How to study for history exam

[IB-student 2013]

Hello,

As most of you may now history exam is on Wednesday. Do you guys know any study techniques and how to revise for this subject?

Thank you, and good luck with the exams

[Arrowhead]

Make a list of all the big wars/topics you're studying and then list all the major events under them. As your listing, mentally revise the key facts of each event, relevant dates/years associated with it, and how it fits into being a cause/consequence of the war/topic.

Every time you're stumped by the details of a particular event, or think that a particular war/topic does not have enough events listed under it, you know that's something you're shaky with and need to revise.

This is a quick method for revision that I used during my IB History exam.

[braindead]

I'm getting ready for mine too, but to be honest I don't know how to revise either. Every time I've done a mock I've got 6s or 7s with only basic revision (of very key dates, treaties, policies). I usually neglect Mussolini, because I don't remember the order of his stupid "Battle for.." policies and I've got Hitler and Lenin from that region anyway. However, it is ESSENTIAL (according to my history teacher) you know in detail dictators from at least two continents, because a question often comes up with that specific requirement.

Good luck man!

[Yap]

One of the best techniques of a student finding it hard to remember exact dates and such (In Sweden, History philosophy is not about learning exact dates but to learn overall outcomes and such so I have not been taught to do so)

However, it is very time consuming, and you will not be able to cover all the details with the short time left (Unless you only revise 100% History)

This is how you do:

Pick a topic, say, the rise of Stalin

Then you begin with picking a blank A4 Paper.

Start by naming the topic at the top of the A4 paper.

Then you simply bullet point everything in a linear order

If there are important concepts that should be written under a specific bullet point, just make a sub-bullet point a bit more to the right. Write the year and some important concepts such as statistics/histiography here too.

Example.

Rise of Stalin

* Stalin voted in the Politburo 1921

* Lenin dies 1924

* Stalin tricked Trotsky about funeral date -> (Some personal argument here)

* More fact here

* Perhaps some quote from a Historian.

I did this some days ago (I'm so sad I didn't find out this before, for me, it works like a charm) with Weimar Germany.

And I can say with great confidence, without having looked at the paper for a week now, that I still remember many details about the fall about Weimar Germany and the key facts of it.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Yap