we have read. Identify each quote (title/author and context),
then write a coherent paragraph that articulates the connections which
you see between the ideas, themes, or symbols raised by the quotations.
What similarities and differences do you see in the ways the two texts
treat the common idea? Explain the significance of those similarities and
differences in terms of the texts' ideologies. (15 points each)
- Remember the quotes
from Harry Potter and Zachary Beaver from class? That's what you're being asked to do in
this section of the exam.
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Total: 100 points
Exam Coverage:
The following texts are covered by the exam:
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Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the
Looking Glass
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L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
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Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Kimberly Willis Holt, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town
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Lowell Swortzell, The Mischief Makers
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Sandra Asher, The Wise Men of Chelm
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Lisa Loomer, Bocon!
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Kathryn Miller, A Thousand Cranes
What should I review about the literature we've studied so far?
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Identification details: author, title, date
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Principal characters
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Basic plot elements: what happens, when it happens, to whom it happens
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Themes and ideas: review ideas, themes, symbols that were raised by class
discussions
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Ideological analyses: what apparent ideologies can be seen in the texts?
Do the texts operate in a way that invites mimetic or semiotic interpretation?
What do the fictional texts say about the way the "real world" operates?
What real world tensions or anxieties show up in the fiction? How does
the time and place of the fiction's creation affect the ways that we interpret
and/or critique the apparent ideologies we see?