Where will the final exam be held?
Cartwright Hall, St. Hilda's College, 44 Devonshire Place. The exam will take place on Monday, December 15th 2003, from 2-4pm.
What is the format of the final exam?
The exam will be in four parts, for a total of 100 points. Depites what it says on the final exam, the exam will be worth what it says in the syllabus, namely 40% of the course grade. This was agreed upon by everyone on the last day of class.
The four sections are as follows: Vocabulary (20 points), Chronology (15 points), Short Answer (35 points), Essays (30 points).
Vocabulary: The vocabulary section will consist of 10 questions. 5 questions will require you to provide the definition to 5 vocabulary words (3 points each). 5 questions will require you to provide the word which best fits the given definition (1 point each).
Chronology: The vocabulary section consists of 1 section. You will be given a list of 15 words in alphabetical order. You will be required to divide these words into 5 lists of 3 words each. Each list must be thematically unified. The chronological sequence of the words within each list must be clearly indicated, either by sequence of words, or by numbering them. Each list is worth 3 points.
Short Answer: The vocabulary section asks you to answer 5 questions out of 7 possible questions. Each question is worth 7 points. Most of the questions explicitly ask for three things. For those which do not, you should still provide three good pieces of information in response to the question for full points. There are no images on the exam, but, if appropriate, you can draw clearly labeled diagrams in lieu of a written answer for this portion of the exam only.
Essays: You will be required to write 2 essays worth 15 points each. You will have a choice of 4 possible essay topics. Two of the essay questions include material from the first half of the semester. All of the essay questions are based on overall thematic ideas which were presented in the first lecture of the semester. Most of the questions explicitly ask for you to make a value judgement, to argue a particular thesis.
An example of the structure of the chronology section of the exam:
Agricola Antiquity Baconian Sciences Banausic Arts
Blast furnace Fireplace Frontinus Mechanical Arts
Middle Ages Open hearth Quern Renaissance
Theophilus Watermill Windmill
Is the chronology section of the exam deal only with words in the vocabulary list?
Three of the words on the chronology section were not on your vocabulary list. None of them are particularly specialist vocabulary, however, all of the words were used in both your lecture and in the reading, and all of them should be clear if you if have reviewed the assigned vocabulary.
Some of the vocabulary words on the website were not discussed in class. Are we responsible for them?
As far as I recall, "entasis" is the only word posted on the site which was not covered in class. Please email me as soon as possible if there are, in fact, other vocabulary listed which were not covered.
Will we be tested on anything from Books, Banks, Buttons?
No, the assigned review book will not be covered on the final exam.
Is there any material in the Vocabulary, Chronology, or Short Answer sections on the final exam from the first half of the course?
None of the vocabulary or short answers are from the first half of the course. There is material in both the chronology and essay sections from the first half of the course although in most cases, the emphasis is on the second half of the course.
How much is the substance of each of the essay worth? (as opposed to structure, introduction and conclusion, etc.)
I will look for at least 12 good points, distributed among all of the topics which the essays explicitly ask for.
For what period should we focus our studying on attitudes towards technology?
All of them.
What is the difference between a punch, a type, and a font?
A punch is hand-carved by a type designer, one by by. It is then used to punch the shape of the letter into a matrix, which is often made of lead or other soft metal. The matrix is used to cast the type. The type is set and printed. Type and font are effectively synonyms for each other. Font literally means source or origin and refers to the fact that all of the type in a batch was usually cast in the same mold.
What is the difference between proportional and nonproportional spacing?
Proportional spacing is where the width of a given letter depends on how wide the letter is. For example, 'm' is generally a wider letter than 'i'. In nonproportional spacing, the width given to each letter is the same regardless of how wide the letter is, such as in typewriter fonts like Courier. Spacing was always proportional up until the invention of movable type. (Examples of each kind of spacing were given on the printing handout.)
Do we need to memorize all the dates in the vocabulary?
No, but you should know when all of the events happened relative to each other and in what sequence.