HOW TO STUDY FOR THIS MIDTERM:

1. Separate your thinking on the studying into two realms, the essay and the terms, but be willing to link up the two later. Too many students learn tons of info for the terms and then fail to include that same detail in the essay.

2. For the terms, write out each with bullets. Even though you cannot use bullets on the exam, it’s easier to see the information in that form during your studying. There’s much more success when people write out each term and its details rather than simply highlighting your notes.

3. Make outlines for the essays. Make sure that your outlines have way too much detail, way more than any normal human could ever remember.

4. Try to memorize the outlines. Try to write them word for word without looking at the original. Fill in the gaps where you did not recall something. Do it again. Walk around your study area speaking the outline, looking down only when you need to for a quick reminder of the detail. Speak it again. Write it again…and most of all, have fun.

5. Use the Paul Johnson book liberally while you study to fill in the gaps in your notes and to add detail where you lack it.

6. Follow Napoleon’s advice: “In planning a campaign I purposely exaggerate all the dangers and all the calamities that the circumstances make possible.”


FOR THE IDENTIFICATIONS:

A good answer to this section would be a full paragraph, would have sufficient detail identifying the term(who is it, when was it, what was it, etc), and would clearly explore the significance of the term. In your answer you should state, “This is significant because…” To find the significance of a term, link it to the larger theme of that time.

SAMPLE FULL CREDIT RESPONSE
Virginia Plan
This was a plan in 1789 inspired by federalist James Madison but proposed by Edmund Randolph that called for a Congress to be created that was based entirely on the population of a given state. This would give the more populous states, like Virginia, an edge, and would hurt the tiny states, like Rhode Island. Eventually, the delegates at the Constitutional Convention would agree on a mixed system, where one house was based on population and one, the Senate, was set forever at two representatives per state. The Virginia Plan was significant because it showed the deep division that plagued the new nation before, and after, ratification.