ABOUT THE FINAL

The final exam will consist of image identification, definitions, multiple short essays, and two medium-length essay questions. It will ask you to discuss, integrate, and compare materials from throughout the class, but will emphasize those studied after the midterm.

The two medium-length essay questions will together count for nearly 40% of the final exam grade. I have posted five essay questions on the Assignments page. For the final itself, I will choose two of those questions. Thus, if you have studied and prepared thorough answers to all five questions, this section should go very well. Given that you will have seen the questions in advance, I will expect a high level of precision, detail, and writing quality -- including the frequent use of appropriate terms (dharma, moksha, Tirthankara, jiva, nirvana, etc.) and thorough attention to dates, periods, practices, texts, etc.

For the short essays, I recommend that you prepare by reviewing all study materials and by comparing the traditions along the lines of their notions of:

1. Human nature and the human condition

2. Divinity or ultimate reality

3. The ultimate aims of religious life

4. The means to achieving those aims

Finally, your preparation should include careful study of the historical figures, developments, events and their timelines (i.e., dates) as presented in the video series The Story of India.