How do you study for history? I have this "American History since 1865" test tomorrow and it's stressing me out. 85% of my grade is going to be some random essay that I have no idea is going to be about, except that I will be expected to connect ideas and themes and such.
I've done all the readings, taken a lot of notes, but I don't know if I can make it bros
Ugh, this class is probably easy mode for you all, it's just that I'm a brainlet in anything that isn't STEM.
>How do you study for history?
You just read.
Be confident, don´t overthink it.
Alright, I guess I'm just nervous. I probably know more than I give myself credit for, hopefully.
Well what have you been studying? What are the topics it *could* be about?
Well, basically everything from 1865 to right before ww2. We also have some primary source documents that I've been going over as well.
>Ok, so today we're going to read about X so open page Y through Z, class.
>Encircle page Y through Z
>Test next weak, class.
>Read up on page Y through Z
I would also recommend you study early US history further, it´s usually a favorite amongst these type of tests.
>Well, basically everything from 1865 to right before ww2
Dude you are terrible at this, you did not cover literally every topic from 1865 to WW2. What the fuck did your professor lecture about in class?
Ugh, reconstruction, the contested west, gilded age, imperialism, progressivism, ww1, the depression, and the new deal
Then read whatever the hell it is you read for class on those topics, look over the notes you took in class or the professor put up online.
Also:
>Ugh
Fuck you; you ungrateful little shit
You are too young to post on this website.
Thanks for the generic advice
I'm 19 tho
Find little stories, bits of trivia to help you remember events
Look for how events connect and to and influence one another. What did your professor talk about in class? They didn't just read a list of events from PowerPoint slides did they? There are themes to period of history, look for those.
This doesn't even sound like an issue with you and history, you just don't seem to understand what it takes to be an effective student.
>Ugh
Lel my prof basically did that this monday, so I have an idea. Also, I'm a good student, I'm always do better than the average pleb and my gpa is gr8 so fuck off. Only reason I'm stressed is because I'm not used to humanities, not because I'm dumb.
Define "gr8".
The best approach for essay questions where you don't know the question is to identify the things your professor stressed in lecture.
Did he repeat himself? Probably important. Did he illustrate a thing that was also illustrated in your readings? Probably important. Does it come up on his slides a bunch? Probably important.
Find those things and make sure you have a couple of talking points. Emphasis should go first on finding points that relate to many topics - you want flexible examples that can fit to a variety of potential questions. Professors don't expect you to have really narrow, specific examples in closed-book essay exams unless they're fucking sadists. Then, if you paid attention and did your work, you'll probably be able to conjure a more specific example or two to help carry home your argument.
Also, if it's not just an essay, you'll have the earlier questions to use as fodder to help you think of examples.
4.0 so far. I'm only a measly freshman tho
Alright, I'll have to read my notes. Fucking hell though, I hate the fact that these stupid classes depend on lectures, because I find lecture so useless. Whatever the professor says is always in the book anyway, so I always half heartily pay attention
You're a dumbass. Your professor obviously did not just stand up there and say "Then this happened. Then this happened. Then this happened. . ." What did your professor talk about? What did they say about the topics beyond just reading off a timeline?
The reason you excel in STEM classes is probably because you're just inherently good at brute memorization of information. You have absolutely no idea how to actively listen in a class if you're honestly this lost. You're not stupid, you're just an awful student.
Lmao, and history isn't basically fucking memorization? And you obviously don't know anything about math if you think it's all memorization. Fuck you, I'm going to ace this test just to spite you, asshole
>Alright, I'll have to read my notes. Fucking hell though, I hate the fact that these stupid classes depend on lectures, because I find lecture so useless.
You've got a shit prof, then.
Of all the fields, history is probably one of the best suited to lectures, because half of it is literally storytelling. If your prof is just regurgitating the book, they're not very good at their job.
Yeah, there's another professor teaching the same class who doesn't even give out tests, he just tells stories and lectures. Would've gotten him but he filled up. My professor is nice but he is not good. I mean, I find this stuff interesting, but this class is making me hate it