Knowledge & Reality 134.101

Administration Guide


15. The Final Examination

Be assured that our exams are designed to enable you to display what you have learnt, not to trick you or trap you. If we could think of a way to run a large internal and extramural class without such a barbaric institution at all, we would. (Any suggestions?)

The examination date is Monday 19 June 2000, PM

The structure of the exam

  1. There will be ten questions, roughly three questions on each of the three parts of the course: Knowledge, Minds and Bodies, Freedom and Causality.
  2. Each question requires an essay answer.
  3. You are required to answer four questions. So you will be required to write four essays in the exam. You will thus have to pace yourself rather carefully (45 minutes only per question!).
  4. Some of the questions will have alternatives. You are asked to do only one of the alternatives. For example, a typical alternative would read like this:

    EITHER

    (a) Outline a version of Descartes’ spatial argument for the distinction between minds and bodies and discuss its soundness.

    OR

    (b) Outline a version of Descartes’ argument from doubt for the distinction between minds and bodies and discuss its soundness.

    Using alternatives like this, we can offer you a far bigger range of topics.
  5. Almost all the topics in Sober indicated in the Study Guide will be represented somewhere in the exam. This includes the unit on Freedom and Causality (even though you won’t have written an assignment question on it).

Some Comments About Preparing for and Writing the Exam

  1. Since the questions will be of the same general kind as the essay questions you have been working on during the semester, you can profitably go back to your essays and the remarks on them to use as rough guides. Review the "Review Questions" at the end of each of Sober’s Lecture chapters as well.
  2. The exam questions will tend to be of more limited scope than the essay assignments, however. For instance, one question might be "Explain and assess Descartes’ "Method of Doubt"". Another might be "Explain and assess Descartes’ proof that clear and distinct ideas in our minds deliver us objective knowledge". In Assignment One you needed to say a bit about each; in the exam you would be expected to try to pigeon-hole these parts and not write about both in the same question.
  3. In preparing for the exam, I suggest you focus on about ten specific theories or concepts or arguments (not more than four from any one of the three "main" topics). It is a good idea to prepare essay outlines on each of the topics you have chosen, and to have a rough essay structure ready to draw on when you walk into the exam.
  4. However, be prepared to tailor your essay outlines to the particular question. If you are asked to outline and discuss one argument for the compatibility of causation and freedom, say, and you have memorised fifteen, then select one of those; do not write them all down. I will be marking partly on how focused you can keep your writing when dealing with a philosophical topic - exactly as the markers do on the assignment essays.
  5. Despite the fact that the questions will be like those you are familiar with, do read them carefully. Before you write anything, ask yourself what exactly the question requires of you. For example, does the question ask you: "Explain what "Leibniz’ Law" is?" Or does it ask you: "Use Leibniz’ Law to prove that minds bodies?" These are not at all the same questions.
  6. You know by now that philosophers are in the business of constructing arguments and criticising arguments. So of course I will looking for good arguments in your responses. You won’t be marked down if you use one particular style of setting out an argument rather than another (e.g. premises plus "therefore" plus conclusions versus premises plus long line followed by conclusion). But you will be marked down if you don’t use arguments at all.
  7. For an average writer an exam essay should be between 2 and 4 pages long. If it is very short (less than a page) it will have to be very good indeed to pass. On the other hand, don’t simply write down everything that comes into your head on the topic to puff it out. There are no marks for raw length at all. As always, I will be looking for an integrated essay, not for a jumble of unrelated sentences.
  8. Don’t panic. If you start to, you have plenty of time to simply stop for a moment to get control back. When I panic - which is often, alas - a bit of deep breathing mostly helps. Use your belly to move the air in and out. (I’m told that that kicks in the parasympathetic nervous system, which is where the calm comes back from.)
  9. Enjoy yourself! After all, how often do you get the opportunity to spend three uninterrupted hours writing about something, absolutely secure in the knowledge that someone else is actually going to read and take an interest in what you have written? What a luxury!

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