ENG 330: Middle English Comprehension Test

FALL TERM 2023 ONLY: While this test is usually done in class in Week V (see below), during Fall Term 2023 we’ll try it out as a self-administered take-home test. That means you are encouraged to time yourself and do it within 50 minutes — but you will have two full days to complete and submit it, and you are allowed to take as long as you want during those two full days.

Here is the usual description of the test for when it is administered in class; please make adjustments, as you read the following, for this year’s slightly unusual test format:

This in-class test, a timed assessment of your ability to read Middle English plays, will occur before the middle of term (see our course schedule for exact dates), on the same day that you turn in your Translation/Edition Assignment.  

The best (and only!) way to study for the test is through continual, engaged reading (of each week’s assigned Middle English texts) and really thorough work on your translation/edition.  The only students who will do poorly on the test are those who did not do the work and reading properly or did not retain it effectively enough (active discussion and ongoing in-class questions will help with that).

Test questions will be multiple choice, short answer, or short translation (you’ll be given a few lines to translate directly from Middle English to present-day English). Most questions will refer to short Middle English readings attached to the test; some may refer to Middle English readings you’ve done in prior weeks.

The test is built to take 35-40 minutes, but I allow the full 50-minute class session for you to complete it. That said, the test is time-pressurized in order to better assess your in-the-moment ability to read and understand Middle English — in other circumstances I’d allow far more ample time, but in this case I am testing (among other things) the speed of your uptake of Middle English. If you have arranged with Accessibility Services to have access to a less pressurized test-taking setting, I encourage you to use it; if you contact me within the first three weeks of class, I can also arrange extra test-taking time in my office (such arrangements are one menu item among many for the accommodations and modifications I offer).

If you do not attend class on the day of the test, you must email me immediately and attend the Office Hours session immediately subsequent to that class session, where I will lead you through a make-up test. If the subsequent Office Hours session passes without any contact from you, your test grade will drop to zero, with no exceptions.