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EXAMINATIONS Sample exam papers The Degree Examination will count as 50% of the year's final aggregate mark. However, an overall mark of 40% must be achieved in the degree exam in order to pass the course. Degree Examination not sat (without good reason and the production of a medical certificate) will be graded at zero. Special Circumstances affecting Performance in ExaminationsIf there are demonstrable medical or other special circumstances which affected their performance, students are required to submit medical certificates or other appropriate evidence to the Course Organiser via their Director of Studies as soon as possible for the consideration of the Special Circumstances Committee (SCC). Ideally, this should be before the examination/exam essay in question, but certainly before the meeting of the Board of Examiners which takes place shortly after the Degree Examinations. WHEN DO THE EXAMS TAKE PLACE? WHAT DO THE EXAMS COVER? Your knowledge of the material studied in each semester will be tested in one degree examination, lasting no longer than three hours. The Degree Examination will be held during the Final Assessment period in April-May. The first semester will deal with Pope, Johnson and Young (18th century) to Gaskell and Oliphant (mid-late Victorian). The second semester will deal with Arnold and Thomson (late Victorian) to Auden and Pinter (mid 20th century). HOW WILL THE EXAM BE STRUCTURED? WHAT WILL I BE EXPECTED TO DEMONSTRATE IN THE EXAM? To get a sense of the structure of the exam, it is imperative that you consult the sample exam [Sample Exam Paper]. Section 1 will consist of SIX short passages, one of which should be selected for a close reading exercise. The rubric will be similar to that for the first essay of each semester (i.e. essays 1 and 3). So, Section 1 will ask you to write about a single passage. The exercise you are being asked to perform here is similar to that required by essays 1 and 3, allowing for the time constraints imposed by a sit-down exam. However, rather than writing on a text (or section of a text) covered in the lecture programme (as you did in essays 1 and 3), you will be asked to analyse a passage by an author covered on the course, but from a text that is not covered on the course (i.e. an "unseen" extract). Section 2 will consist of FIVE questions. The rubric will be similar to that for the second essay of each semester (i.e. essays 2 and 4). So, Section 2 will ask you to write about two authors, one of whom will be a non-English writer (as listed in columns B and C on the Author List for Rubrics: these lists will be attached to your exam paper). The question will require you to compare the work of two authors within a single period (e.g. the 18th century) but across two different national contexts. For guidance on the relation of essays to exams, see below. The exercise you are being asked to perform here is the same as that required by essays 2 and 4, allowing for the time constraints imposed by a sit-down exam: you will be expected to address issues and ideas, critical and/or historical, raised on the course, while rooting your argument in evidence from specific texts from the relevant period. Section 3 will also consist of FIVE questions. This question will require students to compare the work of two authors from Section A of the Author List for Rubrics (i.e. two "English" writers) but range across two different historical periods (e.g. the 18th and 19th centuries). This exercise differs from work completed for essays as it requires a knowledge and experience of the course as a whole. It is important to adhere carefully to the rubric for degree exam papers. See updated rubric for 2009-2010. WHAT IS THE RELATION OF COURSEWORK ESSAYS TO EXAMS? CAN I WRITE ON THE SAME TEXTS/TOPICS IN MY ESSAYS AND EXAMS? In the exam, you may not repeat ‘material’ from your term essays; but what counts as ‘material’? You may choose to discuss authors that you have already discussed in your term essays. You may also choose to address issues or ideas related to those explored in your term essays. What you may NOT do is address the same issues or ideas by discussing the authors that you used to address those issues and ideas in the original essay. In short: using the same author to make the same point counts as mere repetition of material from an essay and is disallowed. MERELY REPRODUCING MATERIAL FROM YOUR ESSAY, COMPOSED IN ANSWER TO A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT QUESTION, WILL NOT EARN GOOD MARKS IN THE EXAM. You must remember that, however similar the rubric, the questions asked in the exams will be substantially different from those listed for the essays; and that exam answers will be heavily penalised for irrelelvance to the question asked. HOW SHOULD I REVISE FOR MY EXAMS? In your revision for exams, you should seek to consolidate your knowledge of the texts on the course and the critical and theoretical issues they raise. You may find it helpful to consult Advice on Examinations. WHEN AND WHERE DOES THE EXAM TAKE PLACE?The date, place and time of the degree examination will be published during the course of the semester. You should take very careful note of this. Getting the date, place or time wrong will not be accepted as grounds for missing an exam. Details of the exam timetables will first appear on Registry's
web site: The Degree Examination in April/May will take place as follows:
MAY I BRING A DICTIONARY TO THE EXAM?Students whose first language is not English have permission to take a dictionary into the exam hall but it may be checked for notes by the invigilator. WHEN DO RESIT EXAMINATIONS TAKE PLACE?If needed, Resit Examinations will take place at times and venues to be announced.
ARE SAMPLE EXAMINATION PAPERS AVAILABLE?This course has been substantially revised for the 2009-2010 academic year. Sample examinations will be circulated in due course and will be posted on this website when they become available. ARE EXAMINATION PAPERS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS AVAILABLE?As the syllabus for 2009-2010 has substantially changed from the syllabus offered in previous years, past exam papers available on the University Library website should be used with caution. Please be aware that the author list for rubrics have changed, as has the structure of the exam paper (changing from 2 two-hour papers to a single three-hour paper). Question papers
for previous years are available at the University
Library via: If you do look at degree exam papers on the Library website, please remember that the rubric has changed considerably. See the rubric for 2009-10. [ Top ] |
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