Midterms

So last week we had our midterms.

For the most part I just had to hand in drafts of my final term papers, but for one of my classes (Asia Pacific Regional Development) I actually had a multiple choice test.

After I turned in a 10 page essay on international political economy theory and a detailed outline of a development paper about the IMF/World Bank policies in Latin America, I finally got around to summarizing and analyzing 11 chapters of a book that wasn't really written for a multiple choice test. My classmates and I poured over the names of presidents and prime ministers in APEC or ASEAN countries, tried to remember which countries were part of ASEAN Plus Three or ASEAN Plus Six, traced the colonial origins of Asia Pacific back to the UK/Netherlands/US, and dreaded Friday morning.

Question: Who is the "O le Ao o le Malo" of Samoa?
Answer: Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi

Question: Who is the president of Indonesia?
Answer: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Friday morning came and it was a massacre. We looked at our 20 question test and pretty much all let out a groan. Usually tests have definite answers, but this test was a multiple choice test with an emphasis on multiple. We had 5 possible answers and we could circle as many of the answers as we wanted or choose to circle none of the answers if we thought that was best. Each question could legitimately have multiple answers and each answer a person gave could be justified through class notes, the chapters of our readings, or presentations given.

I think my favorite part of the test was where I had to decide if by answering the question, I would be losing more points than just skipping it. Needless to say, no one was very happy after that.

Yay for no more midterms!