MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Points possible: 140 (14 points per question)

Instructions:

This is an open book, non-proctored, and non-timed examination. Material covered in this examination comes from your reading assignments for the first four weeks of this class.  You must make connections to and properly cite the reading materials in each of your answers.

The exam is due by 11:55pm Sunday at the end of its assigned week.  All APUS assignments are due per Eastern Time. Exam deadlines cannot be customized for different time zones. Students in another time zone will need to submit earlier to avoid being locked out.

Answer each question thoroughly and clearly, and ground it in course reading material. Essay answers must be more than 3 or 4 brief sentences, but kept within the bounds of an essay exam (2 – 6 paragraphs). All your writing must be in your own words. Paraphrase (restate what you read) rather than copying material from course readings or the Internet.  No copying is permitted in this course and doing so will result in zero points on the exam. Answers must be written in narrative, paragraph form.  Lists and/or sentence fragments also will not receive points.

  

Maximum number of   characters (including HTML tags added by text editor): 32,000

Per question

Each Midterm Exam question will be evaluated using a grading rubric.  Please see the link to the MS Word document containing the grading rubric (below).

  

Component

Excellent

Satisfactory 

Needs Improvement 

Unsatisfactory 

Points Earned

 

Midterm / Final Exam   Questions

(10 questions,   14 points each)

Student provides   a succinct,   thorough, articulated response in well-organized paragraphs and completely substantive.   At least 600 words. Student   makes connections to and properly cites the reading materials. Answer is   presented in a logical and coherent way. Writing is clear, articulate, and   error free. Citations are composed in proper format with few or no errors. 

Student provides   an adequately   articulated response in reasonably well-organized paragraphs, and reasonably   substantive in content. Student   makes fair connections to and properly cites the reading materials. Work is   presented in a fairly logical and coherent way. Work is grammatically sound   with a few minor errors. Citations are composed in the proper format with   some errors.  

Student provides only   marginally articulated   response in poorly written paragraphs (lists, sentence fragments and bulleted   items are not permitted),   and marginally substantive in content. Student makes only marginal connections to and properly cite   the reading materials. Work lacks logical clarity. Work contains frequent   grammatical errors. Citations are inaccurate or improperly formatted. 

Student does not   provide a succinct,   thorough, articulated response in well-organized paragraphs (lists, sentence   fragments and bulleted items are not permitted), and significantly lacks   substantive content. Student   makes no connections to the reading materials. Work is not presented in a   logical and coherent way. Work does not demonstrate appropriate graduate   level writing. 

 

Summary Comments: 

Total   Points:   (140 points total)

1) What could be the various factors that are responsible for the effects of drugs on the mind and body?

2) Examine and describe some of the factors that influence drug-taking behavior.

3) How does cocaine affect the brain?

4) What types of illicit drugs are most likely to result in an Emergency Room visit?

5) By what criteria do we say that a drug is being misused or abused?

6) What are the behavioral patterns of heroin abuse?

7) What are some of the positive effects of marijuana use? What are some of the negative effects?

8) Discuss the structure and the functioning of neurons and their role in drug use.

9) Can LSD result in drug dependence? Why or why not?

10) Distinguish between what is meant by acute versus chronic toxic effects of drug abuse.