SET Exam Information

Revised :   08/31/04 05:02                (SET/exam.htm)             Back to SET home page


This page contains examples of reading quiz, mid-term exam and final exam questions. It was designed to assist student's in preparing for course exams. The best way to study for any exam is to carefully review lecture notes and handouts, readings and seminar materials.

Seminar instructors will give a few reading quizzes during the semester to encourage students to complete the weekly reading assignments. The quizzes may be made up of multiple choice, short answer, true/false or essay type questions and take approximately five to eight minutes of seminar time.


Sample Mid-term and Final Exam Questions *

The questions below are not all based on assigned readings for Fall, 1998. They are designed to give students a general idea of the type of questions which might be asked rather than to specifically focus on reading content.

Sample multiple choice items:

  1. Which of the following items is NOT an aspect or element of any technological system?
    A. Innovation    B. Technique       C. Organization       D. Artifacts
  2. Which term best describes the present relationship between science and technology?
    A. Distinct     B. Indirect      C. Competitive     D. Symbiotic
  3. The PRIMARY EMPHASIS of Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times is on:
    A. industrial workers sheep-like behavior.
    B. the boring routine of assembly line work.
    C. worker's dehumanization by both bosses and machines.
    D. the need for longer breaks to slow the intense pace of the assembly line.

Sample short answer items:

  1. What is the most common fuel in LDCs?
  2. What is the name of the technology used to create transgenic organisms?
  3. What is the major cause of species extinction in the world?

Sample short essay items:

  1. Discuss one advantage and one disadvantage of using automation in the workplace.
  2. Discuss a specific example of how a particular product/artifact or system of technology can exert sizeable influence on or actual control of a local community issue or political decision.
  3. Name the era which led to the growth of cities and describe other major impacts of this event as well as its approximate date.

Sample critical essay items:

  1. This course has emphasized the impact of technological innovation on society. Often the social consequences of new technologies involve tradeoffs, winner and loser, or the creation of new problems. Illustrate this concept by using one major historical and one major contemporary example and describe why you believe those technologies have either improved the human condition or damaged it.
  2. Describe three major ways in which work has changed in America over the past 30 years and the major factors accounting for those shifts.
  3. Discuss the "world energy" crises and at least two plausible solutions to the problem.
  4. What is China's solution to their population problem and discuss how well you feel such a program would succeed in this country.


Please send any feed back to Dr. Edelbach at:  edelbach@tcnj.edu