NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
- The exam, focusing on the course content, is written only and consists of 10 closed questions (each with three answer options, only one of which is correct) and 3 open-ended questions. The open-ended questions are worth up to 5/30; of the closed questions, 4 are worth 1/30, the remaining 6 are worth 2/30. Questions not answered or answered incorrectly are worth 0. The exam must be completed within 2 hours.
- In the open-ended questions, the student is assessed on his/her ability: to organize one’s argumentation clearly and precisely; to refer correctly to the texts studied, correctly employing the specialized vocabulary learned; to correctly cite place and personal names, dates and concepts in Chinese relevant to the topics covered; to answer questions (which are always ‘legitimate questions’, i.e. with no unambiguously certain and a priori established answer) critically, developing the analysis of the topic and the argumentation of one's thesis in an original way.

ATTENDING STUDENTS:
- Attending students will be subject to forms of assessment in progress: 1 group work and 2 partial tests.
- The group work (‘Debate of the Hundred Schools’) takes the form of a role-playing game set at the time of the warring states, in which students are invited to immerse themselves in the reality of a lordly court of the time, dividing themselves into schools of thought to which the teacher submits a domestic policy problem and a foreign policy problem (both drawn from the historiographical literature on the period).
- The 2 partial tests are held in written form: the first consists of 6 closed multiple-choice questions; the second of 5 open-ended questions.
- The first partial testis held at the conclusion of the units covered in the first semester; the second at the conclusion of the units covered in the second semester.
- Each partial test can be worth a maximum of 10/30 before the final exam, which is in oral form.
- The objectives and assessment criteria for these partial tests are the same as those described above for the written exam for non-attending students.
- Those students who have taken and passed the partial tests will be able to limit their final exam to an oral test to complete the two partial tests taken during the semesters. The final oral exam will focus on the contents of one of the monographic texts to be chosen by the student from among the list included in the dedidcated bibliography (“Testi per l'esame orale riservato agli studenti frequentanti che hanno superato i parziali”).
- The final grade therefore takes into account the scores obtained in the partial tests (each test is worth 10/30). The points obtained in the group activity held during the course will be added to those obtained in the first two written partial tests. In the final exam, the final grade will result from the sum of the score obtained in this way with the evaluation of the oral test (provided that the latter has been passed, otherwise it will be possible for the student to retake the oral test at the following test date).

ATTENDING STUDENTS WHO HAVE NOT TAKEN (OR NOT PASSED) THE PARTIAL TESTS:
- Attending students who have not taken or have not passed the partial tests will take a written test (6 closed and 5 open questions) during the exam session. If they pass (18/30 or more), they can choose between: a) taking only the written test. In this case, the final grade will be that of the written test, plus any additional points obtained for the group activity, OR: b) also take the oral exam in the same session, which, as for those who took the partial tests, will focus on one of the monographic texts to be chosen by the student from the list proposed in the relevant bibliography. If the oral test is passed, the final grade will be the average of the written test and the oral test, plus any additional points obtained in the group activity.