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Week 16 · Practice exam

Week 16 — Practice Final Exam · The Whole Course, One Rehearsal

Music Theory I · MUS 156 Fictional sample

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 16 of 16 (Week 16) · Final exam: the Week 16 exam session — a 120-minute block
Objectives rehearsed: SLO 1–SLO 8 — the whole set, weighted the way the final weighs them
Points: 0 · unlimited attempts · feedback shown after every submission · online, open from the end of week 14

This is the human-readable practice final with its vetted key and feedback — the same
document the Canvas quiz is rendered from (_build/exams/practice-final.json, via the build
system's QTI renderer). Take it in Canvas for the timed rehearsal; use this page to study
the whys afterward. Every item is answerable from text alone; no images required.

What this is (and what it promises)

Fifty questions that rehearse the real final's shape: cumulative, front-loaded with the
harmony arc of units 9–15, and salted with Foundations. The real final is sixty items in a
120-minute proctored block; this practice form is fifty items you can take as many times as
you like, for zero points, with feedback on every line.

The zero-overlap guarantee. Not one of these fifty items appears on the live final. Not
one shares a stem, a scenario, or an answer set with it. The practice form mirrors the
blueprint — coverage, item types, difficulty — and shares zero questions, checked
mechanically at build time. If you can explain the why line under each of these, the real
exam will feel like the second time through the same rehearsal.

How to use it well:

  1. First pass, exam conditions: one sitting, 100 minutes, no notes, no AI — the real
    final is proctored and closed to AI, so rehearse that way once.
  2. Score it, then sort your misses with the miss log from the study guide: concept
    miss     (reread the unit's outline section), convention miss (drill the pinned
    convention block), or speed miss (re-run the drill families in the prep tutorial).
  3. Second pass, days later: retake it cold. The questions you miss twice are your
    final-week short list.

Blueprint — how the fifty break down

The table below maps the practice form against the live final's blueprint.

Source Practice items Live-final items
Week 1 The map 1 3
Week 2 Pulse and page 1 2
Week 3 Dividing the beat 2 2
Week 4 Major 2 2
Week 5 Minor, three ways 2 2
Week 6 Intervals I 1 2
Week 7 Intervals II 1 2
Week 9 Triads 5 6
Week 10 Seventh chords 6 7
Week 11 Roman numerals & function 6 7
Week 12 Cadences & phrases 5 6
Week 13 Two independent voices 6 7
Week 14 Melody & NCTs 6 6
Week 15 Charts, keys, real world 6 6
Total 50 (1 pt each) 60 (2 pts each = 120)

Both forms put roughly three quarters of their weight on units 9–15. That is a promise
about the real exam, kept here.

Questions, key, and feedback

Q1 (MC · m3fp01). An ending already has dominant and tonic rooted in the bass, but its tune finishes on the fifth degree. Which one edit turns it into a PAC?

  • A. swap the tonic out for the submediant
  • B. stack a ninth onto the dominant
  • C. drop the tonic chord into first inversion
  • D. let the melody finish on do instead ✅

Feedback: Only the melody's last note separates this close from perfection — send it to do.

Q2 (True/False · m3fp02). A bar of 12/8 contains four beats, with the dotted quarter note carrying each one.

  • True ✅
  • False

Feedback: True — 12/8 is compound quadruple: four dotted-quarter beats, each dividing into three.

Q3 (MC · m3fp03). A song in D minor keeps landing on A–C♯–E. What is that C♯ doing there?

  • A. it is an engraving error — the five chord must stay A–C–E
  • B. it is harmonic minor's lifted ^7, turning v into a major V that drives home ✅
  • C. it is borrowed from F major, the relative key, with its own signature
  • D. it is the subtonic of natural minor — a gentler, whole-step approach

Feedback: Raise C to C♯ and the five chord gains a leading tone — that pull is the whole point of harmonic minor.

Q4 (True/False · m3fp04). Two voices may reach a perfect octave from opposite directions without breaking the parallel-octave rule.

  • True ✅
  • False

Feedback: True — the ban concerns same-direction arrivals; approaching an octave from opposite sides is clean.

Q5 (MC · m3fp05). Starting on F4 and rising a major sixth puts you on which note?

  • A. D♭5
  • B. C5
  • C. D5 ✅
  • D. E5

Feedback: Six letter names and nine semitones above F4 is D5 — a major sixth.

Q6 (MC · m3fp06). Spell vii°7 in F minor, whose raised seventh degree is E natural.

