Phil 101: Instructions for First Exam

As announced on the syllabus, we’ll have the first exam in our course (of two) next Wednesday, February 28, at the beginning of our regular class meeting. The format will mostly be multiple-choice, possibly also with some short answers. We expect that well-prepared students will be able to read and complete the exam in about 12 minutes; but in order that you not be rushed, we will allow you to work on the exam until 9:30. If you’re able to and wish to come to class a bit earlier, to get an early start, you may also do that. At 9:30 all exams will be collected and we’ll continue with a lecture introducing our next course topic.

The exam will only be offered in-class, not online. No laptops, phones, or books may be consulted while you’re taking the exam. You are however allowed to consult your own study sheet, which must be a single piece of paper with writing or printing of any size (and it may cover both sides of the paper). If you use a study sheet, you must have prepared it yourself, and must submit it along with your completed exam.

If you’re unable to attend class the day of the exam, and make arrangements with us in advance, then instead of taking the exam, you may instead write a 300-500 word short essay on one of these following questions as a substitute:

The target length for these essays is 300-500 words. They should be submitted in Canvas by Friday March 1 at 11:59 pm, and no assistance from AI tools or other people is permitted for it. If you want to do this substitute for the exam, you must confirm your intention to do so with us in advance. You can’t come look at the exam and then decide, or decide to do the substitute just because you overslept. If you become ill suddenly, email us the night before or morning of the exam to let us know.

Students with ARS accommodations, we will contact you directly to coordinate.

The rest of this document provides three things. First, there are instructions about how you’ll be scored for the multiple choice questions. Second, there are some sample questions so you see the kind of thing that will be on the exam. Third, there is a list of main topics you can review, that have been introduced in lectures, in the notes on our course website, and/or in our readings.

1. How You’ll Be Scored

For each multiple choice question, you can elect to skip it; or choose one of the answers; or choose two of the answers, designating one of them as your “top” answer and the other as your “fallback” answer. (If you choose two answers and it’s not clear which is your “top” choice, we’ll treat them both as “fallbacks.” If you choose more than two answers, we’ll treat the question as one you skipped.)

If you selected no choices/skipped the question, you get 0 points for it.

If you selected one choice, and you’re correct, you get +6 points. But if you’re wrong, you get -2 points.

If you selected two choices, and your “top” choice is correct, you get +5 points. If your “fallback” choice is the one that’s correct, you get +3 points. If neither of your choices is correct, you get -4 points.

If you want to keep things simple, you can of course just always choose one option.

With this scoring system, the best possible result (if you make only a single selection for each question, and get them all correct) will be +48 points. If you make two selections for each question, and your “top” answer is always correct, your score will be +40 points. We will be curving the exam scores, and we’ll make sure that +40 points still comes out to be an A minus. If you skip all the questions, your result will be 0 points. If you answer every question, but get them all wrong, your result will be either -16 or -32 points (depending on whether you made one wrong choice per question or two). We don’t yet know what the curve will look like, but you can safely assume that scores of 0 and worse will not be passing.

If you just randomly guess at answers, you could potentially get any score, but the expected result would be 0.

2. Sample Questions

  1. A “reductio” is…

    1. An argument by reduction to the most basic principles
    2. An argument by reduction to a single premise
    3. An argument by reduction to a better argument
    4. An argument by reduction to an absurd or unacceptable conclusion

  2. All of the following argument patterns are “valid” except:

    1. P. Therefore, P.
    2. If P, then Q. P. Therefore, Q.
    3. If P, then Q. Q. Therefore, P.
    4. Either P or Q. Not Q. Therefore, P.

  3. “Ockham’s Razor” is…

    1. The principle that simpler explanations should be preferred over more complicated ones
    2. The principle that philosophers should never shave
    3. The principle that everything is ultimately explained by the will of God
    4. The principle that only non-physical things are capable of thought

  4. A mistake at the US Mint causes two one-dollar bills to be stamped with the exact same serial number at the exact same time. The two bills are thus:

    1. Numerically identical
    2. Conceptually different but metaphysically the same
    3. Not identical in any sense
    4. Qualitatively identical

3. Review Topics

This list is meant to summarize the notions, theories, and arguments discussed in the first third of the class (up until the exam). Some of the topics near the end won’t be introduced until today or this coming Monday. To prepare for the exam, be sure you know what each of the following mean, and what bearing they have on the issues we discussed in class.