Quizzes

Every week there will be a very short quiz on the texts and lectures, which you must pass.

The idea is that the quiz should be very easy, so long as you have both read the text and watched the video(s) for the week. There will be no more than five, multiple-choice questions each time.

The quiz will usually take place at the very beginning of the class session. We will try to use up as little time as possible with this quiz, as the class should mainly be devoted to discussion. This means you should arrive on time, and be prepared for the quiz from the moment the class begins.

So please ensure:

  1. You arrive to class on time, or ideally a few minutes early, ready to take the quiz.
  2. You have paper and pen ready, to write and hand in your quiz answers.

With the exception of the first week’s quizzes (which will be more of a trial run), again you need to pass each week’s quiz, proving thereby that you are indeed keeping up with the work.

Note that to pass, you do not necessarily have to get 100% on each quiz. But again, the questions are designed to be very easy and obvious for anyone who has read the texts and watched the videos.

In general, if you get 4/5 on the quiz, you have passed. If you get 3/5, we see this as a borderline result. We write to all students who get three or fewer answers on a quiz.

I would remind students that the first thing you are told to buy for this class is a notebook… To do well on the quiz, and to reduce any anxiety it may cause, you should be using that notebook to take note of what seem to you to be important issues in the books you are reading, as well as in class discussion, but also using the notebook to take down the key points in the lectures and conversation videos. In those videos, chapter titles and slides (and for the lecture videos, you have access to all the powerpoint slides) usually reinforce those key points. As you write them down in a notebook, this not only helps your powers of recall but also gives you something you can consult in advance of the quiz.

See also student feedback (and our response) on the quiz.

If you have any questions or concerns, please be in touch.