Fall Exam Study Guide
Overview and Study Tips
The exam is cumulative. It will include information from the beginning of the semester through the 1968 town meeting. The format of the exam will be similar to the tests (see below for specifics). The purpose of the exam is not to catch you up on what you don’t know but rather to give you an opportunity to pull together the information you examined this semester and demonstrate what you have learned. Give yourself some time to prepare. Here are some specific suggestions:
- Organize your notes, your old tests, your old projects. Review your identifications and essays. Identify what you did well and what needs some additional attention.
- Create a time line of the 20th century and include the major topics we have discussed and the president.
- Look for patterns: changes in the role of government, changes in our relationship to the world, developments in technology like radio and television and their impact on society and culture, reform movements and their impact on society and politics, the changing role of women.
- Anticipate possible essay questions.
Format
| Sections | Items | Points | Time |
| The Presidents | Place 20th century presidents (Teddy Roosevelt – Richard Nixon) in chronological order – including dates —and political party. | 10 pts. | 5 minutes |
| Map | Identify the major areas where the U.S. was involved overseas in the 20th century· The Spanish American War—Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
· The Panama Canal · World War II—the Axis Powers and the Allies, Hawaii, D-Day, Japan · The Cold War: The Iron Curtain, Poland, Greece, Turkey, and Vietnam |
10 pts. | 5 minutes |
| Multiple Choice | 20 multiple choice | 20 pts. | 10 minutes |
| Identifications | Choose 2 of 3 to answer in a well constructed paragraph identifying the term and explaining historical significance. | 20 pts. | 10 minutes |
| Essay #1: After the Fact | This essay will address historical process: how do historians do what they do? Each of the chapters we read this semester has taken us behind the scenes and essentially revealed a more complicated—and interesting—story than appears in most textbooks. Consider what this book has taught you about the process historians go through to reach that more complicated story. You will be expected to use examples from the articles in your essay. | 60 pts. | 40 minutes |
| Essay #2: Thematic | Choose 1 of 3: This essay will address one of the major themes we have developed this year. To prepare, review our UNIT pages and the topics we have addressed in each unit. Review the study guides for each chapter. Pose possible essay questions to yourself and develop possible thesis statements and identify possible examples. | 60 pts. | 40 minutes |
Goldfield et al. American Journey
· Chapter 21, “The Progressive Era, 1900- 1917”
· Chapter 22, “Creating an Empire, 1965 – 1917”
· Chapter 23, “America and the Great War, 1914 – 1920”
· Chapter 25, “The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1929 – 1939”
· Chapter 26, “World War II, 1939 – 1945”
· Chapter 27, “The Cold War at Home and Abroad, 1946 – 1952”
· Chapter 28, “The Confident Years, 1953 – 1964”
· Chapter 29, “Shaken to the Roots, 1965 – 1980”
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
· “Self-Help in Hard Times”
James Davidson and Mark Lytle, After the Fact: Questions
· “U.S. D.A. Inspected”
· “The Decision to Drop the Bomb”
Additional Material
