HISTORY EXAM HACKS! by Jailekha Zutshi
11 th grade history is a big jump from the level in 10 th grade. Answers suddenly take up two pages
(despite my tiny handwriting); chapters are now up to 40 pages long. Here are a couple of tips
I’ve picked up to help with the increase in coursework.
Highlighting and underlining may have worked in 10th grade, but I’ve found I end up
doing for pretty much the entire textbook in 11th grade. Underlining key words instead
helps to identify the points your answers must contain.
Interesting page markers help to remember specific points, and to remember why
they’re important in the first place. It may seem superficial, but it does make a
difference.
Flowcharts condense long or complicated processes into a simple image. They’re
especially useful for 8-markers that deal with political, social, military or economic
institutions or processes.
Given the detail and length of the text, copying down the entire chapter in the form of
notes is a futile exercise, especially if you’re short on time. Writing down the main
subject of each paragraph helps to trace where the text is going, so you can essentially
go through the entire chapter in your mind just by reading the headings.
For example, a section from The Three Orders looks like this in my notes:
Rise in population > the need for towns > skilled and unskilled labour in towns > guilds >
trade expands.
Colour coding notes also works wonders. Differentiating between points by using
different colours makes it easier to distinguish them in your mind. Underlining key
words in your notes focuses your attention on the important parts of your answers or
notes.
Anagrams of key words help to condense necessary information, especially when
you’re memorizing kinds or types of practices or items.
Teaching someone else makes you more confident of the material you’re studying.
If you’re tired of studying at a table, walk or stretch while reading or recalling your
notes.
If you want to be extra sure that you know the text inside out, make things harder for
yourself. One way to do this is to recall points to answers in the reverse order. If you’re
dealing with short answer questions, try and answer as many as possible within a
certain time frame.
If you’re unsure on spellings (especially the various Latin and Arabic terms in An Empire
Across Three Continents and The Central Islamic Lands respectively), ask someone to
help you out with a spelling bee. It’s not worth losing marks simply because you
misspelled ‘tawarikh’ as ‘tavarikh’.
When studying An Empire Across Three Continents, The Roman Mysteries is a great historical
fiction series for extra reading. It’s about four teenagers in Ancient Rome who pride themselves
on being amateur detectives, and though not strictly academic, it definitely adds to the text.
The author, Caroline Lawrence, is a historian who has studied Ancient Rome extensively. The
series is a great way to understand the social, religious and economic practices of the empire. I
happened to miss half the chapter in school, but reading the series a couple years ago meant
that I could not only understand what my class was discussing, but also participate and add on
to the material in the text.
-Jailekha Zutshi
XII-H
(despite my tiny handwriting); chapters are now up to 40 pages long. Here are a couple of tips
I’ve picked up to help with the increase in coursework.
doing for pretty much the entire textbook in 11th grade. Underlining key words instead
helps to identify the points your answers must contain.
Interesting page markers help to remember specific points, and to remember why
they’re important in the first place. It may seem superficial, but it does make a
difference.
Flowcharts condense long or complicated processes into a simple image. They’re
especially useful for 8-markers that deal with political, social, military or economic
institutions or processes.
Given the detail and length of the text, copying down the entire chapter in the form of
notes is a futile exercise, especially if you’re short on time. Writing down the main
subject of each paragraph helps to trace where the text is going, so you can essentially
go through the entire chapter in your mind just by reading the headings.
For example, a section from The Three Orders looks like this in my notes:
Rise in population > the need for towns > skilled and unskilled labour in towns > guilds >
trade expands.
Colour coding notes also works wonders. Differentiating between points by using
different colours makes it easier to distinguish them in your mind. Underlining key
words in your notes focuses your attention on the important parts of your answers or
notes.
Anagrams of key words help to condense necessary information, especially when
you’re memorizing kinds or types of practices or items.
Teaching someone else makes you more confident of the material you’re studying.
If you’re tired of studying at a table, walk or stretch while reading or recalling your
notes.
If you want to be extra sure that you know the text inside out, make things harder for
yourself. One way to do this is to recall points to answers in the reverse order. If you’re
dealing with short answer questions, try and answer as many as possible within a
certain time frame.
If you’re unsure on spellings (especially the various Latin and Arabic terms in An Empire
Across Three Continents and The Central Islamic Lands respectively), ask someone to
help you out with a spelling bee. It’s not worth losing marks simply because you
misspelled ‘tawarikh’ as ‘tavarikh’.
When studying An Empire Across Three Continents, The Roman Mysteries is a great historical
fiction series for extra reading. It’s about four teenagers in Ancient Rome who pride themselves
on being amateur detectives, and though not strictly academic, it definitely adds to the text.
The author, Caroline Lawrence, is a historian who has studied Ancient Rome extensively. The
series is a great way to understand the social, religious and economic practices of the empire. I
happened to miss half the chapter in school, but reading the series a couple years ago meant
that I could not only understand what my class was discussing, but also participate and add on
to the material in the text.
XII-H
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