Classical Mythology Exam vs Medusa Mythology Exam

[Joyful]

I'm thinking of getting together some kids in my homeschool group to study for a mythology exam. They love to read and read all sorts of books. A few are studying Latin. I thought it might be fun for them to read and discuss and encourage each other to prepare for the exam. Grade level 8-11 grade.

So I've found the Classical Mythology Exam and the Medusa Mythology Exam. I think they can only prepare for one exam. How do I choose which one to take?

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

When you look at the National Mythology exam check the award levels.  If I recall correctly, starting around 10th grade the "prizes" are for perfect exams or nothing. For a child new to this program that might be discouraging. That said, my kids have greatly enjoyed the preparation work for these exams over the years.

[Joyful]

18 hours ago, Plum said:

My oldest took both.

National Mythology Exam is more rounded, they ask about different mythologies, not just Greek. it is something a lot of homeschoolers use to introduce testing to their elementary and middle school age students. You could get away with D'Auliaires books for prep.  

Medusa is more difficult, designed for upper middle school and up, and focuses on one theme from the classics. When oldest took it, it was about the Trojan War and the Aeneid. Without prior knowledge, it might be difficult to get up to speed for the Medusa, but not impossible. 

Oldest received a Bronze Medal for the Medusa Mythology Exam. He answered 33 questions out of 50 correctly. The national average was 22, showing just how difficult it is. The theme was The Trojan War. He also got a score of 96% on the National Mythology Exam giving him a Silver Medal. 

Thanks! That's good information for me to have. Will talk to the kids about it and see how much mythology they already have and how much time they'd like to spend on preparing for the exams.

[Joyful]

16 hours ago, JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst said:

When you look at the National Mythology exam check the award levels.  If I recall correctly, starting around 10th grade the "prizes" are for perfect exams or nothing. For a child new to this program that might be discouraging. That said, my kids have greatly enjoyed the preparation work for these exams over the years.

That's a good point. Don't want them to be discouraged on the first try. Thanks!

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

2 hours ago, Joyful said:

That's a good point. Don't want them to be discouraged on the first try. Thanks!

I wasn't trying to discourage you, I'd just be sure that the affected students had their study habits and expectations in the right place. This is not an unachievable goal.

 

[Joyful]

19 minutes ago, JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst said:

I wasn't trying to discourage you, I'd just be sure that the affected students had their study habits and expectations in the right place. This is not an unachievable goal.

 

I see. I guess when the kids are younger, they will have more years to try to improve. And in some ways I think the tests will be fun, to have something to work towards.

[mathnerd]

I would recommend the National Mythology Exam for a student who is taking these exams for the first time. D'aulaire's mythology book, Myths of Greece and Rome (grueber) and Bullfinch's mythology are the 3 books my son uses as references. There is no need for all of these books and you can make do with d'aulaire's and the internet, but, they are nice to have. There are a lot of resources for prep for NME and each year, they cover a different mythology (last year, it was native american mythology) which makes it very interesting to kids.

My son also takes the Medusa exam, but, he has help from his latin teacher for it and he got a decent score last year, which I think would be hard for him without the teacher's guidance.

Edited September 4, 2019 by mathnerd

[Daniel12]

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