Final Exam Information and Study Guide
Fall 2025
The final exam is on Wednesday, December 17 from 9:00-11:00 AM. All students will begin writing at the same time. To access the exam, go to the “Tests & Quizzes” tab on our OWL course site.
For students who are registered with the ACSD office and have exam accommodations, these will be automatically added to the exam.
You will have 120 minutes to complete the exam. The format of the final exam is multiple-choice questions and long answer questions. Once you begin the exam, you must finish it. You will only have one attempt to challenge the exam. Please make sure you do not have any distractions or interruptions.
The exam has 100 possible points. As noted above there are two parts to the exam. Part I consists of 60 multiple-choice questions (60 marks). Part II consists of long answer style questions related to the course material. There are four questions. Each is worth 10 marks (40 marks total).
The exam is not cumulative. You are responsible for Modules 6-11 only. This includes course notes, assigned readings, required course videos, important tutorial discussions etc. You are not required to memorize the stats from our class survey in Module 11.
You must not use AI, ChatGPT, online translators, textbooks, lecture materials, study notes, online searches, or our course site for this midterm. All work must be your own. You may not collaborate with others. You may not make a copy of the exam. Students who do not adhere to these rules will receive a zero grade. On a personal note, do not be tempted to cheat; it is not worth the compromise of your integrity and value.
Some things that might be helpful to know …
Popular Culture and Death
• Know how popular culture portrays death in various genres (types of movies, cartoons, superhero stories, horror films, music etc.).
• Know what the concept of abject represents and be able to identify its presence in specific forms of media.
Facing Death / End-of-Life Care
• Be able to identify the various awareness contexts of dying (Glaser & Strauss).
• Be familiar with the various ways that people experience the dying process.
• Be familiar with illness trajectories.
• Know the definitions of palliative and hospice care and what they entail.
Non-Death Loss and Grief
• Know what comprises the assumptive world.
• Know the following: non-finite loss, ambiguous loss, chronic sorrow, tangible loss, intangible loss.
Helping Bereaved Individuals
• Be familiar with the various ways that grief can manifest.
• Be able to identify some of the current thinking about grief.
• Be familiar with the typical social messages that bereaved individuals encounter.
• Know the difference between instrumental versus intuitive grievers.
• Know what is meant by the term, disenfranchised grief.
• Understand what is most helpful for bereaved individuals?
• Be able to identify the contributions made by professionals in the field of thanatology.
Funerals and Funeral Planning
• Know the various purposes a funeral serves.
• Know the things necessary that must be done after the death of someone.
• Know the various options available for disposition of the body that were discussed in the lecture materials.
Animal Companion Loss and Course Conclusion
• Know the key aspects of animal companion loss and grief.
• Understand the relationship/bonds between humans and animal companions.
• Be familiar with post-modern theories as they relate to animal companion loss.