Define Your Words (And Other Exam Advice)
Grading final exams, I find myself writing similar comments on many exams. One of the recurring comments is that the student needs to define a particular word. Here are a few examples:
- Salvation/Saved: If you’re talking about people needing salvation, particularly in a history course at a secular university, you need to explain from what people are being saved. Does salvation mean the same thing for all leaders, writers, groups in Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins?
- Blasphemy: On a question about why Jesus was executed, if you list “blasphemy” as one of the reasons, you need to explain what that means in context!
- God: Seems almost too obvious. What do you mean by “God”? Is it a God interested in individualist spiritual enlightenment? The God of community forming power? Different groups had different understandings of “God,” even within Judaism and Christianity.
- Christianity and Judaism: These are not two separate monolithic “religions” that are somehow instantaneously at odds with one another in the middle of the first century.
- Gospel: If “the gospel” is something that Jesus or Paul preached, state what you mean. What is the “good news”?
- “Literally”: If you’re going to say that some scholar is taking a particular text “literally,” what do you mean by “literal”? This is one of my least favorite words in relation to biblical studies. It is rarely, if ever, used accurately. You might as well just not use it. All biblical scholars should “read the Bible literally” when it is not symbolic, even if they offer alternative explanations for what the text means in historical context.
Other things to remember on exam essays:
Tell me why I should care (answer the question, “So what?” or “What is the relevance of this?”).
Use specific examples as evidence of your blanket assertions. You may not be able to get away from generalized assertions in final exam essays, but you need to at least say why you’re making them.
Try to connect topics in your essays. If two seemingly unrelated topics are included in the same question, the professor thinks there is a connection. Look for the link!
Also, ask yourself whether your answer lines up with what you’ve heard in lectures and read in course textbooks. If you found something “interesting” on Wikipedia that we didn’t talk about in class, you are susceptible to the aforementioned traps. I actually had a student come up to me after the midterm and defend his inclusion of an incorrect fact because it was on Wikipedia. Gasp! How could he be held responsible for incorrect information on unreliable website that he relied on for his exam essay?!
On a related note, get your facts straight. Pliny was not an emperor and Paul was not from a Gentile background (yes, someone actually said that Paul was a Gentile). And don’t just make stuff up, it wastes the grader’s precious time.
Cut the fluff. Don’t waste the grader’s time with flowery introductions and conclusions. Like the Gentiles, you will not be heard for your many words.
I would also like to make a plea that exam takers use caution when making their blanket statements. Note the kinks in your main argument. Acknowledge that it is a complicated topic. Use nuance. For example, avoid using words like “all” or “never.” If you are saying that something is “clear” or “certain,” there is a good chance that you are wrong.
Avoid careless phrases that you might use in common speech. If you say “against better judgment, Jesus flipped the tables of the money changers in the temple,” did you really mean that Jesus had bad judgment? Okay. Who has this better judgment? Why is it better? If you say that a claim that there were no women leaders in early Christianity can be “watered down,” what does that mean? Are you saying that the claim is partially true but not entirely? Okay. Then say that. Just so you know, use of casual phrases open you up to grader suspicion. I will assume you didn’t think through the logic very clearly.
Finally, don’t apologize for your work–if you think you did a bad job. It may actually be better than you thought, but then you make me think you’re not confident about your work. If you’re actually right, but not confident about it, that raises my suspicions.
Student Excuses in the Digital Age
This is an interesting phenomenon. It’s the night before the final exam. As it nears midnight, I receive two emails frantically distributed to the entire lecture course for “History of Early Christians”–the class for which I am a reader (that is, a grader). That’s an email plea to about 120 people.
The first student says that his computer “blue-screened” him. So, he can’t get the study guide that he has been preparing for the last few days, nor his notes for the class. The second email contained an explanation of how his flash drive was stolen from the computer lab earlier today. Normally, he sends an email to himself with the files for a backup, but alas, this time he did not. Both acknowledge how hard many of the other students have worked and how unfair it seems to send their hard work along. But they both ask for understanding and look for empathy: “I wish you would put yourself in my situation.”
Who am I to judge whether these apparently otherwise responsible and capable students have really just hit a snag at a very inconvenient moment? After all, I don’t have Sylar’s new ability from this past week (does that work for emails?). It all seems very suspicious to me, though. And I’m inclined to say, “Well, you’ve studied on these things for days. Go with the hard work you’ve already put into it. With that much hard work, you must remember something.” But the reality is, with 120 other students, you’re going to get a few generous people who will indeed share their hard work.
