Final Exam

Forty practice questions covering the course's method and case studies, plus a short description of what the real exam will actually look like.

Due: 29 October 2027 · Weight: 35%

Format#

The real exam is closed-book, 90 minutes, sat during the university’s standard final exam period. It has two parts:

• Part A — 20 multiple-choice questions (40% of the exam mark). These test whether you can correctly identify the norm, the isolated act, and the method step at work in a short scenario — some drawn from the course’s own case studies, most not.
• Part B — 4 short-answer scenario questions (60% of the exam mark). Each gives you a novel public-etiquette scenario you haven’t seen before and asks you to apply the observe/isolate/describe method to it directly: name the norm, isolate the smallest deliberate act that would break it, and describe precisely what you’d expect to happen next, with reasoning.

Recall of week titles, teacher names, or lecture trivia is not tested anywhere on the exam. Every question is really testing the same thing this whole course has: can you apply the method to something you’re seeing for the first time.

Forty practice questions#

Use these to rehearse, not to memorise — the real exam’s scenarios will be different ones.

1. (MC) In the course’s method, what does “isolate” refer to? A. The consequence of a violation B. The single smallest act that departs from the norm C. The person affected by a violation D. The audience watching a violation
2. (MC) Which of the following is the most isolated version of a queue violation? A. Cutting in front of the first three people B. Walking straight to the front of a ten-person line C. Standing slightly closer to the front than the queue’s natural spacing D. Asking someone if this is the line
3. (Short answer) A stranger in a lift reaches across you to press a floor button you hadn’t touched, without asking. Apply the method: name the norm, isolate the act, and describe what a typical lift car would do in the next five seconds.
4. (MC) Why does the course treat littering as an “audience-less nuisance”? A. It happens only at night B. The person who benefits from the act is rarely watched doing it C. It has no real cost to anyone D. It is impossible to observe
5. (MC) In the seat-saving case study, what is identified as the variable that changes whether a saved seat is honoured? A. The value of the item left on the seat B. Scarcity C. The time of day only D. Whether the person owns the seat legally
6. (Short answer) A commuter puts their bag on the empty seat next to them on a half-full train. Using the week 5/6 material, describe the condition under which another passenger is likely to challenge this, and the condition under which they are not.
7. (MC) What makes the elevator, in this course’s terms, a “closed system”? A. It has no windows B. Fixed capacity, fixed exits, short duration, high density C. It is legally regulated D. Nobody can talk inside it
8. (MC) The shush, as studied in week 4, is described as: A. An effective, proportionate response B. A disproportionate response that still works C. A norm with no social cost D. A universally accepted greeting
9. (Short answer) A library patron takes a phone call at normal volume for four minutes; nobody says anything. On minute five, someone nearby says “shh.” Explain, using the week 4 material, why the shush lands as a bigger disruption than the call it answers.
10. (MC) Which pair of weeks does the course itself explicitly invite you to compare on the topic of claimed personal space? A. Weeks 1 and 12 B. Weeks 3 and 6 C. Weeks 2 and 10 D. Weeks 7 and 9
11. (Short answer) You notice a jacket left on a café chair while the café is nearly empty, and again later when the café is at capacity. Explain why the same object produces two different social readings.
12. (MC) The course’s central bridge analogy (week 1) compares finding a norm’s limit to: A. Reading an engineering spec B. Finding out exactly how much weight makes a bridge fail C. Building a stronger bridge D. Avoiding bridges altogether
13. (MC) A “deniable” version of a deliberate act (week 2) is one that: A. Cannot be detected at all B. Is technically possible to read as an accident, even if the room suspects otherwise C. Always avoids consequences D. Is illegal
14. (Short answer) Someone coughs directly into an open-plan office exactly as a colleague finishes making a point, then does not acknowledge it. Isolate the act and describe two plausible readings a coworker might land on.
15. (MC) In week 8’s fluid-dynamics framing, a sudden stop in pedestrian flow is disruptive mainly because: A. It is rude B. The system copes well with gradual change and badly with sudden change C. Footpaths are too narrow everywhere D. Nobody watches where they’re walking
16. (MC) The restroom’s “central pretence” (week 10) refers to: A. Cleaning staff being invisible B. Everyone agreeing to act as though the room is silent, when it demonstrably isn’t C. Mirrors being one-way D. Taps running out of water
17. (Short answer) A phone rings loudly inside a public restroom stall and is answered mid-call. Using week 10’s material, describe what this breach costs the room, compared to the cost of maintaining the usual silence.
18. (MC) The course frames a queue as: A. A rule enforced by staff B. An agreement among strangers enforced by nothing but mutual expectation C. A legal contract D. A physical barrier
19. (MC) Which of these is the least isolated (i.e. most bundled) description of a violation? A. “He held the door two seconds longer than needed” B. “He was inconsiderate in the elevator” C. “He pressed a floor no one asked for” D. “He stood in the third of the car nearest the panel”
20. (Short answer) A queue forks around a pillar and does not cleanly re-merge; two people now believe they are each next. Apply the method: describe the norm’s failure point and what you’d expect the room to do to resolve it.
21. (MC) Why does the course single out the Practicum (week 11) as different from every other week? A. It is optional B. It is the one week you commit a violation yourself, deliberately and under supervision, rather than observing someone else’s C. It has no marking criteria D. It is not run in person
22. (MC) The exaggeration required in the Practicum exists because: A. It is funnier B. A convincing, undetectable violation teaches you nothing about the norm, while an obvious one forces a real-time reaction C. It is required by university policy D. Subtle violations are against the rules
23. (Short answer) Explain, in your own words, why the method the course opened with in Week 1 treats “isolating the smallest act” as more important than describing the worst possible violation of a norm.
24. (MC) Which of the following would the course consider a hypothesis, not a case study? A. “I watched a man cut a queue at the campus café on Tuesday and three people glared but nobody spoke” B. “People probably don’t like it when someone cuts a queue” C. “At 12:04pm a passenger reached past me to press level 3 without asking” D. “The barista shushed a customer on a phone call at 3:15pm”
25. (Short answer) A norm you haven’t studied in this course: someone stands directly behind you in an otherwise empty queue for a self-serve kiosk, closer than the line’s usual spacing. Apply observe/isolate/ describe to this novel scenario.
26. (MC) What is threshold litter (week 7)? A. Litter thrown over a fence B. What accumulates in the last few metres before a bin C. Litter from overflowing bins only D. Litter that biodegrades quickly
27. (MC) The course’s method step “describe” specifically asks you to record: A. What you assume would happen B. What you actually observed happen next C. What should happen according to etiquette guides D. What the violator intended
28. (Short answer) A passenger keeps their pole grip wide enough to block two other hands from reaching it on a crowded train. Using week 6’s “unpriced commons” framing, explain what is actually being claimed and why no rule technically prohibits it.
29. (MC) Which week’s case study is explicitly measured partly through acoustics (sound decay across a physical space)? A. Week 2 B. Week 4 C. Week 9 D. Week 11
30. (Short answer) Someone leaves a laptop unattended at a co-working space table for twenty minutes during a busy lunch rush. Contrast how a room is likely to read this against the same laptop left for twenty minutes on a near-empty Tuesday morning.
31. (MC) In the final report/argument-building sense the course teaches in week 12, what should organise the structure of an analytical account? A. The chronology of the semester B. The claim, not the chronology C. A list of every case study D. The marking criteria, verbatim
32. (Short answer) A novel scenario: a diner at a shared table in a food court leaves their tray on the table after finishing, rather than clearing it, while the food court is at capacity. Apply the method and say what norm this most resembles from the course, and why.
33. (MC) What does the course mean by describing littering’s enforcement gap? A. There is no norm against littering B. The person who benefits and the person who pays are rarely the same person, or even present at the same time C. Littering is legal D. Littering has no observable pattern
34. (MC) A queue-cutter who asks “excuse me, is this the line?” before joining near the front is, on the course’s cutting spectrum: A. Equivalent to walking straight to the front B. Near the least confrontational end of the spectrum C. Committing the same violation as someone who cuts silently D. Not a case the course would study
35. (Short answer) Explain why a five-minute phone call in a library is often tolerated while a ten-second shush in response to it provokes visible reaction — referencing the specific asymmetry the course names.
36. (MC) Which best describes the Practicum’s actual grading status this semester? A. It is 35% of the final mark B. It is not separately marked, but its debrief habit is expected in Assignment 1 and this exam C. It replaces the Final Exam D. It is marked only if you fail Assignment 1
37. (Short answer) A novel scenario: someone holds a lift door open for an extra six seconds while visibly checking their phone, ignoring two people already waiting inside. Isolate the act, and describe the two or three most likely reactions from inside the car.
38. (MC) What is the course’s stated objection to calling this discipline “manners” in the ordinary sense? A. Manners don’t exist B. The course studies etiquette as a describable system, not a moral checklist C. The course doesn’t care about politeness D. Manners are the same everywhere
39. (Short answer) A person in a shared university kitchen leaves dishes in the sink “to soak,” in a kitchen shared by twelve people, for three days. Apply observe/isolate/describe, and identify which studied norm (if any) this most closely resembles.
40. (Short answer) In your own words, explain what distinguishes a “case study” in this course from an “anecdote” or a “complaint” — and why that distinction matters for how Assignment 1 is marked.