Studying Guidelines The examination is designed to test the learning outcomes stated in the syllabus for the course. The multiple-choice questions test your familiarity with historical persons, institutions, and events (course learning outcome 1), and the essay questions ask you to demonstrate your ability to use this knowledge in making connections, analyzing arguments, and presenting your own ideas.
The essay section of the examination will include three of the questions listed below, of which you will be required to answer two. Because the selection is not published in advance, it is important to prepare responses to all, or at least all but one, of the questions listed. Multiple-choice questions provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate content mastery of important factual information presented in the textbook and lectures.
One approach to preparing for this section of the examination is to develop a list of essential terms and concepts from each chapter of assigned reading. For each term, you should know basic factual information (who, what, when, where) and recognize significance (why is the term important).
If you can do this, you should generally be able to answer a related multiple-choice question correctly. In responding to an essay question, it is important to think carefully about what the question is asking and what specific thinking skills you are being asked to demonstrate. Each question tests specific thinking abilities related to learning outcomes #2-5 in the syllabus. The essay questions are not asking you to recite information from lectures or the textbooks.
They are asking for your voice, analysis, and judgments. Thorough and accurate information from the course is very important, but a good essay is not just information. It uses information to develop a carefully reasoned response to a specific question and to demonstrate your abilities as an original thinker.