Some notes on the exam...

Hi everyone.  I'm just finishing the last form of the exam, and Ms. Pettigrew and I thought we might give you all some help with studying over the next couple of days. 

First, we're getting to a point where we've covered a lot of content this year, and, as a result, this exam is starting to look a lot like a real AP multiple choice exam.  This exam is of course comprehensive (like all of our exams this year), but, like a real AP exam, there a lot of questions from period 7.  Oddly, period 7 covers the years from 1890 to 1945, which, as I'm sure you're aware, means it takes in both world wars and the Great Depression, along with some other pretty important stuff.  As a result, I would pay some special attention over the next few days to reviewing some of those big themes - Populism, Progressivism, WWI, and the Great Depression, along with everything from this six weeks.

Another thing, not really specific to this exam, but to stimulus-based exams in general, concerns the passages.  I'm sure you've probably noticed, but sometimes there are really long and difficult passages on the exams.  One of the things that may help you when you run into a long and / or difficult passage is to look over the question set FIRST (i.e. before you even read the passage).  This can help you in two ways - first, it can give you a clue as to what the passage is about, and second, you may be able to answer some of the questions without even reading the passage.  If you really get stuck on one particular stimulus, don't panic!  Just do what you can in a few seconds, and if you can't make heads or tails of it, just skip it and move on.  If you've got time at the end, you can come back and try again.

Lastly, like the real AP exam, there are some questions that ask you to reach for connections outside of the time period of the stimulus.  When you run into a question like that, again, don't panic.  Just think about what the rest of the question set is covering, and try to figure out how you might connect to the eras outside of that time period.  In some cases, there will be choices from eras we haven't covered yet in class, but even so, you should have enough general knowledge about US history to consider those choices and make a reasonable answer.

Anyway, both Ms. Pettigrew and I will be around tomorrow if you have any questions or need any help.  Keep studying!