The midterm exam is a take-home exam, which is now available here.
You have 24 hours to write this exam (until 2pm Pacific Time on Saturday, February 17), but in total it should not take you more than an hour and a half of focused concentration. You may consult the texts and/or any other material, but I do not particularly recommend you do so, as it will only slow you down and even distract you from the task at hand. Indeed, I strongly suggest that you treat it as though it were an in-class exam.
You will turn in your completed exam (in Word or, ideally, PDF format) to me at jon.beasley-murray@ubc.ca.
The exam is based on identification, commentary, and analysis of short passages from the set readings.
The exam will consist of a series of passages (which may range from a few lines to a couple of paragraphs) taken from the books set in the first few weeks of the course (from Proust to Arguedas). You will be asked to provide brief–half-page or so–analyses of these passages. You will have a choice as to which questions to answer, but obviously you will effectively have more choice if you have read all the texts.
Note that your focus should be on trying to understand and explain the passages in front of you.
You will not receive a letter grade or percentage for the midterm, rather an indication if you did better or worse (+ or -) than might be expected. If you want, you can think of this as indicating whether you are approaching (- – or -), meeting (o), or exceeding (+ or ++) expectations. This will then be used merely to help determine your final grade within the parameters already established by your contract.
On the other hand, if you break your contract, the midterm (and final) will be used to help determine your final grade.
Examples of midterms from previous years: Midterm 2022; Midterm 2024.
