Crazy Exam

Nappuccino

I think i'm going to need some study tips on this exam I have tomorrow.

Everything would have been cool execept that sometime yesterday, my prof added a new category in the exam and notified all of us. This category is "I will give you some lines of poetry, you will tell me the Poem, Author and analyze these lines of poems."

This wouldn't be a big deal if a) he told us much sooner b) we didn't have upwards of 200 poems between our allotted authors or c) we discussed these poems in class for longer than 4 min a piece.

Anyway, Are there any good methods that I might beable to use to cram all of this into my head? At the moment I'm freaking out because this seems like way to big of an undertaking for just two days.

Casual

200 plus poems? It has to be one of the ones you've spent the most time on in class otherwise he's just setting you up to fail. Anyway relax, the great thing about poetry is its subjective as long as you can explain why you perceive what the author is saying the way you do that's what the examiner is looking for.

Nappuccino

Casual wrote: »

200 plus poems? It has to be one of the ones you've spent the most time on in class otherwise he's just setting you up to fail. Anyway relax, the great thing about poetry is its subjective as long as you can explain why you perceive what the author is saying the way you do that's what the examiner is looking for.

Yeah, I'm hoping its just the ones we focused on in class, but that still leaves it up to 75-100 poems (roughly)

To be honest, I'm not worried about the analyzing portion of the lines. I'm more worried about getting the right poem with the right author, something I find a to be a crazy notion for us to do in 2 days.

As an example, this would be the entirety of what he coveredd in class aside from line readings: "Ruff and unpleasant- Not as shocking as it once was"

-Another poem, same author "Like Whitman, but more direct."

That was it.

Raziel

It's not multiple choice then, I take it? At least for the identification part.

That sounds exceedingly difficult. In which case, refresh your memory on the individual authors and focus on the elements of their style when you study. That way at least you can land in the ballpark when you read the excerpts.

More importantly, don't stress about it.

Nappuccino

It's almost definately not multiple choice. (i say almost because he just sent us a some what flippant email saying "oh yeah, this will be on the exam monday."

Focusing on their elements is a good tip- I'll have to see how that pans out today. I'm still not really liking this idea of this exam, but if I can simplify it like that, it will make it easier.

Casual

Well if that's the level of teaching he is giving you then that's the level of learning you need to show, so not hard.

A hard learned lesson for me in education is if the teacher is expecting you to show learning and perception of a higher standard than his teaching it's time you go elsewhere. It's honestly depressing how often this happens. I mean if your learning the subject off him how can you be better than he is?

Nappuccino

The problem is, I already know he's like the other teacher you mentioned. Last exam, I'm almost certain that the class had a heart attack once we saw what was on it and the questions he was asking. It didn't help that he didn't review or give sample questions...

Now, he has added a new portion. I was 1/2 prepared for an exam like the first but this... this is a new level of crazy.

Sadly, I need this class for my major and he's the only teacher who teaches it. Otherwise I would be dropping this in a heart beat

Spunkyjoe

Raziel has a great point. Focus less on memorizing every single word and more on style and construction of the poem.

A stanza from Don Juan is going to talk about women or romance in most cases, where The Wasteland uses heavy, sometimes obscure, symbolism in every single line. Make sure you focus on the poems he's empathized also.

Good luck, I had a English professor do this once, but it's really more psychological than anything else. As long as you've done the readings you should be fine.

Nappuccino

Thanks for the support,

I'll be trying to get a good feel for each author's style today, and hopefully that is enough

Improvolone

Worse case scenario, you get some partial credits on only part of the test.

Nappuccino

Well, I have to admit- after looking up only the poems we discussed in class and reading them for their key traits, i'm feeling much better about this.

I'm still... peeved, to say the least. But I think I should get enough points in this section that I wont get lower than a c on this exam. Which, while isn't the grade I want, with the way this class is going, its a grade I'll be somewhat happy with

Raziel

Fantastic. Rote is a shitty way to learn anyway, so as long as you "get" why the poems you've studied are important in the scope of English literature, you should be fine. It sounds to me that's all your prof is looking for.