Even if these pleas are both hoaxes, they will probably be successful. Trouble is, how will they know whether the study guides they receive are reliable?
I’d be interested to know what professors do these days with the various digital excuses that come their way. Do tell.
Update (12/11/08): Another student sent the following satire to the class:
I totally did not do any of the work this quarter. I just watched tv and went to the movies. i guess i am just lazy, or incompetent. i didnt read anything except cracked.com‘s top ten most underated smurfs. Please find it in your heart of hearts to send me your complete study guide with all of the answers you tirelessly worked on for hours. I totally don’t do this every quarter in every class. i know its asking a lot but…
What would jesus do?
cmon seriously. I voted for Barack Obama! and against Prop 8!!
turn my water into wine.
a fellow Christian Classmate
Exam Quote: "Their Fantasy Temple"
The following was found on a midterm exam in response to an ID question on “Apocalyptic View of History”:
The Essenes eventually subscribed to the apocalyptic view of history as well, leaving Jerusalem for Qumran in anticipation of the destruction of the 2nd Temple they believed would happen, at which time they would return to build their fantasy temple.
Okay, so the idea is not without merit. I suppose the Qumran community is “fantasizing” about a restored Temple. They certainly write a great deal about its details, in the New Jerusalem text, for instance. But somehow, I just read “fantasy temple” and can’t suppress a chuckle. I can’t help associating “their fantasy temple” with Puff the Magic Dragon.
Tests Schmests, Exams Ecschmams
Let me just say that I dislike, nay, despise tests. That’s not good for someone in academia, I suppose. I don’t look forward to taking my comprehensive examinations once I’m in a doctoral program, but worse than that, I don’t even like the fact that I have to take a midterm exam in my early church history course tomorrow. Even when I ace tests I feel queasy about them. It’s like this test, this document probing my brain for answers, is also prodding me with a stress-charged taser gun.
I like to talk about the material. I like to write about the material. But I don’t like to be forced into this awful, heart-pounding sweatfest demanding my memory recall, while at the same time blocking my memory and causing feelings of great inadequacy. I like to learn. I like to read. But I don’t like spending hours upon hours poring over pages of notes, both in paper and on the computer. I don’t like trying to come up with a “study guide” when there is none provided and it becomes so long and cumbersome that it just intimidates me with the amount of information that I feel I have to memorize.
Okay, what I’m describing is not the scenario of every test I take, nor do I even have that many tests. But still, they irk me. If I ever make it to the other side of graduate studies, I don’t think I’ll give tests or exams to my students. Quizzes, maybe. Papers, short and long. Perhaps even blogging, which is becoming an assignment trend now. But no tests.
Well, it’s back to the study guide for me! 
N.B. I should add that the reason that I am so stressed out about tests is because it only allows you two hours or less to condense tons of material, whereas a paper gives you weeks of preparation time to craft your words. I worry because I care about the grade. I only care about the grade because I want to get into a good doctoral program. I want to get into a good doctoral program so that I will be well-trained to serve my future students as a teacher and, I hope, a mentor as well as to engage in scholarship in general. I would rather our whole system dropped grades, if that were possible, because it causes me to focus on meeting the requirements rather than learning the material. But there’d be no easy way for the big schools to weed out the masses of applicants.
The quarter is over and I feel free
This past quarter was brutally spread thin. I’m afraid one of my classes in particular got the sore end of the deal. I thought it was going to be easy review for me and much of the class time was, but then we had a stickler TA who bombarded our exams with extensive loss of points. It was one of those reality shockers when I thought I just lost maybe a couple points on one of the essays and instead two of the essays were just all slashed up. It is also a shocker because the professor is the embodiment of mercy, grace, and humility. I guess the TA represents judgment and wrath, for me at least.
I already don’t like taking exams, but when there is added pressure, I tend to freak out so much about detail that I overwhelm myself. I bring myself to the point where, come exam day, I question every answer I make as I imagine a bloodthirsty grader wielding his big fat red pen and joyously finding every little bit I’ve left out. It makes me a slow test taker. And it makes me wonder if these tests are really generating solid learning. I think I’ve decided not to give my students exams, at least the same kind, if I ever make it to the other side of this education alive. Don’t get me wrong. I love the professors I’ve had here and the classes are good. I think my major problem is that we’re on the quarter system. Everything just gets so jampacked and stressful. Fuller does also have a problem with huge survey courses with 70-80 people in them, that’s a little unpleasant.
