Questions and Answers -- Uriel's Final Exams

Since I believe in truth and justice, I do my best to grade all students fairly and consistently. Grades should be based only on what grades purport to represent: performance in the course. They should not be influenced by personal feelings, a desire to placate students who beg for higher marks or help to go abroad, or gifts, favors or services received or anticipated from students or their parents. I mention this only because some students seem unaware of it.

I graded only a subset of the questions on the exams. The questions that were graded, the correct answers, and the marking scheme are explained as indicated in this example:

As I emphasized to students just before the start of each exam, what was being tested was comprehension, not writing ability (except in the writing course).

In many cases, points were awarded only for SPECIFIC things. The correct answer to my question "WHY?" might be A, B, C, D, and E, but my marking scheme might ONLY give points for B and D. Please do not argue that this is unfair. It's not.

The questions generally pertain to the meaning represented by the reading in question, not to definite empirical truth. For example, Iraq may or may not really be trying to buy time as it races to develop weapons that could "blackmail into impotence any power daring to unseat Saddam," but that is what William Safire claims in his Protecting Saddam opinion article, so that is how to answer the question asking why delay would be useful to Iraq.

One of my students objected to questions based on articles covered in the first couple of weeks of the semester, because some students only joined courses afterwards. I accepted this suggestion and did not include those questions in the graded subset.

The exams reveal that some students had an exceedingly low level of comprehension (both listening and reading) throughout the semester. One wrote a note to me on the exam: "I think my English level is not high enough. Maybe other students knew what you were saying, but I don't know most time. How can I ask questions? Should I ask you what were you saying? Should I ask you what were you saying after every sentence you said? I think that's impossible!"

I regret that some students did not have adequate English to follow the course at all. I don't quite see, if they understood nothing, why they continued to take the course. They need more basic English training before taking such a course.

Another personal note, from another student, may reflect the perspective of a few other students as well:

my listening english is not very good. and when I am not sleepy, I may catch with you. But ifI am a little sleepy, even just a little, I will feel your words coming from another world. I feel that you are singing ... Of course, I always don't know what you are saying. I just listen, but haven't heard.

Although this young lady had a nice smile and is probably a pleasant person, it was obvious throughout the semester that she virtually never paid the least attention to anything going on in class. With zero effort, of course, one cannot hope for much mental advancement.

English Writing

Nietzschean Endgame

3: Just like blacks and women in 1776, who were seen as inferior, tomorrow's unenhanced humans will not be granted political rights.

Some students took the analogy too far, stating that after still more time has passed, the unenhanced will achieve equality, just as blacks and women did. This is wrong -- 2 points instead of 3 if you said this. Fukuyama writes that "there will be no theoretical or practical reason ... not to abandon the principle of universal human equality." Unlike blacks and women, the unenhanced will be genuinely inferior, and Fukuyama does not expect eventual political equality.

Listening for the Voices of Women

3 points for saying something interesting about differences. Some differences mentioned by students were:

• smoking
• eating food with hands
• reaction on discovering a worm in one's desk
• objects used to reserve study seats in classrooms (girls apparently can use toilet paper)
• girls' fear of being seen as superior students
• boys' "screeching" for the World Cup

Only 2 points for saying something uninteresting like they're similar because they all work hard.

Baby Wilson

1: "Executive decisions" lead to decisive acts that further reasonable goals.

2: The narrator knows he is not the type of person who takes executive decisions, but he wishes he could be, and he aspires to become such a person.

FICTION EXERCISE

4-5 points for interesting fiction.
3 for a ho hum story or something that is barely fiction
2 for something that's not fiction but somewhat interesting

Newspaper Reading 1

Protecting Saddam

3: Delay is useful (to Iraq) in providing time needed to develop weapons potent enough to make the U.S. and others afraid to attack it.

5. What error made by a colleague (fellow journalist) of Safire's does Safire criticize?

3: Believing dubious reports that there is no evidence of a link between Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorists.

Unreported Abuse Found at Nursing Homes

3: Set up a national registry so nursing homes can find out if a nurse has a record in another state of abusing patients.

3: Make reporting abuse obligatory (mandatory) for nursing home personnel, so that they can be punished for failing to report an offender.

The Great Unwatched

A whisper to your spouse on your front porch is the public's business, say the courts; and on that intrusive analogy, long-range microphones may soon be allowed to pick up voice vibrations on windowpanes.

14. A. What is the analogy? B. How might the analogy be used in the future?

3: A. The analogy is the comparison between voices on the outdoor porch of a private home, and the external surfaces of a private home's vibrating windowpanes.

2: B. The courts have ruled that the voices are not protected by the Constitution's privacy rights, because they are outside the home's walls. By analogy, it would seem that courts would similarly rule that windowpane vibrations are also not protected. Thus, in the near future, police may be legally entitled to use long-range microphones to pick up voice vibrations on windowpanes and monitor voices and conversations inside private homes.

Newspaper Reading 2

Unaccountable in Washington

(Points awarded as follows for specifying these characteristics of options:)

2: options are a right to buy stock which may or may not be exercised.
2: an option gives one the right to buy stock at a particular, fixed price
2: options are usable for a limited time (i.e., they expire at some point)

Let Us Prey

3: Tried prosecuting not sex abusers, but others in the church who knew of the sex abuse and failed to take any action to prevent it from continuing.

Tell the Good News. Then Cash In

[p.1] Over the last few years, executives at some companies released inaccurate earnings statements and, before correcting them, sold large amounts of stock at inflated prices. At others, executives insisted for months that the recent recession would not much affect their businesses. By the time they acknowledged their error, some had sold millions of shares at prices that were just a memory.

