Week 8 · Midterm exam

Week 8 — Midterm exam

Music Theory I · MUS 156 Fictional sample

REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS — instructor copy. This file contains the complete midterm with its vetted key and per-item feedback. Students never see this document; they meet the exam in the exam session, in the room.

Week 8 — MIDTERM EXAM · Foundations, Certified (Units 1–7)

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 8 of 16 (Week 8) · two sessions per week
Exam: Week 8's exam session, in class · 50 items × 2 points = 100 points · 75 minutes · proctored · closed to AI, devices, and notes
Objectives certified: SLO 1 (pitch and rhythm notation) · SLO 2 (keys, scales, signatures, circle) · SLO 3 (intervals) · SLO 7 (aural intuition → correct notation and terminology)

Proctoring notes

Delivery, either mode works — choose by room and preference:
Paper (default): print one exam per student from the rendered QTI/print master; students answer directly on the paper in the course's typed convention (F#4, "dotted quarter", "1 la li"). No staff-drawing appears anywhere on the exam; every item is answerable in text.
Canvas-proctored: the QTI quiz (idents m3mtq01–q50) imports as a one-attempt, 75-minute, access-coded quiz taken in the room on locked screens. Release the access code in the room only; the quiz stays invisible to students until the session.
Closed means closed: no AI, no devices, no notes, no headphones. Phones silenced and away before papers go out. (AI was required on the prep tools all the way to the door — the room is the other half of that design, so state it without apology.)
Timing: the full session — 75 minutes. That's ~90 seconds per item; students who worked the practice exam will finish with time to review. Students with accommodation letters receive their approved extended time per the letter — arrange the space before exam day.
No new instructions needed at the door: the J overview and study guide already told students the format, the kit (two pencils, an eraser), and the convention. Read the cover line, start the clock, write the end time on the board.
Return plan: grade promptly — the debrief discussion closes the end of Week 8 and works best while the experience is fresh, and students deserve the result while the term can still use it.

Blueprint

The table below is the exam's per-unit allocation and objective map; the item-type mix follows.

Unit	Focus	Items	Points	SLO
Week 1	The map — addresses, keyboard, accidentals, enharmonics	6	12	1, 7
Week 2	Pulse and page — values, dots, ties, simple meter	7	14	1, 7
Week 3	Dividing the beat — compound meter, tuplets, feel	7	14	1, 7
Week 4	Major — scales, signatures, orders, circle	8	16	2, 7
Week 5	Minor — relative/parallel, three forms, degree names	8	16	2, 7
Week 6	Intervals I — size, quality, inversion, below	7	14	3, 7
Week 7	Intervals II — compound, tritone, consonance	7	14	3, 7
Total		50	100	1 · 2 · 3 · 7

Item types: 44 multiple choice · 4 true/false · 2 matching. Exactly one correct answer per single-answer item; every item text-answerable; keys vetted against the course's vetted anchor set (THEORY_PACK) and machine-checked.

The exam, in order, with key and feedback

Correct answers are bolded with ✅. The feedback lines below each item double as the hand-back commentary — read the most-missed ones aloud when returning the exam.

Q1 (MC · m3mtq01). How far is it from E2 up to A3?

A. P4
B. P12
C. P11 ✅
D. M10

Feedback: E up to A reads as a fourth; add the octave between registers and it becomes a perfect eleventh.

Q2 (MC · m3mtq02). d minor's relative major is —

A. C major
B. F major ✅
C. B♭ major
D. D major

Feedback: Climb a minor third from any minor tonic to find its relative major — d rises to F, one flat either way.

Q3 (MC · m3mtq03). A conductor beats 12/8 in four. Each sweep of the arm equals which written value?

A. a dotted half note
B. a dotted quarter note ✅
C. a quarter note
D. an eighth note

Feedback: Every conducted beat gathers three eighths, and three eighths add up to one dotted quarter.

Q4 (MC · m3mtq04). Three of these spellings are lawful scales; one breaks the letter rule. Which is broken?

