IF YOU WANT TO:
Preparing students for challenging test questions.
In counseling students about her exams, a history professor tells them a week or two ahead of time that the best kind of preparation they can make is to compare x with y, where x and y may be two playwrights, two orators, and so on whose major works were a century apart. By identifying the x and y and informing them of the comparative nature of the examination, she alerts students to what to prepare for, what to get down "cold." She also lets students know that her exams are "open book" where they can bring in x and y and any notes they have made or anything else they think will be useful.
Although her actual midterm and final examination questions are not at all the standard "compare x's view with those of y's regarding z," a student who is prepared to make such a comparison should be able to do very well. The actual questions are more creative, e.g., "Suppose the main character in Moliere's play were to appear in Beaumarchais' The Marriage of Figaro. How would A (Beaumarchais' main character) react to B (Moliere's main character)?" or "If x and y (from the 17th or early 18th century) had met Rousseau, how would they react to his theories?"
Questions of this type not only require students to understand two historical periods and the major changes which took place between them, but to creatively use that knowledge.
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Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California