Ohio U. CCE/Shakespeare

I'm back:

Has anyone taken the "College credit via Examination" option for the "Shakespeare" classes at Ohio University?

My strategy is to study Longman's guide to Shakespeare quotations since it has plot summaries and then CLEP out of an excelsior requirement for Shakesy. Any other suggestions from seasoned test buffs?

Merci beaucoup,

Chris

 

I took the Shakespeare: The Comedies. I did not do very well but I just was not prepared.

Do not but the book that is recommended. It cost $80 and I never read it (maybe that is why I did not do very well???). I purchased the Cliff Notes and read the play. The best thing I was able to do to prepare was read the Cliffs Complete guide and watch the movies.

It was not very hard. The part that killed me was the section where you are given a quote from the play and you have to identify the charactor, play, and action before, during, and after the quote.

Best of luck.

 

Wonder what the tests are like for the Beckett course?

 

I confess...

I enrolled in the Ohio University CCE "Shakespeare, The Histories" at least two or three times (a bad pactch in my life), but never completed my study enough to sit the exam.

Instead I just tested out using TECEP. I'd say your plan is excellent. But leaven with Frank N. Magill, ed., "Masterplots" summaries--much more accurate and authoritative than what's online. You can xerox what you need from the local library.

--Orson

 

"No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

 

Yup. I took all three Shakespeare courses and passed with A's and B's. I didn't use any additional study materials and I had read several of the plays before. Watching the plays on video with text in hand is always a good strategy.

 

Gee whiz, what an unusual strategy...actually being familiar with the course material.
Jack

 

Actually, JAck...

In fact, your assumption that passing these tests merely requires familiarity with Shakespeare is incorrect. The OU course on the Histories also calls for other books of criticism involving historical sources and late-medieval politics; these CAN be hard to come by, too--as in out-of-print.

--Orson

 

Re: Actually, JAck...

I'm not talking about "merely." I'm talking about simply reading the text as opposed to "merely" reading Longmans guide to Shakespeare. Your suggestion that one might have to read some unavailable text in order to pass the exams is absurd. After all, there are these things called libraries. Besides, the original poster is referring to a CLEP test, not a university exam.
Jack

 

I apologize

I apologize that I created some confusion about saying I would "CLEP" out of shakespeare. that's not possible because clep doesn't offer it. but what I MEANT was that I would try to test out via OU CCE.

Chris

 

Re: Re: Actually, JAck...

Jack--
Of course there are "libraries;" I live about eight blocks from the nation's 50th or 60th largest one.

I (seriously) mean that the OU course above, Shakespeare's History Plays, required reading out of print material--having a library nearby does not necessarily mean that material is easily available to a busy busnessman--the University of Colorado's Norlin Library (http://www-libraries.colorado.edu/frontpage.htm), didn't have it when I needed it, and they may not now. (On checking, there is now one volume suitable for this course, albeit currently "out"--"Shakespeare, politics, and the state" / Robin Headlam Wells, 1986. (Although, as I know from experience, many titles in that lib are just as apt to be missing as listed.)

Being OP IS inconvenient--and OP search /used books/Advanced Book Exchange, etc. did not even have recommended titles. (I KNOW: I've used these and other diverse sources through the years to find the above--and, of course, to accumulate my personal library of over 2,000 volumes.)

In addition, you are surely unaware of how truly out of fashion such subjects of study as Shakespeare's history plays were ten years ago; some seemingly essential portions of literature were being neglected in otherwise august places of learning at one time. As a serious student of history, the English language, and an Anglophile, I have tracked this subject through the years, and the situation in the past five years is quite different what it was twice that time ago! (In fact, a quick search of Amazon.com shows many published since then by such authors as Wells, Cohen, Bloom, and "Shakespeare's political realism : the English history plays," Tim Spiekerman [2001]--some quite recent, others less so--but none were in available 10 years ago.) Such are the fashions in literary criticism, yet I recall having one from the 1950s and another from 20s recommended by OU....

Finally, Longman's Guide To Shakespeare is not "Cliffs Notes" or some other less than respectable cheat sheet, but a condensation of essential play text--and thus, quite an advance on Charles and Mary Lamb's "Tales From Shakespeare," if you know the book?

You curtly surmise your stance: "Your suggestion that one might have to read some unavailable text in order to pass the exams is absurd." Absurd or not, can we at least agree that one would certainly like to have read recommended texts in order to sit for certain exams?

I don't have the original OU course credit by examination course guide ready at hand (from 10 or so years ago), but I do recall there being a warning or proviso attached to it to the effect that taking the course depends upon availability of texts--and one is left to wonder whether to stick with listed recommendations or go out on a limb and read something else that may or may not do justice to the subject at hand... An unusual situation, but not unheard of.

