From 2018 to present (Feb 2019) the mc section continues involve 55 questions to be completed in 55 minutes. So will need to make confident quick and effective decisions on this section. Aside from studying good topic summaries and practicing as many mock mc quizzes as possible, it will help you tremendously to follow a specific set of strategies while doing this part of the exam.
It will also be helpful to understand how the questions are structured: the multiple choice section will have sets of TWO to FIVE questions that are tied to either historical issues, primary sources, or secondary sources. This means you will need to evaluate a document/source and then answer a series of questions related to it.
Now lets look at what really matters: good reliable strategies.
1.) Look at the Big Picture
Keep in mind that the questions are designed mainly to check your understanding of basic principles in world history. This includes know who the main players were in a given place and time period, what they did, how did their actions affect the rest of the world, how the societies of the time changed . To do this effectively you should always study while also thinking about the following themes below:
a) how did a specific people in a given time interact with their environment and why?
b) What new ideas, thoughts, and styles came into existence? and how did these ideas affect the people and technology?
c) What kinds of relationships existed between the societies in a given time period. Who worked in cooperation? and who was dominating who? How did leaders justify and/ or achieve their power?
d) How did the economic systems in each time period evolve? What were they based on? i.e. agriculture, trade, labor, industrialization, consumers, imperial coercion etc.
e) Which people had power and which people were marginalized within a given culture? Why? Look at gender, racial, and ethnic situations in a given time period.
2.) Use Process of Elimination
Never focus on which answer might be right on multiple choice questions because there are almost always two options that both seem correct; however one will always be more correct than the other. The best way to see the answer that is most correct is to eliminate the first two answers that are usually clearly wrong and then the third option that doesn't seem completely correct. Never justify how an answer might be correct; instead, be mean and look at how all the possible answers could be wrong. This way you will things more clearly and have a much higher chance of success.
3.) Use Common Sense
Many times an answer choice will contradict common sense. Always eliminate those answers.
Here is an example:
31. Which explains the most important effect that agriculture had on early Neolithic societies?
a) The wide-scale domestication of plants and animals led to a transition from a transient hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more settled communities.
b) The immediate commercial success of wheat forced individuals in Mesopotamia to defend themselves against repeated attacks by the Chinese, who wanted to take control of the wheat trade.
c) The development of cotton cultivation led to its rise as the most important cash crop in the Near East.
d) Changes in agricultural practices led people to abandon their farms and return to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Solution
Even without reading the text that goes with this question you can eliminate b immediately. Even if you forgot about the Neolithic period you should remember that China never attacked Mesopotamia. Now lets look at the other options. Does anyone remember learning about Cotton being grown in the near east? No. And definitely not in the Neolithic period so eliminate C. Option D doesn't make any sense at all so you can eliminate that.
Additional Strategies:
1. Do NOT answer each question in order.
2. First only answer the questions that you know and are sure about
3. If you are stuck on a question after using everything else don't be afraid to guess: you have nothing to lose.
Flash Cards
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