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Philosophy Oral Examinations

Instructor: Michael Ner E. Mariano
Department of PhilosophyAteneo de Manila University
Instructions and Advice for Taking Oral Exams
A. Instructions
1) The instructor will provide a thesis sheet at least one week before the start of the oral exams.
2) The students will sign up for their oral exam schedule inside the classroom during class time one to
two weeks before the start of the oral exams. The instructor employs a system of signing up which does
away with the need for students to queue up elsewhere.
3) The midterm oral examinations will be ten (10) minutes long for each student, and fifteen (15) minutes
long for the final oral examinations. (The instructor will announce during the semester if he will make
any changes in the time allotment for the exams.)
4) The instructors timepiece will set the official time for the exams. Make sure to synchronize your
timepieces with the instructors.
5) Make sure that you accurately record the correct day and time of your exam. There have been many
students who were not able to show up for their scheduled slot because they misremembered their
time. The instructor will not give any consideration for such mistaken assumptions.
6) All students who are not able to appear for their scheduled exam will earn an automatic F for that
requirement. Only those who have valid reasons for their absence will be allowed to take a make-up
exam (ex: serious illness, grave accident, and other similar reasons). Reasons such as forgetting ones
actual schedule, needing to work on something else, traffic jams, and such like are not sufficient
grounds for receiving a make-up exam.
7) Those who arrive late for their exam, but within their schedule, will be allowed to still take the exam,
but will be given only the remaining minutes according to their original schedule.
8) Every student is expected to prepare an answer or a comprehensive explanation for each thesis. The
instructor will have a system for randomly choosing the thesis which the student will answer. The
instructor has the right to ask about the other theses after the student has finished discussing the
randomly selected one.
9) The student will be given the first half of the exam (the first five (5) minutes for a ten-minute exam,
and the first eight (8) for a fifteen-minute exam) to deliver a prepared answer or explanation for any
thesis that s/he randomly selects. The second half of the exam is for the instructor to ask questions and
clarifications. Thus, plan carefully and practice answering each thesis.
10) The instructor will try as much as possible not to react to anything the student is saying during the first
half of the exam. Do not expect the instructor then to provide you with hints. Thus, say only things that
you are prepared to defend and to commit to, and avoid mentioning anything that may get you into
unnecessary complications.
11) The instructor will post all oral exam marks through the Facebook page of the class once all the
scheduled oral exams are over. All marks are final. Make sure to look carefully at what your grade
truly is (not a few students have made false assumptions about their actual grades).
B. How to prepare for oral exams:
1) Make sure you have read and understood correctly all the assigned readings for the class that the exam
will include, and that you have reviewed your notes on the lectures and discussions (which should be
complete and accurate). Avoid cramming, as well as relying on others notes and explanations.
2) Make sure you have a copy of the correct thesis sheet, and that you have understood what each thesis
is asking you to answer or explain. Prepare a comprehensive, well-organized, accurate answer or
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explanation for each thesis. Mention only things that directly address the particular thesis. Avoid the
shotgun method, that is, injudiciously mentioning everything you can remember that may have
something to do with concepts mentioned in the question or thesis, in the hope of chancing upon some
correct connections. Practice delivering your complete answer or explanation in the time provided you
for that particular exam.
3) Every student has his/her own system or style of studying for the oral exam. Some prepare by writing a
full essay to explain each thesis, as if they were answering a written exam. These students will
afterwards remember their answer by practicing delivering the essays. Some students prepare only an
outline of the answer they want to give. Some even practice their delivery in front of a mirror in order
to see what is wrong or right in their formal oral presentation.
4) Though not necessary, joining a study group might help a student prepare for the oral exam. Students
in a group might benefit by helping each other: there might be some concepts that other students
understand and are able to explain better than you can, or there might be some other points of view
that can help you appreciate what youre studying better. Oftentimes, it is other students who can
point out to you the strenghts and weaknesses of your public speaking skills and reasoning ability. A
student may have certain mannerisms that can be distracting, or false assumptions or fallacies of
reasoning that need to be adjusted. Others might be able to point out if a students confidence is
sufficient or not, as well as whether his/her speaking voice has the correct volume, clarity, speed, tone,
and pronounciation, and if the student is able to speak effectively with someone else (Does the student
maintain eye contact? Does s/he listen attentively to what the other is saying or asking about? Is the
student easy to get annoyed, unruffled, or confused?) The student must be able to respond effectively
to any number, kind, and difficulty level of questions that the instructor throws at him/her.
5) Please remember this, though: Do not ever simply rely on the answers that others have prepared. Even
if they are intelligent individuals, they still can make mistakes; even you, therefore, may commit
errors. More than this, though, there is simply no dignity in relying on others efforts. It is not you who
studied, who exerted the effort to understand, and therefore not you who learned anything. And most
probably, the instructor will easily suspect when students answers mimic each others (especially if
they are wrong answers!).
C. The night before your exam:
1) Go to bed early and get the sufficient amount of sleep. Do not sleep late or tire yourself out the night
before an exam (avoid cramming and partying the night before). Make sure to give both your body and
mind sufficient rest.

