Prepare for History Exam

AFPrep850
Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:29:34 +0000

Hopefully this isn’t too late…but I’d get with some of your classmates and debate what you thought the most important things were.

Group study, especially if you make study guides, is always good. I led two such sessions in a history course last semester and may have one again next week sometime (possibly Tuesday night…gotta get that set up). I made a few sheets with the key points summarized for each major issue. An example–we did the French and Indian War in one unit. I had two sheets and arranged the key points by years. These included battles, people, events, etc.

The trick with an essay is to anticipate what could be asked. If it’s a battle or document/impact, for example, find a few major points and emphasize those, making sure you get the ones you don’t emphasize somewhere in there as well. If it’s about the Bill of Rights, for example, perhaps combine double jeopardy with right to a trial by jury, taking them out together. Expand upon the really significant ones, such as the first amendment. Don’t waste a whole lot of time/writing on stuff that isn’t as important but make sure you cover it (for example, the second amendment about bearing arms really isn’t discussed a lot in most cases).

When studying or making study guides, use a balance of books and notes unless you know that the teacher is big on one or the other. In my last class, I found from the first test that he didn’t even use the book on the test. The book became my reference for something that I may have missed in class. Don’t be afraid to use other sources as well–I use Wikipedia and Encarta now and then and probably will for this upcoming test.

Sorry for the long post, but coming off a history class in which I busted my tail off for an A I thought I’d share all that.