How to Make a Good Grade on the Midterm Exam
1) Know how times are expressed in Spanish. I will call out 5 times. You will select from the answer choices the times I call out.
a. Study p. 15 in your textbook (p. 19 in the older edition).
b. Do TIME quiz at ¿Qué tal? Online Learning Center.
c. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on TIME, Basic Quiz on TIME, and Oral Exercise on TIME.
d. Learn the essential vocabulary: numbers through 60, hora, minuto, y, menos, cuarto, media, de la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche, la medianoche, el mediodía, en punto, Son las _______, Es la _______, ¿Qué hora es?
2) Know how to answer questions about the calendar. I will ask you 5 questions and you will choose the correct answers from the answer choices.
a. Study the Lección Uno handout, esp. months of year, days of week, and calendar questions.
b. Study pp. 106-107 in your textbook (p. 103 in the older edition), including questions in the Conversación section.
c. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on DAYS OF WEEK, Basic Quiz on DAYS OF WEEK, and Oral Exercise on DAYS OF WEEK.
d. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on MONTHS, ETC., Basic Quiz on MONTHS, ETC., and Oral Exercise on MONTHS, ETC.
e. Study p. 11 in your textbook (p. 14 in the older edition).
f. Do NUMBERS quiz at ¿Qué tal? Online Learning Center.
g. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on NUMBERS 0-10, Basic Quiz on NUMBERS 0-10, and Oral Exercise on NUMBERS 0-10.
h. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on NUMBERS 11-30, Basic Quiz on NUMBERS 11-30, and Oral Exercise on NUMBERS 11-30.
i. Learn the essential vocabulary: numbers through 31 and 2013, names of months, names of days, día, mes, año, fecha, semana, fin de semana, el primero, dos mil nueve, hoy, mañana, pasado mañana
3) Be able to answer questions about a student's schedule. I will ask 5 questions about a student's schedule of classes. You will look at the schedule to find the answers and then choose from the answer choices.
a. Study the question words on p. 48 (p. 28 in the older edition) and the sample questions on p. 25 (pp. 22-23 in the older edition).
b. Study the questions from your practice tests.
c. Do INTERROGATIVE WORDS quiz at ¿Qué tal? Online Learning Center.
d. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on QUESTIONS, Basic Quiz on QUESTIONS, and Oral Exercise on QUESTIONS.
e. Study the names of school subjects from p. 24 of your textbook (p. 31 in the older edition) and from the Chapter 1 handout (Las materias y los verbos).
f. Review days of the week and times.
g. Study the names of places on campus where classes may be held.
h. Study the interview questions from Chapter 1 handout.
4) Be able to understand a date of birth and give the person's age. I will call out five dates of birth. You will choose the correct ages from the answer choices.
a. Know how to ask for each part of the date separately: ¿Qué mes? ¿Qué día? ¿Qué año?
b. Know how to ask me to repeat something and slow down: Otra vez, por favor and Más despacio, por favor
c. REALLY know the numbers through 99 (p. 52 in your textbook or p. 57 in the older edition) and 1900 (mil novecientos) and 2000 (dos mil).
d. Know the names of the months. See 2) d. above.
e. Know the units of time for giving a person's age: años, meses, semanas, días
f. Keep in mind that the person may not have had a birthday yet this year and that some ages can be expressed in more than one way.
5) Be able to respond to common greetings, courtesy expressions, leave-taking expressions, general information questions, and requests for personal information. I will say 10 things in Spanish. From the answer choices you will select appropriate responses for each one.
a. Study the dialogues on p. 2 of your textbook.
b. Study the list of words and phrases on p. 3 of your textbook.
c. Study the relevant parts of the first practice test and the study guide for that test.
d. Study the question words. See 3) a.-d. above.
Practice with these quizzes from ¿Qué tal? Online Learning Center:
6) Know what to say in the situations we've discussed. I will give you 5 situations and from the answer choices you will select the most appropriate word or phrase to use in each situation.
a. Study the relevant parts of the first practice test and the study guide for that test.
b. Study any class notes regarding what to say in specific situations.
Do SITUATIONS quiz at ¿Qué tal? Online Learning Center
7) Know the sounds letters make in Spanish.
Letter Sounds -- 27 items of this type
a a. like o in hot
b. like ay in say
c. like ow in cow
d. like a in above
e. like ea in bread
a. Make flash cards for each letter with the sounds I gave you on the handout (Los sonidos de las letras).
b. Study the cards and practice using the sounds when you read Spanish words.
c. Bring your cards on the day of the midterm exam for one extra point.
8) Be able to use the correct definite or indefinite article in a sentence.
Definite and Indefinite Articles -- 8 items of this type
1-def, 2-def, 3-indef, 4-def, 5-def, 6-def, 7-def, 8-indef, 9-indef, 10-indef, 11-indef, 12-def, 13-def, 14-def, 15-def
A __(1)__ una de __(2)___ tarde tengo ___(3)___ clase en __(4)___ edificio que se llama Collins Hall. __(5)__ clase termina a __(6)__ dos y media. En __(7)__ salón hay __(8)__ computadoras y __(9)___ televisor. El salón tiene __(10)___ escritorio y __(11)__ silla para _(12)_ profesor. __(13)__ pizarra es grande y verde. ___(14)___ ventanas son pequeñas. A __(15)__ estudiantes les gusta el salón.
1) 6) 11)
2) 7) 12)
3) 8) 13)
4) 9) 14)
5) 10) 15)
a. Study pp. 28-29 (pp. 33-35 inthe older edition) to learn the articles and how to determine the gender of a noun. You will see that most nouns referring to females are feminine (la madre, la mujer) and most nouns referring to males are masculine (el padre, el hombre). Also, nouns ending in -a, -ión, -dad, and -tad are usually feminine while nouns ending in -o, -or, and -ón are usually masculine. There are exceptions though--see letter "e" below.
b. Do studyspanish.com First Lesson on GENDER OF NOUNS, First Basic Quiz on GENDER OF NOUNS, and First Oral Exercise on GENDER OF NOUNS
c. Do studyspanish.com Second Lesson on GENDER OF NOUNS, Second basic Quiz on GENDER OF NOUNS, and Second Oral Exercise on GENDER OF NOUNS
d. Do studyspanish.com Lesson on DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES, Basic Quiz on DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES, and Oral Exercise on DEFINIITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES
e. Watch out for exceptions such as: el día, la mano, numerous nouns ending in -ma, -pa, or -ta (el poema, el problema, el programa, el sistema, el mapa, el planeta, el cometa, el poeta, etc.)
f. Learn the definite article with the noun for nouns whose gender is not obvious: el hombre, la mujer, la clase, el papel, el lápiz, la pared, el examen, etc.
Try these quizzes from the ¿Qué tal? Online Learning Center:
9) Know the vocabulary from the first two chapters of your book and be able to recognize cognates when you see or hear them.