General Information for Writing Final Examinations by Email.

Please read these instructions carefully.

I will send you the final exam by email using your MSU email address approximately fifteen minutes before our schedule exam time. After you have written your answers to the questions, email your answers back to me.

Subject Line

Please use a proper subject line when you send this exam back to me:

LASTNAME  XYZ  FINAL EXAM

where XYZ is the abbreviation for the course you are in – VN, WL, GN2, CH, MEL, and so on.

Remember: the purpose of the examination is to give you a chance to show

• HOW WELL YOU KNOW THE ASSIGNED MATERIAL, and
• HOW WELL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IT, critically and analytically.

Direct quotations do not show your own thinking or your knowledge of the work. So, don’t use them. Anybody can "copy and paste."

Do a good job. Remember, this exam can bring your grade down if you do poorly, and won't bring it up unless you do very well.

Directions for Emailing Your Exam

Email your Final Exam to me

• in text format only,
• single-spaced,
• blank line between paragraphs.
• NO ATTACHMENTS.
• Send me all four answers in ONE email message.
• Number your answers with the same number as the number of the question (1, 2, 3, etc.)

In other words -- just like the biweekly HW assignments.

Leave two blank lines between answers.

Leave one blank line between paragraphs.

Some "Don’ts"

• Do not use direct quotations.
• Do not summarize
• Do not rewrite the exam question at the beginning of your answer.

Some "Do’s"

• Write your exam on a Word Processor program. You have much more control over the text with a Word Processor like MS Word, WordPerfect, etc., than you do in the message area of an email, or with a text editor.
• Do spend ½ of your time thinking, planning, and writing an outline of, your answers. Spend no more than ½ your time actually typing your answer.

For example, if you have 4 questions and a two-hour exam, you should spend no more than 30 minutes per question, spend 15 minutes or a bit more thinking, planning, and outlining your answer on a separate scrap piece of paper.

If you finish your outline before the 15 minutes are up, relax for a few minutes.

Those who write furiously for the full time without careful planning in advance will do poorly. Long, poorly-planned essays will not get good grades.

Clearly focused, well-planned, well-thought-out essays will do much better.

15 minutes is plenty of time to write out a full answer, provided you have studied hard and know the material very well.

Construct your arguments with logic and clear writing.

Proofread your answers.

• Proofread for spelling and grammar very carefully.
• Use a grammar/spelling checker such as every modern Word Processing program has.

When you have completely finished everything – your answers, spelling and grammar checked, answers properly numbered – THEN

a. Format your answer properly – plain text, single-spaced, blank line between paragraphs, double blank line between answers.

b. Copy and paste it into the message area of your email client.

c. Use your mail.montclair.edu email account (unless you have made special arrangements with me beforehand).

If you do the above, you will not need what I am about to wish you -- that is . . .

Good luck!

You may begin writing the exam when you receive it.

The header on your emailed exam must be dated no later than 2 hours after the scheduled beginning of this exam.