  • A. E♭–G–B♭–D♭
  • B. E–G–B♭–D♭ ✅
  • C. E♭–G–B♭–D
  • D. E–G–B♭–D

Feedback: From E, stack minor thirds: G, B♭, D♭ — and the D♭ (not D) is what makes the seventh fully diminished.

Q7 (MC · m3fp07). The worship team calls the next song in A major. How many sharps appear in that signature?

  • A. four
  • B. two
  • C. five
  • D. three ✅

Feedback: A major carries three sharps: F♯, C♯, and G♯, in that order.

Q8 (MC · m3fp08). Phrase one leans on the dominant and waits; phrase two opens identically and finishes the job with a PAC. Together they form —

  • A. a turnaround
  • B. a refrain
  • C. a compound cadence
  • D. a period ✅

Feedback: A weak close answered by a strong one, matched openings — that paired shape is the period.

Q9 (MC · m3fp09). What is the practical payoff of charting a song in numbers rather than chord letters?

  • A. numbers only function in C major, which keeps sessions simple
  • B. one number chart survives any key change, because relationships — not letters — are on the page ✅
  • C. numbers free the group from ever learning the melody
  • D. numbers dictate exact voicings and registers to each player

Feedback: Numbers name each chord's job in the key, so the singer can move the key and nobody rewrites a page.

Q10 (MC · m3fp10). A cello line jumps up onto a long, accented dissonance right on the downbeat, then sighs down a single step to settle. That accented note is —

  • A. an escape tone
  • B. an appoggiatura ✅
  • C. a chord skip
  • D. an anticipation

Feedback: Jump onto the accented clash, resolve down by step — the appoggiatura's signature ache.

Q11 (MC · m3fp11). A part calls for the pitch a diminished fifth beneath E5. Which spelling goes on the page?

  • A. B♭4
  • B. B4
  • C. A♯4 ✅
  • D. A4

Feedback: A fifth below E keeps the letter A, so the tritone spelling is A♯4 — never B♭4, whatever the piano says.

Q12 (MC · m3fp12). Why does the course notate inversions as 6/5 but suspensions as 7-6?

  • A. slashes mark events unfolding across time, while hyphens capture simultaneous chord shapes — the reverse
  • B. the notations are interchangeable matters of visual house style
  • C. hyphens belong exclusively to minor keys
  • D. a slash stacks intervals into one chord shape; a hyphen traces one interval turning into another over time ✅

Feedback: Slashes stack a simultaneous shape; hyphens narrate a resolution across time — two symbols, two jobs.

Q13 (MC · m3fp13). Sketching a harmony vocal against a finished tune, which intervals do you lean on bar after bar?

  • A. perfect fifths and octaves, for rock-solid stability at every simultaneous pair
  • B. seconds and sevenths, for maximum bite
  • C. thirds, sixths, and tenths — rich, yet still two voices ✅
  • D. unisons, for maximum blend

Feedback: Thirds, sixths, and tenths supply harmony while both lines keep their identities intact.

Q14 (MC · m3fp14). Put the suspension's three stages in playing order.

  • A. resolution — suspension — preparation
  • B. preparation — suspension — resolution ✅
  • C. suspension — preparation — resolution
  • D. preparation — resolution — suspension

Feedback: Consonance first, then the held clash, then the stepwise release: preparation, suspension, resolution.

Q15 (True/False · m3fp15). Fmaj7/A, with the third in the bass, is simply another way of writing an A minor seventh chord.

  • True
  • False ✅

Feedback: Membership decides identity: Fmaj7 holds F–A–C–E while Am7 holds A–C–E–G — a bass note cannot rewrite the roster.

Q16 (MC · m3fp16). A soul singer keeps floating onto each coming chord's melody note a hair before the band changes, letting it ring into the new bar. The device is —

  • A. an anticipation ✅
  • B. rushing, for the producer to correct
  • C. an upper neighbor
  • D. a suspension

Feedback: Borrowing tomorrow's note a moment early is anticipation — a style choice, not a timing flaw.

Q17 (MC · m3fp17). Converting c natural minor into its harmonic form alters exactly one note. Which change is it?

  • A. A♭ becomes A
  • B. G becomes G♯
  • C. B♭ becomes B ✅
  • D. E♭ becomes E

Feedback: Harmonic minor raises only the seventh degree: in c minor, B♭ lifts to B natural.

Q18 (MC · m3fp18). A period opens with a phrase that leaves the door ajar on a weaker close. That opening phrase carries the name —

  • A. coda
  • B. consequent
  • C. antecedent ✅
  • D. anacrusis

Feedback: The phrase posing the question is the antecedent; its partner answers.