A. E3 F♯3 A♭3 A3 B3 C♯4 D♯4 E4 ✅
B. C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4 C5
C. G♭3 A♭3 B♭3 C♭4 D♭4 E♭4 F4 G♭4
D. B3 C♯4 D♯4 E4 F♯4 G♯4 A♯4 B4

Feedback: Spot the doubled letter: A♭ and A both spend the letter A, and G goes missing — G♯ was the lawful spelling.

Q5 (MC · m3mtq05). Left to itself, one beat of 2/4 divides into —

A. two even eighth notes ✅
B. three even eighth notes
C. six even sixteenth notes
D. four uneven pieces

Feedback: Simple meters halve the beat; splitting in threes is what marks a meter as compound.

Q6 (MC · m3mtq06). A double flat (𝄫) shifts its note —

A. down an octave
B. up two half steps
C. down two half steps ✅
D. down one half step

Feedback: Doubling an accidental doubles its reach: the double flat lowers a note by two half steps, a full whole step.

Q7 (MC · m3mtq07). Which signature here is compound triple?

A. 9/8 ✅
B. 3/8
C. 6/8
D. 3/4

Feedback: Compound triple needs three beats that each split in three: nine eighths grouped 3+3+3.

Q8 (MC · m3mtq08). Ascending b♭ melodic minor reads —

A. B♭3 C4 D♭4 E♭4 F4 G♭4 A4 B♭4
B. B♭3 C4 D♭4 E♭4 F4 G♭4 A♭4 B♭4
C. B♭3 C4 D♭4 E♭4 F4 G4 A4 B♭4 ✅
D. B♭3 C4 D♭4 E♭4 F4 G4 A♭4 B♭4

Feedback: Melodic ascent raises both ^6 and ^7 — G♭ and A♭ become G and A — smoothing the climb to the tonic.

Q9 (MC · m3mtq09). One quarter note equals how many sixteenth notes?

A. 16
B. 8
C. 4 ✅
D. 2

Feedback: Two halvings take a quarter down to sixteenths: quarter to two eighths, eighths to four sixteenths.

Q10 (MC · m3mtq10). What do C major and c minor have in common?

A. nothing whatsoever
B. both signature and tonic alike
C. one signature — they are relative keys
D. one tonic note — they are parallel keys ✅

Feedback: Parallel keys plant the same tonic in two different landscapes: C major reads empty, c minor reads three flats.

Q11 (MC · m3mtq11). Traveling sharpward around the circle, the stop just past G major is —

A. A major
B. D major ✅
C. C major
D. F major

Feedback: Each sharpward hop rises a perfect fifth and gains one sharp: G with one sharp hands off to D with two.

Q12 (Matching · m3mtq12). Every interval owns exactly one inversion. Pair them up.

Answer bank: augmented fifth · perfect fourth · minor third · major second · major seventh

minor second → major seventh ✅
perfect fifth → perfect fourth ✅
diminished fourth → augmented fifth ✅
major sixth → minor third ✅
minor seventh → major second ✅

Feedback: Add the two sizes to nine and swap qualities: major with minor, augmented with diminished, perfect with itself.

Q13 (MC · m3mtq13). b♭ minor carries how many flats?

A. five — B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ ✅
B. four — B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭
C. six — B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ C♭
D. two — B♭ E♭

Feedback: b♭ minor leans on its relative, D♭ major, and so carries flats one through five of the standard order.

Q14 (TF · m3mtq14). The 8 at the bottom of 9/8 tells you the felt beat of the music is the eighth note.

True
False ✅

Feedback: In compound signatures the bottom number names the division, not the beat — the felt beat is the dotted quarter.

Q15 (Matching · m3mtq15). Each spoken pattern below has one duty. Match them.