Demerdar

What helps me deal with crazy classes with crazy tests (as an engineer I have a few of these), is that the teacher will have to curve. You seem like a pretty smart guy who knows good study habits. Have you ever thought about what your classmates felt? Probably just like you, freaking out and are going to fail. Big deal. As long as you do better than the rest of the class, you are guaranteed to pass.

What I'm saying is.. don't sweat it.

Invisible

We did this in my college poetry class. If it's anything like mine, the analysis is the most important part by far, followed by the author and then finally the title. The author is easy to identify by style and usually the title can be found somewhere in the text.

Ponge

Nappuccino wrote: »

Casual wrote: »

200 plus poems? It has to be one of the ones you've spent the most time on in class otherwise he's just setting you up to fail. Anyway relax, the great thing about poetry is its subjective as long as you can explain why you perceive what the author is saying the way you do that's what the examiner is looking for.

Yeah, I'm hoping its just the ones we focused on in class, but that still leaves it up to 75-100 poems (roughly)

To be honest, I'm not worried about the analyzing portion of the lines. I'm more worried about getting the right poem with the right author, something I find a to be a crazy notion for us to do in 2 days.

As an example, this would be the entirety of what he coveredd in class aside from line readings: "Ruff and unpleasant- Not as shocking as it once was"

-Another poem, same author "Like Whitman, but more direct."

That was it.

Are you absolutely positive that that is all the 'analysis' that he's looking for from you? It might be all that he's covered in his lectures but he might well be expecting a lot more from you in your exam. I'm sure you're right but I wouldn't want you going in and just writing exactly what he wrote about each poem and failing when he's expecting you to analyse the poetry yourself.

Nappuccino

@Demerdar: He curved our first exam, but stated that he wouldn't "Help us like that again." It could have been a bluff- I hope so. And I'm sure my class freaked out as well. Even the girl with the best grade in the class would have failed that first exam w/out the curve... and that exam was just short answer. I can only imagine what the others are thinking for this one right now.

@ Invisiable: I hope that the analysis is the most important (say 7 points out of the 10, or something). However, in his "examples of grades" for this portion he always had the Poet and the Poem correct, even for the "D" quality answer. The tricky part, esp for me, is that he won't be giving us the full poem, just 3-4 lines of it. Which potentially makes this a difficult section because he could chose lines that are completely random and unlike anything else from that author's given section (and with the way this class has gone, it wouldn't surprise me if this were the case). I'm just going to pretend he's going to ask about the poems he spent the most time on and work from there.

@ponge: That was the analysis he personally gave us in class for about 70% of poems we convered. I'm pretty sure he wants more on this exam which is why I'm not looking forward to it- I'm sure I will have to think on my feet and take what I know about the author's style to explain how/ why certain things were done in the selection he took.

LoveIsUnity

I do this with my students, but it's generally really easy to figure out shit, and they have choices as to what they want to identify (i.e. choose 3 out of 10 to identify and explicate). What time period does this course cover? As someone who's gone through a BA and an MA in English, I can probably give you more direct advice if you tell me the time periods or you want to e-mail me a copy of the syllabus for the class.

Nappuccino

this class covers 1914-1945 America syllabus section that's covered in this exam in spoiler

ack London, “To Build a Fire,” p. 977.

27 Carl Sandburg, p. 1229 and “The Harbor” (Click here to download); and

Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken,” p. 1187



March 2 Robert Frost, pp. 1175-1189
4 Frost, pp. 1190-1202
6 Sherwood Anderson, “Mother,” p. 1214 & Robinson Jeffers, p. 1320



9 T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” p. 1420

11 Ernest Hemingway, “The Killers” (Click here to download)

13 Marianne Moore, p. 1325



23 Faulkner, “That Evening Sun” (Click here to download)

25 Paper Two--William Carlos Williams, pp. 1265-72; Edna St. Vincent Millay, p. 1609 and “Love is Not

All” (Click here to download); Dorothy Parker, p. 1614

27 Zora Neale Hurston, “Eatonville Anthology,” p. 1507; “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” p. 1516


30 Countee Cullen, p. 1913; John Steinbeck, from Grapes of Wrath, p. 1901

April 1 Langston Hughes, p. 1891 and others (Click here to download)

3 Richard Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost A Man,” p. 1927

Nappuccino

Well H/A, I'm going to do one last complete review, then head off to bed.

Wish me luck for tomorrow