Q19 (MC · m3fp19). Key of E major, and the chart reads 1 · 4 · 5. Those chords are —

  • A. E · A · C♯m
  • B. E · A · B ✅
  • C. E · B · C♯m
  • D. A · D · E

Feedback: In E major, the numbers 1, 4, 5 decode to E, A, and B.

Q20 (MC · m3fp20). An analysis shows the figure 9-8, hyphen included. It means —

  • A. a ninth chord standing in root position
  • B. two different inversions sounding simultaneously
  • C. a suspension — the ninth above the bass falls to the octave ✅
  • D. a compound meter holding nine subdivisions that group themselves into eights

Feedback: Hyphen figures narrate events: here a ninth over the bass resolves down onto the octave.

Q21 (MC · m3fp21). Inversion figures in this course read 6/5 and 4/2, never 6-5 or 4-2. What is the reason?

  • A. slashes order the rhythm section to repeat the chord until the next symbol
  • B. the two markings are interchangeable leftovers from older engraving styles
  • C. a hyphen would pull the upper figure down by a half step and alter the quality
  • D. hyphens already denote suspensions — one figure resolving over a held bass — so inversions get slashes ✅

Feedback: A hyphenated 4-3 is a suspension resolving; a slashed 4/3 is an inversion — the punctuation does real work.

Q22 (Matching · m3fp22). Pair each hazard with what the checker calls it.

Answer bank: parallel octaves · direct (hidden) fifth or octave · parallel fifths · voice overlap · voice crossing

  • consecutive perfect fifths taken in lockstep → parallel fifths ✅
  • consecutive perfect octaves taken in lockstep → parallel octaves ✅
  • jump-approached perfect interval reached by shared direction → direct (hidden) fifth or octave ✅
  • lower part above the upper at one instant → voice crossing ✅
  • a part travels beyond the note its partner just quit → voice overlap ✅

Feedback: Parallels, hidden approaches, crossing, overlap — the five standard flags on a two-voice check.

Q23 (MC · m3fp23). In F major, vii° (E–G–B♭) contains every note of V7 (C–E–G–B♭) except one. Name the absentee.

  • A. G
  • B. C ✅
  • C. B♭
  • D. E

Feedback: Drop V7's root C and the three notes remaining are exactly vii° — the little dominant.

Q24 (True/False · m3fp24). Sorted into thirds, the voicing F♯–A–D proves to be a D major triad carrying its third in the bass.

  • True ✅
  • False

Feedback: Re-stacked it reads D–F♯–A; the lowest sounding note F♯ is the chord's third, hence first inversion.

Q25 (MC · m3fp25). i6/4 in D minor sets which chord member lowest?

  • A. D
  • B. C♯
  • C. F
  • D. A ✅

Feedback: A 6/4 always parks the fifth downstairs; for D–F–A that fifth is A.

Q26 (MC · m3fp26). A two-voice close in B♭ major gives one part A3 while the dominant chord is sounding. Where does that A3 head?

  • A. G3 — a gentle, ordinary step down, the way most melody notes prefer to move
  • B. F3 — falling to the dominant's root
  • C. A♭3 — lowered to relax the pull
  • D. B♭3 — A is ti here, and ti climbs to do ✅

Feedback: A sits a half step under B♭ major's tonic — the leading tone rises home at a close.

Q27 (MC · m3fp27). Across the seven diatonic seventh chords of any major key, the Mm7 sound — major triad, minor seventh — shows up exactly once. On which degree?

  • A. ^5 ✅
  • B. ^1
  • C. ^7
  • D. ^4

Feedback: Only ^5 mixes a major triad with a minor seventh; that scarcity is what makes the sound shout dominant.

Q28 (MC · m3fp28). The chordal seventh itself takes the bass. Which figure says so?

  • A. 4/3
  • B. 7
  • C. 4/2 ✅
  • D. 6/5

Feedback: Third inversion is 4/2: from that bass seventh, the root lies just a second above.

Q29 (MC · m3fp29). Pick the correct ascending spelling of the D♭ major scale.

  • A. D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭
  • B. D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D♭ ✅
  • C. D♭ E♭ F G♭ A B♭ C D♭
  • D. D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭

Feedback: Five flats, each letter used once: G♭ stays flat and C stays natural in D♭ major.

Q30 (MC · m3fp30). In C major the dominant seventh chord spells G–B–D–F. The line holding that F resolves it —

  • A. down a step to E — chordal sevenths fall ✅
  • B. up a step to G
  • C. in whichever direction the contour was already heading
  • D. down a leap to C

Feedback: F is the seventh of G7, and sevenths resolve downward by step — here onto E.

Q31 (True/False · m3fp31). One tune changes chords every four bars, another changes every beat — yet both can sit at the same metronome marking.