Yet I still learned a lot this quarter! And over my break I hope to cipher some of that learning in written form onto my blog. Many of my assignments towards the end of the quarter would be perfect for blog adaptation, but I was just too busy. Over my break, then, I’ll be posting sections from my women in ministry paper, reflecting on Bockmuehl’s book, and throwing in some research exercises from NT research methods (like the season-appropriate translation of κατάλυμα in Luke 2:7 . . . Mary and Joseph weren’t turned away from an inn, folks!).
I have naturally set myself with too high expectations for my break. My priorities include studying Greek nearly full-time, reading the first volume of Meier’s A Marginal Jew series, preparing Bible studies for my church-based internship (see this and that book I’m using), and maybe reading one of the books required for next quarter. All of that within three weeks. Oh, and I’m preaching a sermon at church on December 31st. It’s my first time preaching since being a chaplain in college five years ago. For the curious, next quarter I’ll be taking:
- NS532: Paul and the Law with Donald Hagner (Elective)
- OT506: OT Exegesis: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings with Jim Butler (OTBE)
- CH500: Early Church History with James Bradley (CHA)
Finally, I hope to get a new look for my blog. I don’t like how narrow the space is for my text and I’m going to see if I can make it look a little spiffier. So I’ll be experimenting on a test blog for that.
Mount Washington and the GRE
I am nearing the end of this long summer academic journey. I have never had to think so much over one summer. Christina (my wife) and I are finally taking a nice vacation on the East Coast, visiting my mom and then her parents. My mom and her friend Ellen have this great place up in northern New Hampshire and we’re just kicking back for some well-deserved rest. Yesterday we drove up to the summit of Mount Washington which purportedly has the “worst weather in the world.” It boasts the highest wind speed ever recorded by humankind: 231 mph. When we stood on the summit, the temperature was about 47 degrees F and the wind was going about 45 mph. It was hard to stand up. The reason I look like a secret service agent in the picture is because I was trying to hold my glasses on my face. The picture makes it look a lot easier than it was. When we descended from the “tip top” rocks, it was much better. It was still pretty darn cold, but the wind calmed.
It was a little bit like preparing for and taking the GRE this summer. I started taking the Kaplan course about two months ago and for the past couple weeks I’ve been taking quizzes, practice tests, and memorizing vocab galore. Then the day came. September 7th, 12:30pm. Then I was done. I stepped out of the wind and I am amazed that it’s over. I will continue studying over the next several months because, even though I got a good score, I need to do better. I am feeling a little bit of GRE withdrawal, but it’s good to have a break. With this break I’m working on my paper for Intro to Early Judaism. It’s the first time all summer that I only have one academic task on which to focus. I will have to write more about that paper when it is slicked up a bit more.
Also, I have to send a thank you out to graham for adding this blog to the Anabaptist Aggregator. It’s a good group of thoughtful Anabaptists and I’m honored to be a part of it.
Learning German
I just reached my second language “milestone” of the summer: tonight I took the “final” for Theological German. The word “final” is in quotes for two reasons. First, Peter Bach (our professor) emphasized that it is by no means the “final” test of our German; it is just one more step in the journey. And also, because it was like no other final exam I have ever taken. We were given a German text, a decades-old article about source criticism in Old Testament scholarship, two weeks in advance. We were allowed to translate through it (or “render” it, since there’s no such thing as translation, Peter says) on our own or in groups. We even ran over any questions that we had about this “final” text in the classes leading up to the last day of class. When it came down to go time, we would go around the classroom and would have to spot-render a sentence from the text without looking at our notes. He let us bring our notes to class, though, and look at them briefly before our turn. My final exam sentence?
3. Das in Jüngster Vergangenheit sich durchsetzende Stadium einer geschichtlichen und religionsgeschichtlichen Neuorientierung.
The “3″ refers to the third of three stages of research history according to Kittel (“So hätten wir nach Kittel also drei Stadien der Forschungsgeschichte zu unterscheiden:”). My wooden rendering?
