I wanted to take this opportunity to say something to all of your about the midterm —
both to those of you who took the exam
and to those of you who did not.
Let me begin by congratulating all of the folks
who were able to sit down and do it.
I know that for many of you, this was the first time in many years that you have taken an exam.
It was a stressful thing to find the time to prepare
and then to go through the rigours of a three-hour closed-book exam
in which you consulted no notes.
But now that you have done it, you can see that you have what it takes
to formulate your thoughts on sociological themes and concepts and theories in a coherent way.
Now we are about to begin a new process, called “peer assessment,”
in which you will be asked to evaluate up to five exams from your fellow students.
You’ll be using a rubric that we’ve designed here at Princeton.
You should know that this rubric is not only based on my initial opinion about the correct answers,
but also upon our analysis of a large number of exams
that were turned in over the past few days.
Sometimes, I noticed that you guys did not get the answer that I had expected,
but that you wrote something else that showed an understanding of the material.
For those students who did not receive many points for the answers I had stipulated,
I have added the possibility that you can get a certain number of make-up points.
These make-up points are based on additional correct answers that emerged from your responses.
As you go through the process of peer assessment,
there is the possibility that you will suddenly feel discouraged by what you wrote —
the sudden recognition that your exam is not as strong as it could have been
can lead many people to think that they are not good enough.
Anyone who comes to that conclusion would be making a big mistake at this early stage.
I want you to focus not on the score that you get —
or that you think you will get — on this or that question,
but on using this experience of peer assessment to learn the material.
After the process is over, I will talk to you again
about how to think about these results in a constructive way.
Just remember one thing: Our focus here is on enhancing learning.
If you keep a positive focus and don’t let yourself get discouraged,
my prediction is that you will learn the material
and, by the final, you will also become a much better test taker.
I also want to say something to people who did not take the midterm.
There are many ways of getting something out of this class.
And even if you did not take the exam,
I know from your participation in the forums
that you too are learning a great deal.
Although you cannot officially complete the class without taking the midterm,
you are welcome to take the final and to see how you do.
To everyone in this class:
Please do not think that my respect for you is based on the various numbers that you receive on this midterm
or even whether you took the exam in the first place.
I have been enormously impressed by your ongoing participation in the course forums,
and I believe there are many ways to demonstrate to oneself and others
a more systematic understanding of the social world.
So those of you who are doing the peer assessment, get to work!
You will be asked to assess up to five papers before you can get your own results.
Remember, there is no online seminar this week;
we all have enough work to do with the midterm as it is.
I’ll see all of you again on Monday,
when we will be talking about being alone,
being in groups, and being in networks.