Answer bank: the division of a simple beat · the subdivision of a compound beat · the division of a compound beat · the subdivision of a simple beat

3 & → the division of a simple beat ✅
3 e & a → the subdivision of a simple beat ✅
3 la li → the division of a compound beat ✅
3 ta la ta li ta → the subdivision of a compound beat ✅

Feedback: Two-way split gets &, four-way gets e-&-a; three-way gets la-li, six-way gets ta-la-ta-li-ta.

Q16 (MC · m3mtq16). The bass lands on G2 as the lead voice holds B3. Between them sounds —

A. m10
B. M10 ✅
C. M3
D. P11

Feedback: Ten letter names apart — a third stretched by an octave — and major: call it M10 at full size.

Q17 (MC · m3mtq17). In any major key, the distance from ^3 up to ^4 measures —

A. a half step ✅
B. a whole step
C. a step and a half
D. it varies with the key

Feedback: The major pattern is fixed in every key: mi-to-fa is one of its two built-in half steps.

Q18 (MC · m3mtq18). Once a 9/8 groove reaches tempo, you feel the bar in —

A. three ✅
B. six
C. nine
D. two

Feedback: The nine eighths melt into three dotted-quarter beats — 9/8 is the compound cousin of a three-feel.

Q19 (MC · m3mtq19). Find the note a major third BENEATH F4.

A. D4
B. C♯4
C. D♭4 ✅
D. A♭3

Feedback: Third letter down from F is D of some kind; four half steps below F4 is D♭4 — C♯4 borrows the sound but breaks the letter.

Q20 (MC · m3mtq20). In B♭ major the tritone A3–E♭4 leans hard, each note sliding a half step inward. Where does it come to rest?

A. B♭3 and C4
B. B♭3 and D4 ✅
C. A3 and F4
D. G3 and E4

Feedback: Ti climbs home while fa sinks: A3 rises to B♭3 and E♭4 falls to D4, arriving on a major third.

Q21 (MC · m3mtq21). You are handed the spelled scale F3 G3 A♭3 B♭3 C4 D♭4 E4 F4. It is —

A. f harmonic minor ✅
B. f melodic minor, ascending
C. f natural minor
D. A♭ major

Feedback: The tell is the gap from D♭ up to E: a lone raised ^7 against an untouched ^6 is harmonic minor's fingerprint.

Q22 (MC · m3mtq22). A 3/4 measure runs: two eighths, then a quarter, then another quarter. The attacks fall on —

A. 1 e, 2, 3
B. 1, 2, 3 &
C. 1 &, 2, 3 ✅
D. 1, 2 &, 3

Feedback: Track the arithmetic beat by beat: the eighth pair fills beat 1 as 1-&, and each quarter claims its own number.

Q23 (MC · m3mtq23). Which notational device lets a note that began in one measure keep sounding into the next with no fresh attack?

A. a fermata
B. a slur
C. a tie ✅
D. a double barline

Feedback: Only the tie carries a duration over the barline as one sound; a slur connects different pitches instead.

Q24 (MC · m3mtq24). Speaking the division count of 9/8, what do you say across the second beat?

A. 2 ta li
B. 2 la li ✅
C. 2 e & a
D. 2 & a

Feedback: Each dotted-quarter beat of 9/8 gets its number plus la and li for the second and third eighths.

Q25 (MC · m3mtq25). C♯4 up to F4 walks through four letters yet covers just four half steps. Its full name is —

A. a minor third
B. a diminished fourth ✅
C. a major third
D. a perfect fourth

Feedback: Four letters demand some flavor of fourth; four half steps shrink it below perfect, to diminished.

Q26 (MC · m3mtq26). Every major key hides exactly one tritone between ^4 and ^7. In G major that pair is —

A. D and A♭
B. G and C♯
C. C and F♯ ✅
D. B and F

Feedback: Fa and ti of G major are C and F♯ — the key's lone built-in tritone.

Q27 (MC · m3mtq27). After B♭ and E♭, the third flat to enter any signature is always —

A. D♭
B. C♭
C. A♭ ✅
D. G♭

Feedback: Flats stack in the fixed order B-E-A-D-G-C-F, so the third slot always belongs to A♭.

