Intensive Latin (LAT 105)
William A. Johnson

 STUDY GUIDE

In general, if you conscientiously work on the memorization and exercises required at home and in class, you'll find that Latin is not difficult. But what is difficult is to be conscientious: which means working every day on your Latin, and thinking hard when you do work. Nota bene: it's not how much time you spend, but how regularly you study, and how hard you think.

Important notes on study technique: (1) Make flash cards for vocabulary and forms. Work on these not in one grueling stretch, but ten minutes here and there throughout the day: while you're waiting for a class to start, while you're riding on a bus, over coffee in the morning. To look at these repeatedly, not for long periods of time, is what will be effective in the long run. (2) As you work through a chapter, make notes in the margin of your book or homework of questions or confusions. You can't ask questions if you are organized well enough to be able to recall what they were. And don't be shy about asking questions: it's your right, as a student, to have your questions answered. (3) Do work together, if you like, on memorization and readings. Memorization, in particular, is much more agreeable with a friend. It's okay to ask other students questions about written homework, too, but written homework should always be done primarily by yourself.

New! Vocabulary lists, grouped and subgrouped in helpful ways, for Wheelock chapters 1-40; from the University of Chicago

• To use this vocabulary in studying for the final exam, you'll need to delete the words you don't know from chapters 37-40
• These lists are particularly helpful in grouping the principal parts of verbs in ways that point up the similarities

• (Old) Synopsis of the Latin verb, indicative only

Drills: you may find useful the following computer drills available over the web:

• New! Drills for vocabulary, forms, from McMaster University, developed by Paul Barrette
• Wheelock Resource page: a variety of both flash card and fill-in-the-blank style drills for Wheelock

 
• Drills for vocabulary and forms, from Rutgers University, developed by Ilaria Marchesi
• Chapter by chapter drills on vocabulary and forms (Chaps 1-22)
• Chapter by chapter drills on vocabulary and forms (Chaps 23-40)
• Verb practice: synopsis

 
• A ancillary workbook and study guide by David Grote, UNC Charlotte
• David Grote's detailed Study Guide: this is particularly helpful if you find Wheelock's explanations a bit mystifying, since it's designed for students who have had little or no English grammar. Recommendation: read Grote's leisurely discussion first, and then read Wheelock as a more bare-boned "review" of the materials

 
• Drills from GMU Classics
• Noun practice: working through the declensions

 
• Dictionaries
• Travelang's very simple little English-Latin dictionary (can be useful for elementary English to Latin sentences)
• Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary, from the Perseus Project (a serious Latin dictionary, for the curious and ambitious)

Blurb on the final exam for the winter quarter, 8 am, March 13, 2000
Blurb on second exam for the winter quarter, Feb. 17, 2000

(see also samples under Latin 104 study guide)