History is one of my favorite subjects, from my Ancient World History class to APUSH to my AP European History class, Iâve found the material fascinating. However, it is a course that can be difficult, particularly if you donât enjoy reading assignments. Here are some tips!
Keep up with textbook readings. They can be tedious, but keeping up with readings also allows you to participate more effectively in class discussions, especially if your teacher reviews the content from the previous nightâs reading in class.Â
Decide on one platform for note taking. This allows you to keep them organized and easily accessible. I prefer to take mine on Google Drive, with a new document for each chapter and a separate folder for essays, in-class activities, etc.Â
Time yourself for a set amount of pages (say, 10 pages) and see how long it takes you. It takes me approximately 50 minutes to read and take notes on 10 pages, and I can use that information to plan out my studying.Â
Divide and conquer. You donât have to do 15 pages in one sitting. I like to take pictures of a few pages of the textbook on my iPad so when I have some downtime, I can do a few pages of reading.Â
Take notes on your readings. Simply reading and/or highlighting is ineffective - notes will help you retain information, and give you something to refer back to.
Hereâs a post on how I do my notes.Â
Hand-writing your notes helps you remember better, but itâs more time consuming. Ultimately, I type my notes because itâs easier for me to organize and access.Â
Try your hardest not to copy what the textbook says. Instead, summarize ideas in your own words so you know what they mean.Â
Bold/italicize/underline important people, dates, and legislation, so you can find them quickly. [For example, 1900:Â Sigmund Freud publishes The Interpretation of Dreams about the importance of dreams and subconscious thought to an individualâs psychological makeup, might be a bullet point]Â Â
Participate in class, and communicate with classmates/teachers.Â
Sit close to the board, or in what my teacher calls the âT-zoneâ - the column of seats in the middle and the last row or two - which is where the teacherâs eyes tend to look at, so thereâs a greater chance of you being called onÂ
Take notes on whatâs being lectured. They donât have to be neat or pretty, but sometimes teachers will comment on ideas that will appear on the test, etc, and itâs important to write those down.
Get the phone number of a classmate or two (ideally a responsible one!) in case you miss class so they can send you the notes and some updates.Â
Start studying early, and study effectively.Â
It is very difficult to cram successfully for a history exam. Whenever possible, I schedule 3-4 days to study for an exam, more if itâs a particularly long one.Â
Find yourself a good review book. Two recommendations I have are the AMSCO for APUSH or the McGraw-Hill AP Achiever for AP Euro. These will boil down the chapter to main events, ideas, and trends.Â
Donât get bogged down in details. Especially for AP courses, general political, artistic, and cultural trends will be the most important. Make connections between earlier units.Â
I like to make graphic organizers for important ideas for each country in the unit, and then to fill them out by memory to see if I remember everything.Â
For me, the most important thing is that I know the textbook content, especially since my teacher bases most of her questions off of it, which is something many teachers do.Â
Pay attention to important clues when taking tests.Â
Circle dates, names, and locations in the prompt - anything that can give you more context about the question. Look at the clothing and setting to get a better idea of context in visual prompts (paintings, etc).Â
When analyzing primary source, keep in mind the time and author. What were their biases? Who was the audience?Â
Try to find trends in questions. Sometimes teachers prefer a certain type of question, or like to trick you up by changing one thing (they might not even realize this). Finding these patterns will make your test taking easier.Â
Be careful when reading the question. Sometimes they ask for which one was not true, or to select the true statement from a list of false ones. Donât get confused!Â
Do not change your answers on a whim. Really, if youâve studied, youâre more likely to be right the first time around.Â
If youâre allowed to see your test after you receive your grade, go and identify the questions you got wrong. This lets you see areas of weakness (are you bad at primary source analysis? Is there something youâre consistently getting wrong?). See if you can retrace your thought process when answering it and explain it to your teacher so he/she can explain where you went wrong. Who knows, you might even get partial credit back!
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