You will need a laptop to take the exam upon which you have already installed the Moodle Safe Exam Browser. The exam will be 50 minutes.  (If you are late to class, the exam will automatically close at 11:35).

Exams, including the final, are non-cumulative.  They will cover all material after the preceding exam until the next exam.

There will be 40 multiple choice questions worth 2.5 points each. Most of the exam questions will look for you to apply the material, rather than just straight recall. 

The primary source of questions will be from the class lectures. Every item that was a bullet-point during lecture is fair game. Additionally, some questions will address the Friday readings, with which you should know the key themes. Finally, some questions will explicitly address key current events of American politics that have occurred during the semester.

Current events will come from major news items from the semester so far. They will be about issues and figures who have appeared on the front page of the New York Times or Washington Post multiple times during the semester.

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Lecture material sample question:

A pollster finds that 65% of respondents support "government assistance to poor people" but only 38% support "welfare spending." This example best demonstrates:
A) Social desirability bias in polling
B) The impact of question wording on public opinion measurement
C) Low response rates in modern polling
D) The difference between symbolic and operational ideology

Lecture plus reading sample question:
Research by Lilliana Mason shows that Republicans overestimate the percentage of Democrats who are Black, while Democrats overestimate the percentage of Republicans who are wealthy. When researchers correct these misperceptions, people tend to dislike the other party less. This finding most directly supports which concept from the lecture?
A) That family socialization creates lasting partisan attachments
B) That question wording significantly affects poll responses
C) That group identity formation relies on inaccurate stereotypes about out-groups
D) That motivated reasoning leads people to reject inconvenient facts

Current Events sample question
In what major city has President Trump deployed the National Guard for the stated purpose of reducing crime?
A) San Francisco
B) Miami
C) New York
D) Washington, DC