Exam types

Can anybody confirm what a ‘commentary’ exam is at Durham. My daughter has to pick her modules and they have different types of exams at the end. I’m assuming commentary is an oral exam?

Hi - sorry you haven't had a response to this yet. I'm just going to bump the thread in the hope that someone sees this and can help

I'm not sure what subject your daughter is doing, so it might depend on that... but in my case I study Modern Languages and a "commentary" is usually consists of a piece of analytical writing about foreign literature. For example, they might give you a 200-300 word passage in French from a book you've been studying, and then you have to analyse it for literary devices and techniques in relation to the historical context in which the book was written. You can also get film commentaries (rather than literary commentaries), but those tend to be reserved for coursework essays so each student has time to watch the film clip online rather than all sitting together in front of a screen in an exam hall.

Hope this is somewhat helpful! But as I said, a "commentary" for languages (or even for English Literature, which I imagine would be quite similar) might not be the same as a commentary in another subject.