Departmental Examination

Graduating seniors are required to take an examination on Russian literature. The exam is based on a reading list drawn largely from works read in RUS 219, 220, and 221. Together with the thesis and departmental grades, this examination is one of three factors that determine departmental honors.

The exam consists of two parts, and is administered on two consecutive days.

The first part of the exam is taken in class and lasts three hours. Students are given three texts or passages from different verbal genres. They choose two and write essays analyzing the significance and/or structure of each. Typically, the choices will feature:

a) a poem in Russian;

b) a literary prose passage in both Russian and English;

c) a passage of non-literary prose in English (journalism, criticism, cultural theory, etc.).

The second part is a take-home exam based on a list of works that each senior draws up and submits in advance to the Departmental Representative. These should be significant  texts of Russian culture of which the student can claim adequate knowledge and which s/he can discuss in an intelligent manner. This is an opportunity for seniors to define what they will be tested on, following the lines of their interests and acquired knowledge. The list should feature a minimum of 25 items, representing at least 15 different authors.  An item suitable for the list is any work that could conceivably appear in book form. Thus:

• every novel counts as an item;
  
• a dramatic work, for example, Gogol’s Inspector General, counts;
  
• so does a collection of short stories, but not an individual story;
  
• Pushkin’s narrative poem Prisoner of the Caucasus counts, but not a single lyrical poem like “I loved you once.”

Students submit the list of works a month in advance of the scheduled examination date. If one or more of the items are deemed inadequate, the student will be asked to revise and resubmit the list. On the day of the exam, each student will receive from the Departmental Representative two questions based on works from the list. These will be sent no later than 9am on the appointed day, in an electronic form. Students will choose one of the two questions and write in response an analytical essay of approximately 1,500 words. The essay should be sent back in electronic form to the Departmental Representative no later than midnight of the same day.

The final grade for the exam will be a composite of the grades for the first and second part, each accounting for 50%.