CommRC 0320: Mass Comm Process

Final Exam Study Guide

Fall 2003— Jonathan Sterne, Professor

Resources:

This study sheet is not a contract for what will be on the final.  It is a set of suggestions and nothing more. It is a supplement to your other resources for this class.  Those include:

1.         The website:  Here you’ll find every single overhead from the semester, along with questions for the readings. 

2.         The lectures: The exam is written under the assumption that you attended every lecture and paid attention.  Of course not everyone did.  If that’s you, find someone who showed up on the days you missed and get his or her notes.  Better yet, get notes from more than one person.  About half the questions come out of lectures, and there are exam questions from every lecture.  If something was covered in both the lectures and readings, that’s a good hint that it’ll show up on the exam.

3.         The readings: As with the lectures, we’re assuming you did and understood the readings. 

4.         Your teachers: We are holding a final exam review during the last lecture session and in the recitations during the last week of class.  Check on the website for your Prof & TA's finals week office hours.  We will also be available by email, but allow us 36 hours to respond to your query. We cannot provide lengthy answers over email.

5.         Crib Sheet: You may bring one, single layer 8.5”x11” piece of paper into the final with you, both sides may be used.  No other materials are allowed in the final.  The crib sheet must be handwritten in your own writing, and must have your name on it.  You will turn it in with your exam and answer sheet.  Use of other materials or failure to turn in your sheet may result in failure of the exam.

6.            Disclaimer:  I have made ever effort to make this an “inclusive” study sheet, but there may still be material from the course that’s on the final but not listed here.  The final can cover anything from the course.

Terms, Concepts and Issues You Should Understand

. 

What you should know about each term, concept or issue

Some terms are conceptual, others are factual, some are both.  In any case, be sure you know what was said about the term in lectures or in the readings in addition to being able to define it.  The more the lectures or readings talked about the term, the more you should be able to say about it.  Also remember that lectures trump the readings if there are points of disagreement. 

How to Study for the final

People learn differently, so there’s no one right way to do it, but here are some general tips.  If you are still unsure of how to study, ask us:

1.         Before your study session(s), get your materials in order, and fill in any gaps: do the readings you missed, get lecture notes on classes you missed.

2.         Study with someone else, so that you are forced to talk about the ideas in the course.  Having more than one study session will also help solidify things in your mind.

3.         Go over the questions for each section of the syllabus.  Can you answer them in detail?  What “big points” were made in each section of the class?  Did the prof pull one of his weird stunts, tell a funny story, or dance?  If so, what point was he illustrating? 

4.         For each item on the study sheet, first determine every place that term was addressed in the lectures and readings.  Then ask yourself the relevant questions: what was said?  What was emphasized?  How does this relate to other materials from the class?

5.         Go back to the reading questions we posted during the semester – can you answer all of the reading questions?

6.         The tendency when studying for multiple choice exams is to try and memorize.  Our goal is to test your understanding rather than your recall, so it’s best to try and get down the ideas that are hardest to look up.  If something’s easy to find (like the order in which things happened), just put it on your study sheet and have it handy.

7.         If you don’t understand something, ask about it.

8.         When you take the exam, remember that we write questions where all the answers may be plausible, but some are not correct.  Our goal, once again, is to go beyond testing simple recognition to actually testing what you know.  Keep in mind that “common sense” answers are often wrong, depending on what you think is common sense.