  • True ✅
  • False

Feedback: Tempo counts beats while harmonic rhythm counts chord changes — two independent clocks.

Q32 (MC · m3fp32). A lead sheet hands the keyboardist no written-out part at all. What fills the space beneath the melody?

  • A. voicings the player invents on the spot from the chord symbols ✅
  • B. the bass clef, performed exactly as written
  • C. octave-doubling of the tune, top to bottom
  • D. a printed grand-staff accompaniment

Feedback: That invention is called realization — turning symbols into actual notes that fit the moment.

Q33 (MC · m3fp33). In G minor, a line steps from E♭4 directly to F♯4. Identify the interval and the one-accidental cure.

  • A. a minor third — leave the line alone
  • B. a major second — leave the line alone
  • C. an augmented second — cured by dropping the F♯4 a half step back down to F4
  • D. an augmented second — lift the sixth degree to E4 (melodic minor) ✅

Feedback: E♭ up to F♯ is an augmented second; raising the sixth degree to E natural smooths the climb without losing the leading tone.

Q34 (MC · m3fp34). Build the chord on the sixth step of E natural minor. You find —

  • A. C–E–G♯, augmented
  • B. C–E♭–G, minor
  • C. C♯–E–G, diminished
  • D. C–E–G, major ✅

Feedback: E natural minor owns no accidentals beyond F♯, so its ^6 chord C–E–G rings plainly major.

Q35 (MC · m3fp35). The final bar shouts "D.S. al Coda." Trace the route it commands.

  • A. return to the sign, play until the To Coda flag, then leap to the Coda ✅
  • B. return to the sign and finish at the word Fine
  • C. return to the top and play through to the final bar
  • D. leap straight to the Coda from wherever you are

Feedback: D.S. al Coda routes you sign-first, then out at the To Coda flag, then into the tail.

Q36 (MC · m3fp36). Once the dominant has built its charge, the functional norm sends it —

  • A. to iii, to cool off gradually
  • B. to IV, so the subdominant can soak up the tension and cool everything down
  • C. back to another dominant, indefinitely
  • D. home to I — or off to vi when the writer stalls the arrival ✅

Feedback: Dominants discharge to the tonic — or feint onto vi for the deceptive delay.

Q37 (MC · m3fp37). Dm7 appears on the chart. Which pitch collection does that symbol hand the keys player?

  • A. D · F♯ · A
  • B. D · F · A · C♯
  • C. D · F♯ · A · C
  • D. D · F · A · C ✅

Feedback: Dm7 stacks D, F, A, C — a minor triad crowned with a minor seventh.

Q38 (MC · m3fp38). Restrict yourself to a major key's own pitches and build the four-note chord rooted on ^7. Its quality is always —

  • A. half-diminished, the viiø7 sound ✅
  • B. fully diminished, the vii°7 sound
  • C. dominant quality, the V7 sound
  • D. minor-seventh quality, the ii7 sound

Feedback: A diminished triad plus a MINOR seventh: viiø7 — major keys never yield the fully diminished stack.

Q39 (MC · m3fp39). Speak the counting syllables through one bar of 9/8, one per eighth note. Which syllable falls on the ninth and final eighth?

  • A. li ✅
  • B. a
  • C. la
  • D. &

Feedback: Compound triple: each beat carries la and li after its number, so the bar's ninth eighth note is li.

Q40 (Matching · m3fp40). An A major triad (A–C♯–E) appears in three stackings. Label each bass note.

Answer bank: first inversion, marked with a 6 · root position, its 5/3 left off the page · second inversion, marked with a 6/4

  • A in the bass → root position, its 5/3 left off the page ✅
  • C♯ in the bass → first inversion, marked with a 6 ✅
  • E in the bass → second inversion, marked with a 6/4 ✅

Feedback: Whichever member lands lowest names the position: root, third (6), or fifth (6/4).

Q41 (MC · m3fp41). When the key is G major, which chord does the mark 6m point to?

  • A. C major
  • B. B minor
  • C. E minor ✅
  • D. E major

Feedback: The sixth degree of G major is E, and the m makes it E minor — the key's relative minor chord.

Q42 (MC · m3fp42). A ballad in F major signs off F/C → C7 → F. The best reading of that F/C is —

  • A. a deceptive detour on the way back home
  • B. a cadential six-four — tonic notes stacked over the dominant's bass ✅
  • C. a chord on loan from C major
  • D. the actual final tonic, arriving ahead of schedule

Feedback: F/C is I in six-four position parked on ^5 — an ornament to the C7, not an early ending.