3. The stage asserting in the recent past of a historical and religious-historical re-orientation.
I’m not sure I know what that means, but hey, at least I translated… I mean, rendered it. If I had to guess, I’m thinking the author is referring to some shift in recent scholarship, a reorientation in thinking about religious history and history in general. Perhaps Old Testament history. That was the whole final. I chose to read the German aloud, even though that wasn’t required. Then I said the exact same rendering I wrote just now. That was it. Done. Finis.
Christina pointed out to me that this is the fifth language that I have studied, not including English. It sounds impressive, but it’s not really. I’m only fluent in one language and we’ve already seen in an earlier post how dusty my Greek is, which is my next best language. I’ve also studied Hebrew, Spanish, and French to some extent. In this regard, I feel like I’m a little qualified to assess my learning experience in this German class.
Peter’s approach was to spend a little bit of time on grammar (the first two weeks) and then dive into reading German texts. We did some easy ones to start and then jumped into Helmut Ziefle’s Modern Theological German: A Reader and Dictionary. We were required to purchase a dictionary and April Wilson’s German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German. April Wilson’s text might be good for a class that is going through her book as an assigned reading, but it was used in our class merely as a reference. As a reference book, Wilson’s book is terrible. I cannot judge the information contained within the book, but it is not easy to use if you want to look up a specific grammatical issue. So I purchased Martin Durrell’s Hammer’s German Grammar and Usage, which I found much more helpful. I decided on the unabridged Oxford Duden German Dictionary. The dictionary is great but since we did not memorize vocabulary, I found it extremely time-consuming to translate through German texts as a beginner. I did find two really stellar websites that helped this handicap: the LEO online German-English dictionary and its companion site Canoo.net for grammar, morphology, inflection, etc. By using the online tools, things went much quicker, giving me more time to think about patterns that I was seeing in grammar and vocabulary.
Many people were skeptical of Peter’s teaching approach from the start of the class. Some people came around. Some people were frustrated with the class. Personally, I am ambivalent about it. I learn well with others and the course was essentially a German reading course with a small, friendly group. We had a grand old time giving our pitiful English renderings of German texts together. I don’t think I have ever had a class that has laughed so much. But I do know there was something missing. I am still operating at a basic level. Sure, I can understand a complicated scholarly German article after spending two weeks on it. But I still need the dictionary and I don’t have verbal forms memorized (except for the easy-to-spot past participle).
The tension is: When you are starting from scratch, how much of one language can you teach people in ten weeks? What should you emphasize? If we spent more time on vocabulary and grammar, I might be ending the class feeling much less confident about being able to conquer “real” German texts. Though the course was lacking in some necessary items, it was a good learning experience for me overall. I learned the basics of German sentence structure, grammar, basic vocabulary, and how to use tools. I may take another German course someday, but for now I’m happy with the result. I’m planning on keeping up with it by reading book reviews from Review of Biblical Literature that are written in German. There is also a German reading group at Fuller that I might start attending. Here’s hoping that I didn’t just flush $1400 down the drain for no apparent reason!
It's all Greek…
It is finished. I have been immersing myself in Greek for the past few days, awaiting the Greek waiver exam (to pass out of the three quarter New Testament Greek requirement at Fuller). I took the exam today. Perhaps it is blasphemous to use Jesus’ last words (as told by John) to describe the completion of the test. But it’s in Greek and the test was on Greek, so there you have it.
It has been four years since I’ve actively used my Greek. I had a pretty good grasp on it in college, with four semesters of study and two as a TA. It is a little hazy these days, but is in the process of resurrecting. In the last 48 hours I have been in a constant state of flux between confidence and panic, excitement and fear. I thought about changing the date of the exam, but I figured that I should just get it over with.
As it turns out, the exam was quite difficult. I did well on vocab, which is what I concentrated on in my studying. And I had three one-sentence translations that were okay. But I didn’t dust off my parsing well enough. There were about 40 words to parse and they weren’t easy. I took too long thinking about them and ran out of time. I left some things blank. I’m often not very good at time management on tests. So I may pass with either a recommendation or requirement that I take the Greek Reading course. It’s something that I’d want to do anyway. The recommendation is left up to the discretion of the grader. I think I may have to study up more and take the test again next quarter. I don’t really mind. Even though the test is finished, as my German professor says, it is not over. Even if I had passed with no errors, it would only be the beginning of my own personal Greek renewal. Here’s to Greek.
