All seniors in History and Literature are required to take an oral examination. These one hour examinations take place during reading period. Please keep these two weeks open. We will send you a letter toward the end of April informing you of the exact time of your exam.
The oral examination will be conducted by two examiners from your field, one of whom will have read your thesis. A third member of the Tutorial Board will serve as chair. If you are in a combined field, you may have more than three examiners–an advantage, because their interests will more closely resemble yours.
The first ten minutes of the examination will be devoted to a discussion of your thesis. The remainder of the examination will be devoted to questions that cover the full range of history and literature in your chosen field.
Please make sure that you submit the enclosed "Topics List," because your examiners will be instructed to use that list to help them formulate questions. Please note also that we are asking seniors to write a short statement (a few paragraphs) describing, explaining, and summing up the program you constructed in the concentration. This will help you think about the themes, methods, questions, etc. that bring together your work in History and Literature. It will also be useful for your examiners as they formulate their questions. Filling out this list and writing your statement are more complicated than they seem. Start now and seek advice from your tutor.
Please note that your exam will not focus exclusively on material presented on your list and statement. Examiners are free to ask questions about your entire field of study. We will discuss how to develop this list in the Oral Exam Workshop.
The oral examination is not simply averaged together with the other components of your record (your grade point average within the concentration and your thesis readings). While oral examinations often confirm a student's overall average, they can be a decisive factor in the final degree recommendation, especially for students whose cumulative record stands on the border between two levels of honors (for example, between cum laude and magna cum laude). Students with the requisite summa elements in their records must perform at the highest level to earn a summa recommendation. Students with magna elements in their records, especially those with both magna and cum elements, must perform at a very high level to earn a magna recommendation. However, the orals cannot change your overall standing more than one level.
Between now and May, you and your tutor will use your weekly meetings to prepare for your orals. In early May, "mock orals" with tutors are especially useful.