Q43 (MC · m3fp43). The bassist chooses the fifth of a G major triad for the bottom. Which note is that, and what figure follows?

  • A. D — the figure 6/4 ✅
  • B. G — the silent 5/3
  • C. B — the figure 6
  • D. D — the figure 6-4

Feedback: The fifth of G–B–D is D; with it lowest you write 6/4 — slashed, since a hyphen would claim a suspension.

Q44 (MC · m3fp44). A dominant seventh marked 4/2 sounds with which of its members at the very bottom?

  • A. the third
  • B. the root
  • C. the fifth
  • D. the seventh ✅

Feedback: 4/2 is the last inversion: the chordal seventh sinks into the bass and then resolves down by step.

Q45 (MC · m3fp45). All-night blues on A♭7: which pitch is the chord's seventh?

  • A. G♭ ✅
  • B. F
  • C. G
  • D. F♭

Feedback: A minor seventh above A♭ is G♭; a G natural would convert the chord into A♭maj7.

Q46 (MC · m3fp46). A guitar lets one dotted half note ring in 3/4 time. How much of the bar does it consume?

  • A. three beats — the entire bar ✅
  • B. two and a half beats
  • C. two beats
  • D. three and a half beats

Feedback: The dot adds half again: a half note's two beats plus one more fills all three beats of 3/4.

Q47 (MC · m3fp47). A folk tune in d minor goes on the setlist. Its key signature displays —

  • A. no flats or sharps at all
  • B. one sharp: F♯
  • C. a single flat: B♭ ✅
  • D. two flats: B♭ and E♭

Feedback: d minor borrows F major's signature — exactly one flat, B♭.

Q48 (True/False · m3fp48). Any phrase that comes to rest on its key's dominant chord has produced a half cadence.

  • True ✅
  • False

Feedback: Yes — coming to rest on V is precisely what defines the half cadence.

Q49 (MC · m3fp49). The outro chart shows Dm7/F. Identify the bass note and the job it does inside the chord.

  • A. F — the chord's root
  • B. F — the chord's third ✅
  • C. D — the chord's root
  • D. C — the chord's seventh

Feedback: Dm7 spells D–F–A–C, so the F after the slash is its third, lending a first-inversion color.

Q50 (MC · m3fp50). A riff finishes by stepping a half step down from C5 onto the white key directly beneath it. Give that landing note's full scientific name.

  • A. A4
  • B. B4 ✅
  • C. C4
  • D. B3

Feedback: Octave numbers roll over at C: the white key a half step under any C keeps the lower number — here, B4.

Answer key (quick reference)

The table below lists each item's correct response.

Q Answer
1 D
2 True
3 B
4 True
5 C
6 B
7 D
8 D
9 B
10 B
11 C
12 D
13 C
14 B
15 False
16 A
17 C
18 C
19 B
20 C
21 D
22 consecutive perfect fifths taken in lockstep → parallel fifths · consecutive perfect octaves taken in lockstep → parallel octaves · jump-approached perfect interval reached by shared direction → direct (hidden) fifth or octave · lower part above the upper at one instant → voice crossing · a part travels beyond the note its partner just quit → voice overlap
23 B
24 True
25 D
26 D
27 A
28 C
29 B
30 A
31 True
32 A
33 D
34 D
35 A
36 D
37 D
38 A
39 A
40 A in the bass → root position, its 5/3 left off the page · C♯ in the bass → first inversion, marked with a 6 · E in the bass → second inversion, marked with a 6/4
41 C
42 B
43 A
44 D
45 A
46 A
47 C
48 True
49 B
50 B

Quality gate (self-checked): exactly one correct option per single-answer item; the multiple-choice key sequence carries no run longer than two and no positional lean (re-permuted and screened by the exam assembly script); zero item overlap with the live final, the midterm, the practice midterm, or any weekly quiz — verified mechanically against every bank at build time; every musical claim in the feedback lines is verified against the course theory reference by the correctness gate.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Quizzes::Quiz
title            = "Practice Final — The Whole Course, One Rehearsal"
assignment_group = "Practice (0 pts)"
points_possible  = 0
grading_type     = points
allowed_attempts = unlimited
shuffle_answers  = false   # order and option letters match this document
show_correct_answers = true, after each attempt
available_from   = end of week 14 (released with the Week 16 review family)
due              = none — open through the final exam sitting
published        = true
access_note      = "Practice form. Zero points, unlimited attempts, feedback on. The real final is in the room, on paper, closed to AI."
This is the human-readable exam with its vetted answer key and rationale. The import-ready Classic-QTI version (O-practice-exam-week-16-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