Q28 (MC · m3mtq28). Step up from E4 to the neighboring white key just above. Its full label is —

A. E♯4
B. F♯4
C. G4
D. F4 ✅

Feedback: E to F is one of the two natural half steps, and both notes sit inside the same numbered octave, 4.

Q29 (MC · m3mtq29). The dot after a dotted half note contributes —

A. one eighth note, no more and no less
B. a fixed single beat, whatever the meter
C. a full extra half note of length
D. a quarter's worth — half the half itself ✅

Feedback: The dot is proportional: it always adds half of whatever value it follows, so a half note gains a quarter.

Q30 (MC · m3mtq30). Quality aside, letters alone: D3 up to A3 comes to —

A. a fifth ✅
B. a seventh
C. a sixth
D. a fourth

Feedback: D, E, F, G, A — five letter names in the span, so the size is a fifth.

Q31 (MC · m3mtq31). The choir's next anthem sits in A♭ major. Sung upward from A♭4, its scale runs —

A. A♭4 B♭4 C5 D5 E♭5 F5 G5 A♭5
B. A♭4 B♭4 C5 D♭5 E♭5 F5 G♭5 A♭5
C. A♭4 B♭4 C♭5 D♭5 E♭5 F5 G5 A♭5
D. A♭4 B♭4 C5 D♭5 E♭5 F5 G5 A♭5 ✅

Feedback: A♭ major carries the four flats B♭, E♭, A♭, and D♭ — C and F and G stay natural.

Q32 (MC · m3mtq32). The move from E5 up to F5 spans —

A. an octave
B. a half step ✅
C. a whole step
D. a step and a half

Feedback: No black key separates E and F, so the gap is a single half step no matter which octave you are in.

Q33 (MC · m3mtq33). Keep both letter names, but stretch a major interval by one extra half step. The new quality is —

A. augmented ✅
B. minor
C. perfect
D. diminished

Feedback: Beyond major lies augmented; the ladder for seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths runs diminished-minor-major-augmented.

Q34 (TF · m3mtq34). Any interval of six half steps must be written as a diminished fifth.

True
False ✅

Feedback: Across five letters, six half steps make d5; across four letters they make an augmented fourth — spelling decides.

Q35 (MC · m3mtq35). Open up a perfect twelfth: once the octave is set aside, which simple interval remains?

A. a diminished fifth
B. a perfect fourth
C. a major sixth
D. a perfect fifth ✅

Feedback: Twelve minus seven leaves five — a P12 is an octave wrapped around a perfect fifth.

Q36 (MC · m3mtq36). Name the note a diminished fifth up from E4.

A. B4
B. B♭4 ✅
C. A4
D. A♯4

Feedback: Five letters E-to-B set the size; six half steps flatten the fifth to B♭4 — A♯4 would spell a different interval.

Q37 (MC · m3mtq37). Descending stepwise, the letters run D, C, B, and then —

A. G
B. H
C. A ✅
D. E

Feedback: The seven-letter cycle works in both directions: below B comes A, and below A the cycle wraps to G.

Q38 (MC · m3mtq38). Starting at middle C and falling a full octave, you reach —

A. C2
B. B3
C. C3 ✅
D. C4

Feedback: An octave down from any C is the C with the next lower number, so middle C (C4) drops to C3.

Q39 (MC · m3mtq39). The signature of A major holds —

A. three sharps: G♯ C♯ F♯
B. two sharps: F♯ C♯
C. three flats: B♭ E♭ A♭
D. three sharps: F♯ C♯ G♯ ✅

Feedback: A major takes the first three of the sharp order — F♯, C♯, G♯ — written on the staff in exactly that sequence.

Q40 (MC · m3mtq40). One whole step below A4 sits —

A. A♭4
B. F4
C. G4 ✅
D. G♯4

Feedback: A whole step covers two half steps, so from A4 you pass the G♯/A♭ key and settle on G4.