Update (9/15/2006): I just opened the envelope to my graded “Greek Waiver Exam 1″ and the results are not good. I understand you’re supposed to make yourself look spiffy and smart on these blogs, but alas, I would like to break with that tradition and be honest. My results show just how rusty I am. I did well on the translation section, good on vocab, but bombed the morphology (the parsing section), and I hardly touched the syntax section when I took it, so that was pretty bleak. The grader determined that I did not pass the exam and should take Beginning Greek; as, indeed, he should have. Well, the thought of sitting in a classroom and going through Mounce’s book for a third time over (the last two were as a student, then a TA… four years ago) just sticks a huge, wicked sharp needle into my oversized balloon of academic joy. Instead, I know that I can adjust my study methods to rock the “Greek Waiver Exam 2″ (The Sequel: Back and Better than Ever). I concentrated more on my GRE this summer than I did the Greek. I am now privy to the secrets of these large exams. I think I can dismantle its challenges by dint of my own intellectual brawn. It’s going to take lots of flashcards for parsing and vocab. I will also try to do at least two translations from the Summer Greek Reader per week with an eye to syntactical functions with the help of Daniel B. Wallace.
The envelope containing my exam results is postmarked 9/8/06, which is exactly four weeks from the time I took the exam. I would like to have the results for the next exam before I register for Winter quarter, which will be between November 14-17. That means I should take the next exam in mid-October and that I have about a month from today to study. I best get crackin’! If I don’t pass this next one free and clear, without any additional requirements to meet for Greek at Fuller, I think I will have to bite the bullet and (ugh) go through a boring intensive of Beginning Greek (or the not-so-boring Greek Reading, if that’s what’s required). But that’s not going to happen. We must think positive thoughts, harness our chi, and bombard our brains with lots of Greek. I’m only sorry (and a bit embarrassed) that Chris had to grade my poor exam, and that Dr. Scholer had to sign off on it. It’ll be better next time. Prepare to be dazzled.
Update (10/6/06): So if I follow my plan from my last update, I would have to take the Waiver exam in the next week. I have hardly been able to study for Greek. Christina started a Masters of Public Health. It is set up for health professionals, so she only goes in for a three-day weekend about once a month. But she is technically a full-time student, and her homework reflects it. She’s also still keeping her full-time job. That means that I have been taking up a lot more work around the apartment, while some of it isn’t getting done by either of us. I’ve barely had time to work on my Fall quarter classes. I have decided not to try to take the exam for next quarter. I really wanted to take Exegetical Methods with Marianne Meye Thompson (which you need the Greek requirement for), but I get the feeling that I’m getting the upscale version of that with her in New Testament Research Methods.
The more I think about it, though, I also do not want to take the Greek intensive next quarter. I would really rather save those units to take the more advanced Greek courses and use the rest of my electives to take NT classes. I hear that this is Donald Hagner’s last year at Fuller pre-retirement and I could take a class with him next quarter on Paul and the Law. There are a couple other classes that I could benefit from taking next quarter too, like my Old Testament exegesis class with Butler (before I forget my Hebrew too much) and Early Church History with Bradley.
So here’s the new plan: After Fall quarter ends, study like mad for Greek during the three weeks of winter break; take the exam just before the Winter quarter begins; pass the exam with flying colors. This way, I can take Exegetical Methods in the Spring quarter with Fuller’s newest NT faculty addition, Love Sechrest. She got her doctorate at Duke, I believe under Mark Goodacre. It would be good to get to know her a bit. I always like getting to know recent PhDs; I’m not sure why that is. I can also take Greek Reading in the Spring quarter this way. I think it’ll work out okay.
-
Elsewhere . . .- Blog titles beginning with "A" to "Z" on your reader Mark Goodacre
- Of making many books there is no end Chris Brady
- Free Online: The Liddell-Scott Jones Lexicon S and C
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? II agathos
- Steven J. Friesen and the Identity of Satan’s Throne in Pergamum alan
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? agathos
- Bloomsbury buys Continuum Mark Goodacre
- Imperial America Peter J. Leithart
- C.F.D. Moule on the Birth of the New Testament d. miller
- Responding to Kostenberger (with comparisons to Marshall) Jeremiah
-
As a member of RevGalBlogPals, I am committed to building a supportive online community for women clergy, women church professionals, and women in religious life.
Research assisted by: