In-Class Exercises

In-Class Exercise category involves three types of activity: 5 Assessments, 1 Pre-Test and 1 Post-Test. All data used in In-Class Exercises will be drawn from lecture notes as posted on this web site. Other course materials, such as the articles and books on reserve, will not be included on these exercises.

A. Assessments (5 X 80 pts. each); 400 pts. maximum

Assessments will focus on the comprehension of the factual material presented in the three lectures/Sections comprising the Part of the course most recently covered in class. Assessments are not cumulative; rather, they are specific to that Part of the class most recently covered. That is, the material included on one Assessment will not be included on other Assessments. [Please note that the Pre-Test and the Post-Test are comprehensive; see below.]

While other teachers might call these exercises "tests" or "exams," I find such terms imprecise and needlessly stressful; hence, I call them "assessments." Assessments have two explicit purposes: (1) they help students map out and document both to themselves and to me their grasp of the data covered in the class; and (2) in the course of doing Assessments in class, it is hoped that students will learn new things at the same time they show what they have already learned. That is, the point of taking Assessments is as much for students to figure out the right answer as to demonstrate the learning they have already achieved.

As such, Assessments take the form of fill-in-the-blanks in which answers are listed in a menu of options on the Assessment itself. There will be more possible answers than blanks to fill in. Students must match the correct item from the list to the proper fill-in-the-blank. All answers come from the key-terms highlighted in the lecture notes for each Section of the class. In setting up the Assessment this way, I hope that students will be able to deduce the correct answer if they happen not to remember or know it offhand. That is, if a fill-in-the-blank calls for the name of an Egyptian ruler and you know that Tuthmosis III was a pharaoh and he is the only King of Egypt named in the list, then Tuthmosis III must be the correct answer and the statement in the fill-in-the-blank must be true about him. In that case, you will have learned something new about this historical figure! The ability to deduce the correct answer this way presumes, of course, at least some awareness of the facts relating to the issues at hand, but not necessarily global comprehension of the material.

B. Pre-Test (50 pts.) and Post-Test (100 pts.)

The Pre-Test and the Post-Test are nearly identical in format, except that students have the option of taking the Post-Test without a menu of possible answers for additional credit. Each is comprehensive (i.e. it will be drawn from all material covered throughout the course; i.e. in all five Parts and any material included after Part 5) and is made up of fifty questions formatted in the same fashion as that used on Assessments (e.g. fill-in-the-blank questions, no answer in the menu will be used twice, etc.).

Pre-Test. Every correct answer will earn ONE point toward a student's total for In-Class Exercises. Just as on Assessments, the Pre-Test includes a menu of possible answers, with more answers than questions. The Pre-Test will be administered during the second class meeting (see Syllabus).

Post-Test. Students will have the choice of taking the Post-Test in one of two formats: a 100-point version with no menu of answers (Format A), and a 50-point version with a menu of answers (Format B). Both versions will feature the same fill-in-the-blank questions; the only difference between them is whether or not a menu of answers is provided. Questions on the Post-Test will be entirely new, i.e. not drawn directly from previous Assessments, though some answers may have used before on Assessments. The Post-Test will be administered at the time scheduled for the Final Exam (see Syllabus).

Format A. 100-point version (with no menu of answers). Every correct answer will earn TWO points toward students' total for In-Class Exercises. On this version of the Post-Test, students must supply answers from memory. Each egregious error of spelling will result in a one-point reduction.

Format B. 50-point version (with a menu of answers). Every correct answer will earn students ONE point toward their total for In-Class Exercises.

The goal of these exercises (the Pre-Test and the Post-Test) is to assess students' general understanding of ancient history before and after the class. The Pre-Test serves to demonstrate a student's general knowledge of course material prior to the term, and the Post-Test establishes the same at the end of the term. Together, they illustrate the degree of improvement in a student's understanding of the data underlying certain historical periods and the specific issues covered in this class.