Q41 (MC · m3mtq41). Which recipe legitimately completes one measure of 2/4?

A. any assortment of values totaling two quarter-note beats ✅
B. two quarter notes and no other combination, ever
C. however many notes you like — totals are flexible
D. four eighth notes plus one quarter note

Feedback: A time signature is a budget: any mix of values works so long as the measure's total lands exactly on it.

Q42 (MC · m3mtq42). A quarter rest in 2/4 holds the silence for —

A. an entire measure
B. one beat ✅
C. half a beat
D. two beats

Feedback: Rests mirror note values exactly; where the quarter note is the beat, the quarter rest silences one full beat.

Q43 (MC · m3mtq43). Working within A major, the distance from A3 up to D4 is —

A. a major third
B. an augmented fourth
C. a perfect fourth ✅
D. a perfect fifth

Feedback: A-B-C-D makes the size a fourth, and five half steps land it squarely on perfect.

Q44 (MC · m3mtq44). E♭ major's three-flat signature also belongs to one minor key. Which?

A. a minor
B. g minor
C. e♭ minor
D. c minor ✅

Feedback: Every signature serves two tonics; count down three half steps from E♭ to reach its minor tenant, c.

Q45 (MC · m3mtq45). The signature belonging to f♯ minor is —

A. three sharps: F♯ C♯ G♯ ✅
B. F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ — four in all
C. two sharps: F♯ C♯
D. three flats: B♭ E♭ A♭

Feedback: f♯ minor shares A major's three sharps — relative keys always fly one flag.

Q46 (MC · m3mtq46). In the meter families, 3/4 files under —

A. simple duple
B. simple triple ✅
C. compound duple
D. compound triple

Feedback: Three quarter-note beats per bar, each splitting in two: that is the definition of simple triple.

Q47 (TF · m3mtq47). On the descent, melodic minor lets its raised ^6 and ^7 fall back to the key signature's own spelling.

True ✅
False

Feedback: The raises exist to sharpen the upward drive; heading down, the pull vanishes and natural minor returns.

Q48 (MC · m3mtq48). A signature of six sharps announces —

A. B major
B. C♯ major
C. F♯ major ✅
D. E major

Feedback: Six sharps run F♯ through E♯; a half step above the final sharp, E♯, sits the tonic F♯.

Q49 (TF · m3mtq49). Measured from the tonic, the fourth degree of every major scale sits a perfect fourth away.

True ✅
False

Feedback: Do to fa holds at P4 in all fifteen major keys — that frame of the scale never bends.

Q50 (MC · m3mtq50). Four flats at the head of the staff announce —

A. D♭ major
B. E♭ major
C. F major
D. A♭ major ✅

Feedback: B♭-E♭-A♭-D♭ is the four-flat set, and its next-to-last member, A♭, names the major key.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object     = Quizzes::Quiz
title             = "MIDTERM EXAM — Foundations (Units 1–7)"
assignment_group  = "Midterm exam"
points_possible   = 100
grading_type      = points
quiz_type         = assignment
allowed_attempts  = 1
time_limit        = 75                      # minutes; extended-time per accommodation letters
access_code       = set in the room only    # in-class proctored delivery
one_question_at_a_time = optional (proctor's choice for screen delivery)
published         = true, hidden from students until the exam session
administered      = Week 8's exam session, in class
# The exam FAMILY (study guide M, prep tutorial N, practice exam O) released with
# week 6; this exam object is assembled and locked at
# that same release but stays closed until the exam session — students meet the
# items only in the room.
# QTI rendered by the build system from _build/exams/midterm.json
# (idents m3mtq01–q50, globally unique; sourced from the Week 1–Week 7 exam pools).

This is the human-readable exam with its vetted answer key and rationale. The import-ready Classic-QTI version (L-midterm-week-08-qti.xml) ships inside the course's .imscc package — it lands in the Canvas gradebook on import.

~ Professor Hemsworth's edition · Kenosis College · built with thecoursemaker.com