So--"absurd" or not--I assure you, this was indeed the situation I once encountered.

--Orson

 

Whoa! What have I done? I came across this post in the archives and thought I would shoot off a quick response to Christopher on the off chance he hadn't taken the test yet. I didn't mean to stir things up!

Orson: I took these tests about, oh, six or seven years ago and I don't recall the books that you mention being recommended. It's possible that they have restructured the course a bit. I did find the "Histories" course to be the most difficult of the lot.

Christopher: I've noticed that there is sometimes a focus on test-prep materials, and I just wanted to share with you that careful reading and re-reading and critical analysis of original texts is, to my mind (and learning style) an ideal way to learn. A firm understanding of the materials enables you to have a flexibility of thought when you sit down to write an expository essay. I've taken many OU CCE courses and you will be graded heavily on the essay portion. My advice is to take the time to really feel comfortable with the materials and keep re-reading the plays and gleaning new insights. I used to be really obsessed with just finishing everything as quickly as possible (e.g. being enrolled in 10 courses at a time) and actually dropped out of the OU degree program in the third year. Now I'm ready for round two with the University of London's English program and I'm really looking forward to re-reading some great books.

(Tangent)I've worked in bookstores for several years and it's a bummer when people come in and immediately ask for Cliff Notes, etc. when they clearly haven't read the book first. Especially when it's a young person, I just wanna say, "Hey, you're cheating yourself. Why not read the actual book?" It's sad when people have been so messed up by their educational experiences that they don't want to learn.

"I'm lookin' for this book? It's Canary Row?" (YES. This actually happened.)

love,
verde (the original-texter-always-wanted-to-go-to-St.-Johns-er (sigh))

 

Obviously looking for the cheep way out.

 

Re: Actually, JAck...

I have found obscure books at Project Guttenberg http://promo.net/pg/
You can download them for free.

 

Re: Re: Re: Actually, JAck...

Look Orson, I think you've gotten the wrong idea here. The original poster is suggesting that he'll take the OU Shakespeare exam WITHOUT EVEN READY A SINGLE PLAY. I don't know Longmans book but lets face it, a condensation is a condensation, is a condensation (or should I say, a condensation by any other name would smell as cheap ). I'm suggesting this guy might want to do more - you know, like actually learn something. I'm suggesting that a good place to start is reading the actual plays. You're suggesting that might not be enough. I agree. But what is the liklihood that he'll read the commentaries you've suggested when he doesn't even plan on reading the plays themselves.
Jack

 

Jack--

I certainly don't disagree with you: learn something. Good.

But there are different ways to learn something, and I'm not sure you were being mindful of this fact.

Some people do have great aural memory; they might best learn Shakespeare from performance or video or even records of plays. (Of course, these OU courses also would demand reading from intro material or similar critical orienting masterial--I did the same for TECEP Shakespeare.)

--Orson
(Who perhaps did miss your original criticism.)

 

Thanks guys

When I saw that the original post (I was, in fact, suggesting taking the tests only based on longman's guide) I was surprised. It has been a long time since that post.

my current plan is: I'm simply taking an introductory course on shakespeare with university of nebraska lincoln, which emphasizes reading, I think, 15 of the plays. I just plan on going over them a second time before taking the tests.

Chris

 

Well, Chris...

15 plays is certainly commendably ambitious; most 3 credit couses, I believe, do less than a third that! (Or is it for more than 3 credits?)

Elsewhere I believe I had suggested viewing the plays (from your public library) first, then using Masterplots or Longman's for review; many English Profs actually recommend viewing, since that is how they were intended to be enjoyed...but whatever works best for the learner.

Although, reading the text itself will clarify ambiguities of Shakespeare's Elizabethan language, I have always found finding a good balance in text annotation problematic; the Riverside Shakespeare simply explains too much, while the older Pelican is too obvious--thus one may waste time reading confirmations of what one has already understood correctly! Dave Anderson [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0141000589/qid=1039222680/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-1421632-0088852?v=glance&s=books], at the bottom, assays the pro-s and cons- about one volume editions, and gets things right, it seems to me.)

S., like Milton, is such an elevating and transporting pleasure--only more playful! Enjoy.

--Orson
(And it's "University of Nebraska-Lincoln," by the by--I may be going there soon, myself!)

 

thanks Orson

Thanks Orson,

Just for the record, it's 12 plays at the U. Nebraska-Lincoln course.

to quote Mercutio (Romeo & Juliet), at the end of this class you will find me "a very grave man!"

Chris