Public Speaking Final Exam Questions and
Verified Correct Answers latest 2025–2026
Which of the following is suggested for addressing anxiety about public speaking?
a. Practice outside of the room several times and enter exactly at the moment you are
scheduled to speak.
b. Think of your audience in embarrassing or humiliating situations.
c. Ignore the unknowns as you prepare since you cannot control them.
d. Examine your own thoughts about why you are anxious. - answer>>>d.
Which of the following is suggested as a reason for anxiety in public speaking?
a. Not eating correctly before the speech.
b. Recognizing that an unsuccessful speech given in the past was a one-time event and
not a universal case.
c. Being an extravert.
d. A mindset that the speech must meet a standard of perfection. - answer>>>d.
________ is sharing meaning between two or more persons.
a. Communication
b. Symbolism
c. Ethos
d. Topoi
e. Rhetoric - answer>>>a.
"Anything that disrupts, interrupts, or interferes with the communication process" is
a. context
b. encoding
c. feedback
d. noise - answer>>>d.
A state of experiencing "significant and persistent fear when in the presence of or
anticipating the object of fear" is the scholarly definition of
a. anxiety
b. mindset
c. glossophobia
d. phobia - answer>>>d.
,Which is a lesson we can learn from the quotation about communication from Johann
Goethe, the German philosopher?
a. Fear about public speaking can be overcome by changing one's mindset about past
failures.
b. The face-to-face channel adds to the immediacy and urgency of public speaking.
c. One reason for studying public speaking is to become aware of the potential for public
speaking's limitations or "noise" factors.
d. Public speaking is not really an efficient method of communication. - answer>>>c.
Which of the following statements is true, according to the textbook?
a. You should practice your speech by going over it in your head while driving.
b. It is not necessary any longer to consider public speaking as more formal than everyday
"talk."
c. The audience will not see your nervousness to the degree you feel it.
d. Most people fear public speaking more than snakes or death - answer>>>c.
Research by Carol Dweck indicates that
a. Anxiety in public speaking is only situational.
b. Because learning a skill like public speaking is hard does not mean you can never
become skilled at it.
c. Extraverts will surpass introverts at public speaking.
d. Human beings' intelligence levels are fixed from early childhood. - answer>>>b.
When the textbook states "Public speaking requires muscle memory" it means public
speaking is a physical activity that relies on practice.
a. True
b. False - answer>>>a.
The basic philosophy behind using Maslow's hierarchy of needs in speech preparation is
a. the best speeches are the ones that appeal to the fourth level, esteem needs.
b. American audiences are not motivated at the bottom level, physiological needs.
c. An audience will not be motivated at a level higher than what they are currently
experiencing.
d. Levels 3 and 4 are psychological and 1 and 2 are physical. - answer>>>c.
The meaning of listening is ___.
a. an active process of making an effort to understand, process, and retain
b. taking one characteristic of a group or person and making the sum of what that person
or group is
, c. information that is not filtered by interpretation or editing
d. a process where others scholars have judged a source to be accurate according to the
discipline's research processes
e. the objective or literal meaning shared by most people using a word - answer>>>a.
How should women approach men in a public speaking situation?
a. Avoid being too organized.
b. Make references to sports
c. Discipline themselves not to fall into habits such as apologizing for having an opinion.
d. Provide much detail and description before getting to the main points. - answer>>>c.
How does "time" affect a presentation?
a. All are true.
b. Audiences can become unable to listen as well after a certain number of minutes.
c. An audience may experience a speech very differently at one time of day versus
another.
d. The organization or person who asks you to speak may have expectations about time
limits. - answer>>>a.
Which is a researched-based observation about how men and women communicate
differently?
a. Men insert "hedges" such as "I'm not sure about this"
b. women talk more than men
c. Women interrupt more
d. men are socialized to solve problems even when it's not expected. - answer>>>d.
"Examining your audience by its demographic characteristics and then it psychological
traits" is
a. Totalizing
d. Stereotyping
c. Heterogeneity
d. Indexing
e. Audience analysis - answer>>>e.