D. The day of the exam:

1) Wake up early, but make sure youve had the sufficient amount of sleep. Eat properly, take a nice
bath, and wear clean and presentable clothes (according to the dress code of the school).
2) Plan your route to school. Do not get trapped in traffic (make sure to know the rhythm of traffic from
your place to school, and determine whether there will be events that day that might affect traffic
flow).
3) Make sure you are in the college campus at least one(1) hour before your scheduled exam, so that you
have a sufficient amount of buffer time before your schedule.
4) Position yourself at least twenty (20) minutes before your schedule right outside the building where
the exam will take place, so that you will not need to run, get sweaty, or run out of breath just so you
can arrive in time.
5) Enter the building only when there are ten (10) minutes left before your schedule. Do not enter the
building before this. Remember, there must only be one of my students waiting outside the
examination rooom at any one time; avoid congregating in groups outside examination rooms since
this will cause a lot of noise and congestion in the building corridors, which may bother other teachers,
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students, and staff. Sit on the chair outside the examination room provided for the instructors
students. Do not speak with anybody while waiting your turn, instead, do what you usually do to
prepare yourself for the coming exam, short of cramming (thus: meditation, prayer, etc.anything to
manage your nerves and stress and focus yourself on the task at hand).
6) Enter the examination room once your schedule arrives (according to our synchronized time pieces).
Do not wait for the instructor to call you. If another student is still in the room, knock gently to
indicate your presence. Do not speak to the student before or after your turn, so as not to delay the
process, cause noise in the corridor, or stress yourself unnecessarily in asking what others had said.
7) Once inside the room, immediately sit down, mention your full name, class and section. The instructor
will make you randomly choose (either throught the role of a die, by picking a card, etc.) the thesis you
need to answer. Immediately read aloud the thesis youve selected and go into your prepared answer.
Do not ask the instructor anymore what youre supposed to do.
8) You are not allowed to check notes or readings during the exam; rely instead on your own mental
preparation.
9) Make sure you do not go beyond the alloted time for your answer (see above). When the instructor
begins with his questions, make sure to listen carefully to everything he is saying. Understand what he
really is asking you to explain or say. Always go direct to the point and avoid going around in circles or
mentioning anything only indirectly or not at all related to the topic at hand. Always use proper
English and avoid taglish.
10) Remember to answer properly. Many philosophy questions are in the form of what is X?remember
to avoid all the incorrect ways to answer this question (including simply giving examples, a metaphor
or a simile, a circular definition, an inessential quality or characteristic, etc.). Instead, clarify the
essential meaning of X. Make sure to explain important concepts before using them.
11) When your time is up, the instructor will simply say, Time is up. Immediately say goodbye and leave
the room (remember to take all your things with you). Do not ask the instructor anything to the effect
of your grade, how your answer was, etc.
12) Remember to not speak to anyone outside the room and along the corridor. Instead, immediately
vacate the building so as to avoid clogging the corridors.
13) The exam is now over. Just wait for your oral exam grades through the Facebook group.

Philosophy Oral ExaminationsInstructions and Advice (Instructor: Michael Ner E. Mariano)