1. EXAMINATIONS measure development of these competencies--
Conceptual understanding as
applied to particular situations
and contexts
Midterm=30% grade
Final Ex.=30% grade
Ability to integrate sophisticated ideas
encountered in course materials
Words like “examinations” and “tests” scare most people—especially folks who are beginning graduate programs years after their college years. Although we can’t provide the “magic bullet” that will guarantee you “A’s” on all exams, we can offer you some insights about the nature of testing that will be used to evaluate your progress in the course:
First, the tests you will take in this course will be generally focused on conceptual understanding of the “big issues” introduced in your readings. You may find this focus to be much different than in other courses you have taken in high school and college where rote memorization (like “name five characteristics of amoeba”) were stressed. In this course, test questions will challenge you to demonstrate your broad understanding of concepts like “institutional logic” or “adverse selection,” often as applied to a particular situation. Obviously, you will not find “the right answer” on any particular textbook page.
Second, some questions will also challenge your ability to integrate ideas from more than one source. For the most part in this course, you may be expected to integrate (or reconcile) ideas introduced in course readings with actual agency situations.
Third, as for writing skill, we’re not asking you to be a Shakespeare or Mark Twain. Yet is important to follow the basics of grammar and style. Get in the habit of editing and re-editing—don’t depend on spell check and grammar check in your word processing software. With regard to writing style, there are three or four basic guidelines that can improve you writing tremendously, such as:
Use active voice verbs more often than passive voice verbs;
Avoid long, run-on sentences (try to economize on your wording);
Use parallel construction (the same grammatical form) in a series of items.
There are probably some other issues beyond these that arise in evaluating the performance of particular students. But in the main, the three issues illustrated on this slide “get at” the key issues. Don’t be intimidated by the testing experience—instead, try to envision it as a sequential step in the learning process by demonstrating your progress in a clear and competent manner.
Both a midterm and final examination to be taken (dates to be disclosed)—each constitutes 30% of course grade
Graduate-level skills in
writing and organization