How to Prepare for Dr. Halbert’s Midterm and Final Exams

As part of a college-level literature course, exams constitute one way to evaluate your command of the material in a course. We will have both a midterm and a final exam in this literature course consisting of two parts:

1. Identifications: you will be given ten quotes on the exam. For five of the ten quotations, you will need to identify the author and text title that is the source of the quote. In addition, you will need to write three to four sentences that explains the significance of the quote relative to the individual source work.

• The quotes will be drawn from a quotation study guide built from the Exam Quotation Assignments.
• You can get a point of extra credit for each title or author you identify beyond the required five. Do not provide the significance for the extra credit quotes.

2. In-Class Essays: prior to the exam, you will be provided a complete list of the essay question options that will be on the exam. You will pick one and prepare an outline of the essay (including supporting quotes from the texts) to help you write the essay by hand (no computers unless you have an official accommodation) during the exam.

• You should prepare an Exam Card with quotations from the texts on it to use in your essay. No complete sentences will be allowed on the card. The more detailed the card, the easier it will be to write the essay.
• No “works cited” page is expected.
• Your essay should be a five-paragraph essay.

How to Prepare for the Exam:

• Annotate your assigned texts carefully when reading. To get credit for readings, you must annotate them. Beyond locating potential quotes for your papers or your Exam Quotation Assignments, the act of marking the text increases your brain’s ability to retain and recall the readings, making a quote easier to identify because you should, theoretically, draw on your memory of marking the text to identify character names, plot points, symbols, or stylistic quirks of each author.
• Make flashcards after you finish each reading rather than waiting to do so right before the exam.Flash cards can be straightforward: the author’s name on one side, with the title (properly marked with either quotation marks or underline/italics) on the other. You might also try making a card for each title that outlines key characters, plot points, unique vocabulary, themes, and style issues so that if you cannot recall the quote, you can make an educated guess. Reviewing the cards once a week throughout the semester will make memorization easier.
• Take the time to write a detailed outline. The more details on your card, the easier it will be to write your essay by hand despite the time pressure. Students who wing it usually do very poorly.