[R. S. Gwynn]

Here is a sample undergraduate English major "exit exam" from Sewanee: The University of the South:

http://english.sewanee.edu/assets/up...hcomp08(1).pdf

[Michael Cantor]

It is interesting to note that absolutely no knowledge of anything written in the English language is the past 150 years or so - and possibly far longer - is required to "exit". As a matter of fact, there was only one (optional) question, covering possibly 3% of the test, which even involved the twentieth century, and that appeared to regard Virginia Woolf as a contemporary. Was this a "comprehensive" exam, Sam, or aimed at a more narrowly focused portion of a larger syllabus?

[R. S. Gwynn]

The poem for explication is by Mary Jo Salter, Michael.

[David Anthony]

I found it difficult.
I'd maybe have got 50%, possibly with the odd bonus point for some original thinking.
Would that be a passing grade?

[R. S. Gwynn]

20th. Century Questions (I didn't go back the full 150 years)

I. c, d, e, and x (4 out of 26)
II. o-s (5 out of 20)
III. g (1 out of 12)
IV. 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6 could include 20th C. authors (5 out of 6)
V. Poem by Mary Jo Salter, b. 1954 (1 out of 1)

Are we living in the same centuries, Michael?

[Michael Cantor]

You're right, Sam - I missed that one. It appeared contemporary (I didn't identify the writer) but I was reading too quickly and assumed that it was one of multiple choices. But I'm still surprised at the overall balance.

My overall point was not that there was zero contemporary influence in the questions, but that you didn't have to deal with anything written in the past 150 years to ace the test. I screwed up on Mary Jo because I confused V. with IV., but beyond that I believe I'm correct. All those questions you point to in IV that could include 20th century authors, also could not - and that was my point! There's nothing in the entire test, aside from V, which forces the student - gets the little squirt pinned and wriggling on the wall - to demonstrate any sense of 20th century literature.

(It might even be argued that Section V. - the Mary Jo Salter poem - does not necessarily drag the student into the 20th century. It requests an interpretive essay. The poem itself looks back, and is crammed with references to earlier periods. Betcha that somebody who had never seen the Salter poem before, and had never seriously read much post-1860 - but was good enough to do well on all the earlier sections of the exam - could write a decent interpretive essay on The Rebirth of Venus.)

[R. S. Gwynn]

Please note my breakdown above.

[W.F. Lantry]

Sam,

Yikes!

Having to grade thirty bluebooks based on those questions would make me swear off teaching!

Forever!

Oh, wait...

Thanks,

Bill

[R. S. Gwynn]

Michael, I think that if you look at the test as a whole you'll see that one could pass it by skipping other 150 year periods as well, say, 1750-1900. Excluding creative writing, I took only one 20th century course, modern poetry. I think it's a pretty impressive exam, all things considered.

[Terese Coe]

Do the students bring a textbook, an anthology, or any book at all into the exam?

I took at least three 20th Century lit classes (aside from the survey courses) as an undergraduate, more if you count lit classes that included work from the period. And the 20th Century was little more than half over at the time.

Tough test. How many hours?