About the Final Exam

Basics: The final exam will have two parts: Part I, a two-hour set of 20 short answer questions covering material since the midterm, and Part II, a two-hour multiple-choice exam that covers the entire course. Both parts will become available on the Course Menu at 6:00 am, Friday July 2nd, and will remain available until midnight. You can take the parts in any order you want, but you must complete one before going on to the next. Remember that once you click on one of the parts, you have only two hours to finish it. So plan ahead and make sure you have reliable computer access and appropriate amounts of time on Friday.

Part I, short answer: again, each question will be worth three points. A truly complete, accurate answer gets you the full three points; an answer that's basically correct but perhaps vague or incomplete gets you two; an answer that has something to do with a correct answer but is not really clear or is somehow off the mark might get you one point. As a matter of strategy then, if you know the answer, try to avoid just writing madly about everything that the question makes you think of; give yourself a little time to think and carefully compose an EXACT answer to the question. (One way to judge a good answer: if someone did not know the answer, could they read what you wrote and then really understand the answer?) You are free to consult the course readings, but you'll do better if you already have a pretty good idea of what the answer is before you start trying to look things up. Do not just copy things verbatim from the readings; put things in your own words. Again, most of the questions come directly from the study questions list (available from the Course Information page), so start your studying by going through the study questions. The questions are more conceptual than factual; I do not ask things like "what year was NBC created?" I'm more likely to ask things like, "How did broadcast regulation emerge in the 1920s?"

Part II, multiple choice: a few sample multiple choice questions are below, so you can get a feel for what they'll be like. The generic advice about multiple choice exams is to start with a quick first pass: read a question, and if you think you know the answer, move down through the answers until you find the right one, mark it, and move on. Don't keep reading answers once you've found what seems to be the right one, don't read answers at all for questions that you don't think you know.  Only once you've completed your first pass should you go back and check your answers, ponder the ones you are less sure of, etc.

For this particular set of questions, it helps to remember that they are more conceptual than factual: I'm trying to test your grasp of concepts more than your ability to remember small details. As a result, the questions are relatively long, and you'll need to read them carefully. Try to get beyond thinking associatively, about what a question reminds you of; most of the possible answers are written so they "sound" right, so if you think associatively you might get tripped up. You need to think LOGICALLY, a little bit like a lawyer reading the fine print: what EXACTLY does this question ask, and which answer is EXACTLY correct?

Feel free to post questions and concerns in the "Final Study Questions" discussion list.

Good luck.

Tom

Sample multiple choice exam questions, (scroll down for answers)

1. Which of the following best describes a "ritual view of communication?"
  1. Communication is the process of moving messages from a sender through a medium to a receiver.
  2. Communication is the process by which senders of messages receive feedback from receivers, thus reinforcing or correcting the message.
  3. Communication is the construction of a shared space or map of meaning within which people can coexist.
  4. Communication is the sending of messages across time and space to unseen and/or unknown audiences.
  5. Whatever communication is, it's not happening to me right now.
2. Media professionals (such as the editor of the NY Times) who decide what the consumers of information are going to see on the evening news or read in the newspaper are referred to as:
  1. opinion leaders
  2. agenda setters
  3. gatekeepers
  4. professional socialization makers
  5. corporate conspirators
3. Mobile privatization can best be understood by explaining the difference between:
  1. Watching a game in a bar vs. watching TV alone at home.
  2. watching TV with the family at home vs. listening to the radio in the car.
  3. using a telephone vs. using a radio.
  4. the hypodermic needle theory vs. agenda setting.
  5. none of the above.
4. Why do media executives tend to prefer the predictable, tried-and-true formula to the highly innovative and creative?
  1. They're mostly white males with deeply embedded conservative political biases.
  2. Their roles in large organizations create pressures to reduce risk and uncertainty.
  3. They're paid by giant corporations to serve elite interests at the expense of the interests of the masses.
  4. They produce content that reflects their own personal tastes.
  5. They're dumb as gnats.
5. Todd Gitlin, in his chapter "By the Numbers," noted that "the 1981-82 series rankings showed Dynasty in twentieth place with a 20.4 season rating and Hill Street Blues in twenty-ninth place with 18.6. But statistically there was a 10 percent chance the two shows actually drew the same size audience." Which of the following best describes the point that Gitlin is making with this anecdote?
  1. Television executives generally take statistical imprecision very seriously because they are so concerned about the audience, and therefore develop elaborate techniques for addressing all forms of measurement error and uncertainty.
  2. Television executives employ the best statisticians in the nation to deal with such issues, because they are forced by the advertisers and the bottom line to be absolutely scientific about audience size.
  3. Television executives tend to act as though ratings numbers are precise, because taking statistical imprecision into account would introduce too much uncertainty into their lives.
  4. Television executives do not generally care much about whether a program places twentieth or twenty-ninth because such rankings do not influence advertising rates or programming decisions.
  5. Dynasty was actually better than Hill Street Blues, so the numbers must be wrong.
6. Which of the following arguments are not made by Robert McChesney in his book Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy?
  1. The crucial structural factor for democratic media is to have the dominant portion of the communication system removed from the control of business and the support of advertising.
  2. Conservatives are able to tap into genuine resentment against a corporate media system whose public face is that of arrogant millionaire celebrity journalists who presume to speak on behalf of the public.
  3. Democracy requires that there be an effective system of political communication, broadly construed, that informs and engages the citizenry, drawing people meaningfully into the polity.
  4. Competition does more to keep businesses honest than a roomful of regulators.

Answers: 1,c ; 2,c ; 3,a ; 4,b ; 5,c ; 6,d