And I’m panicking! I only just about passed the last two and I really, really, need a high mark for this one. But I’ve also got Greek and some essays to write and hand in, what’s the best way of revising do you think? Is it too late to start trudging through some Lingua Latina now at this late juncture?
The exam is mainly translation and parsing.
As much as possible, read/translate bits from the books you know are on the curriculum
Lege seu verte quàm maximè locos librorum in curriculo scitorum.
Lingua Latina is good for “left to right” reading – that is, reading and understanding without translating word for word – and for learning vocabulary in context.
It is not designed to teach students how to recite the principle parts of delere or to distinguish a objective genitive from a partitive genitive. And there’s no guarantee that the material covered in a given chapter of Lingua Latina is the same as that which you need to know for the exam.
I would suggest that you take half an hour and look over your previous exams and figure out where you had the most difficulty (where you lost the most points). Was your problem with vocabulary? Identifying forms? Sorting out the various words in a sentence into some semblance of meaning?
Then go back over the grammar and reading material that will be covered on the exam and focus specifically on those areas which gave you particular difficulty.
FInally, you may already know this, but one key to getting good grades on exams is smart test-taking. Extrapolate from what you do know. For example, if you don’t know the meaning of a verb in a sentence, don’t give up and leave the entire sentence blank. Translate the parts you do understand. Use context to help you.
Are you taking a grammar course or a reading course?
In reading courses, I found that working through all the passages at least once helps enormously when reviewing. Not because I will remember every wierd construction or every vocabulary item, but because I remember the meaning of the text (or the process of deciphering it) and that seems to help me when I come to the exam.
Grammar and reading. The final exam will be based on grammar and set texts (letters from Cicero and some Catullus) and the upcoming exams will be grammar. The sentences seem deceptively easy yet I’m only scoring 50…perhaps I will sit down and go over the previous two first. Gratias tibi
If you wanted, you could post the sentences here and your explications of them, and then we could see if you’re overlooking anything. Personally, I always hated those grammar exams; even if I understood what the Latin said, I would have to rack my brain for the correct technical terms for everything. For example, I couldn’t immediately remember what an “objective genitive” was (which spiphany mentioned), but it was obvious after looking at an example.
Si vis, licet hic scribere sententias quae te sollicitaverunt et earum sententiam tuam. Si aliquid momenti forsan praetereas, te admonebimus. Examina de rebus grammaticis semper odi ego; etiamsi sententiam latinam adusque intellexi, mentem aegre scrutans nomina verborum detraxi. Exempli gratia, “objecti genitivi” (cujus mentionem fecit spiphany) oblitus sum, sed cum id legens actutum memini.
Greek failed, so let’s get ready to fail Latin too…
Commiserationes tibi! Nunc fortis exorire, et benè succedat tibi probatio in latino. Utinam ex eâ cum magnâ laude evadas!
Commiserations! Now pick yourself up and good luck in the Latin exam. I hope that you pass with flying colours.