14 B. Does the article suggest that the "error" referred to is sometimes not an error? Explain clearly.

3: Yes, it's deliberate, since the "errors," which raise a stock's price, personally enrich managers who own stock and/or options; they sell before the "error" is discovered and the stock crashes.

Monty Python's Vocational Guidance counselor

3: He does not realize what the word "lion" refers to. He thinks a "lion" is an anteater.

Newspaper Reading 3

A Computer Shutdown Plays Havoc at Interior

3: Because they OWN the land. (This key point should have been made explicitly. Only 1 point for saying "the government manages the land for Indians")

A pedophile's accomplice

3: When people working in the Church learn of sexual abuse, they are not required by law to report it to the authorities. (This is a privilege that doctors, teachers and others do not have.) Only 1 point for "they may keep it secret" or "they may deal with it themselves."

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Major Issue in Age Bias Law

3: No, because there's a legitimate business reason (a reason other than age).

Washington Square

[The full text of the classic novel, Washington Square, by Henry James, is available online at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/.]

Excerpt 2, bottom of p. 5 [chapter 8]:

My dear Lavinia," cried the Doctor, "you are an admirable aunt!"

"So Mr. Townsend says," observed Lavinia, smiling.

"Do you think he is sincere?" asked her brother.

15. Explain A) the two ways of understanding the question; B) how does Lavinia understand it? C) which way did the Doctor mean it when he asked the question?

3: A) #1 is, is Morris sincere about "admirable aunt"?; #2 is, is his affection for Catherine sincere?

1: B) #1
1: C) #2

Newspaper Reading 4

Putting Us to the Test

1: It's the university's argument.
2: A prof can be fired if his ideas cause a disruption or security risk.
2: (This is the crucial point which very few if any students pointed out explicitly): It is appropriate to fire him even if he is blameless.

Denver Police Files Raise Rights Concerns

3: the files inhibit speech because people are afraid of possible future harm resulting from having their names in police files.

Harvard President Lawrence Summers

15. Asked his position on affirmative action, Mr. Summers said he values "diversity." Comment on this response.

3: Summers's answer does not answer the question. (Only 1 point for saying he did not answer the question "directly." He did not answer it either directly or indirectly; he did not answer it at all.)

At Center of Enron Bankruptcy, Dispute Over Big Bank Creditors

3: The creditors' best chance of getting the money they are owed is to sue Morgan and Citigroup. Morgan and Citigroup can be expected to oppose this. The committee is supposed to represent creditors and act in their interests. So Morgan and Citigroup should not be on the committee.

Listening & Speaking

Summer Wind

5: 2 possible reasons: because the speaker was young; or because the speaker was in love (which makes everything seem new). 3 points for offering one reason or the other.

The Man Who Paid the Price for Sizing Up Enron

3: "conflict of interest" means a situation in which one's duty conflicts with one's interests; that is, a situation in which one personally benefits from violating one's duty. For example, a judge trying a murder case in which the defendant is her son has a conflict of interest.

3: PaineWebber's duty was to give good investment advice to clients. But they derived a benefit from Enron (large fees for financial services) by giving their clients the bad advice that Enron was a good investment.

As Scandal Keeps Growing, Church and Its Faithful Reel

Any bishop who made this mistake before 1985 I think is forgivable because there was great ignorance and naïveté.

9. What was the mistake?

3: The mistake was to permit known sex abusers to continue working with children, thus producing additional, unnecessary victims.

Baby Wilson

3: They know from a witness at the hospital that the kidnapper had fresh flowers. So they might inquire at all area flower stores. They would be looking for a customer, but if they are clever, they might discover an employee is missing and investigate that person.

Advanced Oral English

Othello

I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;
No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.

3: Othello wants to give Desdemona a chance to confess her sins to God before he kills her, in order to save her soul. 2 points for just saying "pray to God" without mentioning that she should tell God her sins (confess).

2. Explain:

Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for them all.

3: Othello's desire for revenge against Cassio is so great, he would be prepared to kill as many times as Cassio has hairs.

Lawyers Said to Back Compensation Plan

3: money is given to victims in exchange for forfeiting the right to sue.

2: the plan also limits liability for airlines and others (i.e. sets a ceiling on how much they can be sued for in court).

(Many students did exactly what I told them not to do in my announcement just before the exam: they blindly copied words from the article, instead of showing they understood something. Thus, many students laboriously copied, from the article's first paragraph: "offering free legal services to victims, promoting a federal compensation program as an alternative to court and declaring a novel national moratorium on terrorism-related liability suits." This does not demonstrate any comprehension at all.

Similarly, in the question about why a ban on TV might violate rights, students copied "the ban violated Mr. Bello's First Amendment rights," apparently without understanding what the First Amendment is, and why it would be violated.)

The Age of Living Vicariously

3: "living vicariously" refers to experiencing life via television (second-hand).

2: "The Age" refers to the TV age (or the TV era)

Microsoft

20. What did Microsoft want from Apple, and how did they force Apple to say "yes"?

2: Ship machines with IE installed, not Netscape.

3: Otherwise, they'd cease development of MS Office for the Apple computer (so Office software would no longer be available for Apple), which would kill Apple's business.

(My exam preparation notes listed "discussion of Microsoft monopoly, examples" as one of the items to expect on the exam. In that class discussion we spent a lot of time talking about exactly what this question is about: what did MS want, and how could they threaten Apple and others. Unfortunately, many students gave an answer referring to the joke article we did in a more recent class, "Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes" [from The Onion].)

See also: List of Exams at urielw.com.