6LA FINAL EXAM REVIEW SHEET – DICKSON
In-Class Essay: Tues., May 20, 2014
Rest of Exam: Wed., May 21, 2014
I. In-Class Essay:
You will write this essay in class on Tues., May 20. Then, on the following day, those who need it will
have additional time to finish the essay.
ESSAY TOPIC: According to the After Words section following the conclusion of the novel, Rodman
Philbrick, the author of Freak the Mighty, has said that the novel “is about a writer learning to find his
voice.” Thoroughly explain, with numerous specific examples from the novel, how Freak the Mighty is
about a writer learning to find his voice. We will discuss this topic during our review sessions, so you will
be completely prepared to write this essay. In addition, I will give you a separate essay information
sheet with more details.
II. Vocabulary:
You should know everything about the 45 total vocabulary words on lists 4, 5, & 6: definition, part of
speech, and usage in a sentence. You do NOT need to try to memorize the definitions; I certainly will
NOT ask you to come up with those out of thin air. Just know what the definitions mean in your own
words, so you can identify the correct vocabulary word in a multiple-choice setting. I will use only the
brief definitions that appeared on the actual vocabulary quizzes. I will give you a separate vocabulary
packet with all the definitions, in case you have misplaced your old lists.
List 4
aversion
discourse
mused
benefactor
emphatically
placid
casually
entreat
relinquished
compassion
exasperated
servile
condescend
inexplicable
waistcoat
benign
dissent
palpable
circumvent
edifice
perverse
conclave
equanimity
trepidation
demeanor
impervious
verdant
askew
immobilized
ruefully
crucial
incantation
sodden
euphoria
irksome
speculation
extracted
obscured
suppress
List 5
apparition
demise
implacable
List 6
antidote
grudgingly
procuring
III. Grammar:
You should be prepared to handle anything that was on the grammar mastery test, so reference the
review sheet for the grammar mastery test. In addition, the final exam will feature questions from the
work we did in preparation for spring testing. Therefore, be prepared for questions covering the
following material:
Subject vs. object pronoun usage (when to use I vs. when to use me for example) (chapter 19 in your
yellow book)
Positive, comparative, and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs (examples: old, older, oldest &
clearly, more clearly, most clearly) (chapter 20 in your yellow book)
Subject-verb agreement (example: One of the girls is my sister) (chapter 17 in your yellow book)
Pronoun-antecedent agreement (example: One of the girls forgot her backpack) (chapter 19 in your
yellow book)
Capitalization (chapter 22 in your yellow book) and punctuation (chapters 23 & 24 in your yellow book) –
capitalization, end punctuation, commas, semicolons, colons, underlining (italics), quotation marks,
apostrophes, & hyphens
IV. Poetry:
Review your poetry test. You will need to know the following poetry terms. I will present them in
multiple choice, matching, or true-false questions. You will NOT have to memorize the exact wording of
definitions, but rather be able to identify correct definitions. That is, you will have something to work
with; I will NOT ask you to pull definitions out of thin air.
alliteration, assonance, & consonance
allusion
free verse
imagery
meter
onomatopoeia
personification
poetry vs. prose
repetition
rhyme & rhyme scheme
simile vs. metaphor
speaker
stanza
symbol
theme
You should also review the following ten poems we studied in the blue literature book. If I ask you
about a particular poem, I will provide the text of that poem (whole poem or excerpt), so you do NOT
have to try to memorize poems.
“The Courage That My Mother Had” by Edna St. Vincent
Millay - pg. 135
“My Father Is a Simple Man” by Luis Omar Salinas - pg. 137
“Same Song” by Pat Mora - pg. 309
“To Young Readers” by Gwendolyn Brooks - pg. 158
“Mad” by Naomi Shihab Nye - pg. 331
“who knows if the moon’s” by E. E. Cummings - pg. 194
“I Dream a World” by Langston Hughes
- pg. 338
“Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” by Maya
Angelou- pg. 340
“My Parents” by Stephen Spender - pg. 306
“Maestro” by Pat Mora - pg. 312
V. Short Stories:
Be prepared to answer objective and subjective questions about the following short stories we studied
in the blue literature book. Objective questions will have a right or wrong answer. For example, Does
the story have first person or third person narration? Subjective questions, on the other hand, are the
ones where the teacher says “thoroughly explain” something or other. There won’t necessarily be a
right or wrong answer; the credit a student receives on a subjective question will depend on his or her
ability to express thoughts clearly and convincingly. Be sure to remember the massive difference
between plot and theme.
“The Fly” by Mai Vo-Dinh - pg. 3
“The Scribe” by Kristin Hunter - pg. 12
“The Dog of Pompeii” by Louis Untermeyer - pg. 30
Also review pgs. 8, 22, 41-42, & 44-45
VI. Freak the Mighty:
Be prepared to answer objective and subjective questions about Freak the Mighty.
VII. Bonus Opportunity:
I will give you some questions about the poets Dr. Moore covered during his Monday afternoon visits.
Again, these will be BONUS questions: they can help you but not hurt you. All of the information will
come from Dr. Moore’s information sheets, so, if you missed any of his sessions, you will still have a fair
shot at getting these bonus points.
Which poet came first, Shakespeare or Wordsworth? Who wrote “The Road Not Taken”? Which of the
following is considered a work of modern poetry, The Canterbury Tales or “The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock”? And so on.
Best of luck to all of you!