The term "planned redundancy" refers to _____.
a. using preview and summary statements and internal previews
b. having a carefully planned outline and a simple one that you give to the audience
c. using an introduction that is very similar to the conclusion in content
d. using the same type of transition between each main point
Verified Correct Answers latest 2025–2026
Which of the following is suggested for addressing anxiety about public speaking?
a. Practice outside of the room several times and enter exactly at the moment you are
scheduled to speak.
b. Think of your audience in embarrassing or humiliating situations.
c. Ignore the unknowns as you prepare since you cannot control them.
d. Examine your own thoughts about why you are anxious. - answer>>>d.
Which of the following is suggested as a reason for anxiety in public speaking?
a. Not eating correctly before the speech.
b. Recognizing that an unsuccessful speech given in the past was a one-time event and
not a universal case.
c. Being an extravert.
d. A mindset that the speech must meet a standard of perfection. - answer>>>d.
________ is sharing meaning between two or more persons.
a. Communication
b. Symbolism
c. Ethos
d. Topoi
e. Rhetoric - answer>>>a.
"Anything that disrupts, interrupts, or interferes with the communication process" is
a. context
b. encoding
c. feedback
d. noise - answer>>>d.
A state of experiencing "significant and persistent fear when in the presence of or
anticipating the object of fear" is the scholarly definition of
a. anxiety
b. mindset
c. glossophobia
d. phobia - answer>>>d.
,Which is a lesson we can learn from the quotation about communication from Johann
Goethe, the German philosopher?
a. Fear about public speaking can be overcome by changing one's mindset about past
failures.
b. The face-to-face channel adds to the immediacy and urgency of public speaking.
c. One reason for studying public speaking is to become aware of the potential for public
speaking's limitations or "noise" factors.
d. Public speaking is not really an efficient method of communication. - answer>>>c.
Which of the following statements is true, according to the textbook?
a. You should practice your speech by going over it in your head while driving.
b. It is not necessary any longer to consider public speaking as more formal than everyday
"talk."
c. The audience will not see your nervousness to the degree you feel it.
d. Most people fear public speaking more than snakes or death - answer>>>c.
Research by Carol Dweck indicates that
a. Anxiety in public speaking is only situational.
b. Because learning a skill like public speaking is hard does not mean you can never
become skilled at it.
c. Extraverts will surpass introverts at public speaking.
d. Human beings' intelligence levels are fixed from early childhood. - answer>>>b.
When the textbook states "Public speaking requires muscle memory" it means public
speaking is a physical activity that relies on practice.
a. True
b. False - answer>>>a.
The basic philosophy behind using Maslow's hierarchy of needs in speech preparation is
a. the best speeches are the ones that appeal to the fourth level, esteem needs.
b. American audiences are not motivated at the bottom level, physiological needs.
c. An audience will not be motivated at a level higher than what they are currently
experiencing.
d. Levels 3 and 4 are psychological and 1 and 2 are physical. - answer>>>c.
The meaning of listening is ___.
a. an active process of making an effort to understand, process, and retain
b. taking one characteristic of a group or person and making the sum of what that person
or group is
, c. information that is not filtered by interpretation or editing
d. a process where others scholars have judged a source to be accurate according to the
discipline's research processes
e. the objective or literal meaning shared by most people using a word - answer>>>a.
How should women approach men in a public speaking situation?
a. Avoid being too organized.
b. Make references to sports
c. Discipline themselves not to fall into habits such as apologizing for having an opinion.
d. Provide much detail and description before getting to the main points. - answer>>>c.
How does "time" affect a presentation?
a. All are true.
b. Audiences can become unable to listen as well after a certain number of minutes.
c. An audience may experience a speech very differently at one time of day versus
another.
d. The organization or person who asks you to speak may have expectations about time
limits. - answer>>>a.
Which is a researched-based observation about how men and women communicate
differently?
a. Men insert "hedges" such as "I'm not sure about this"
b. women talk more than men
c. Women interrupt more
d. men are socialized to solve problems even when it's not expected. - answer>>>d.
"Examining your audience by its demographic characteristics and then it psychological
traits" is
a. Totalizing
d. Stereotyping
c. Heterogeneity
d. Indexing
e. Audience analysis - answer>>>e.
The term "planned redundancy" refers to _____.
a. using preview and summary statements and internal previews
b. having a carefully planned outline and a simple one that you give to the audience
c. using an introduction that is very similar to the conclusion in content
d. using the same type of transition between each main point
