POS-2820 Comparative Politics TECEP Review

[GameSlinger]

This was probably the hardest non-technical (STEM) exam I have taken. Do not let that discourage you though because I took the exam with 0 prep or studying just to get an accurate feel for the exam. For someone who has studied politics or government systems at all, this would be a much simpler exam. Read the exam description from TESU and look up anything you do not recognize or know about and that should give you enough knowledge to pass this exam with a single day of studying. 

For topics on exam that stood out to me that you might want to spend a little more time on; Presidential vs Parliamentarian governments, direct vs proportional representation, the role of the judiciary vs executive vs legislative in different types of government, lobbying, and the political thoughts from John Stuart Mills, Hobbes, and Weber. Pretty much everything in the Nation-State section of the exam description had 1 or 2 questions on it so that is definitely important.

The written essays required information outlined above in order to write on them effectively. I did not know anything about one of the topics so just made an assumption (which was wrong) and then bluffed my way through the rest of it. The second essay asked for my opinion on a topic so that was much easier to work with.


Time spent studying = 0

Previous knowledge = US History 1 & 2 CLEPS, some previous political research relating to who to vote for but no specifics on political systems.

Relevant work experience = None.


Final Score = 68% -FAIL

[Kones]

Thank you so much for posting this! I signed up to take this TECEP this term and started studying for it. The topic is so dull it's hard to motivate myself to get through it. This is really so helpful though. Are you planning to retake it?

[GameSlinger]

Thank you so much for posting this! I signed up to take this TECEP this term and started studying for it. The topic is so dull it's hard to motivate myself to get through it. This is really so helpful though. Are you planning to retake it?

Yes I will retake it. I will wait until I finish a few other things and then spend a day reading up. I was really close considering I took 3 TECEPs in 3 days with 0 prep work. I didn't even read the exam descriptions until I was writing my reviews of them.

[Kones]

I just took this exam and I agree that this was extremely difficult - and I studied!! The questions are very wordy and confusing and the topics were not properly outlined in the test description. Despite doing the Saylor course, the Study.com course and purchasing a used copy of one of the suggested textbooks I still felt woefully unprepared.
For anyone taking this test, it is broken up into four blocks of 20 questions each and then two essays. The depth and breadth of the topics is very broad and very detailed. The final block of questions were pretty much all about the governments of other countries. I specifically remember getting a few questions each about Israel, Africa and Latin America. My two essay questions both asked me to compare a topic between two different countries, so you need to know enough about the topics to have at least two examples.

I'll get my grade within two weeks, but I don't feel at all confident that I passed.

[GameSlinger]

I just took this exam and I agree that this was extremely difficult - and I studied!! The questions are very wordy and confusing and the topics were not properly outlined in the test description. Despite doing the Saylor course, the Study.com course and purchasing a used copy of one of the suggested textbooks I still felt woefully unprepared.
For anyone taking this test, it is broken up into four blocks of 20 questions each and then two essays. The depth and breadth of the topics is very broad and very detailed. The final block of questions were pretty much all about the governments of other countries. I specifically remember getting a few questions each about Israel, Africa and Latin America. My two essay questions both asked me to compare a topic between two different countries, so you need to know enough about the topics to have at least two examples.

I'll get my grade within two weeks, but I don't feel at all confident that I passed.

Thanks for your input. Hopefully you did better than you think and can sneak past this exam. I think they should slightly change the name of this exam to Comparative World Politics. For a US based educational facility, the focus of a lower level Comparative Politics course should be on US politics, and a Comparative World Politics course be an upper level equivalent.

[Kones]

I just took this exam and I agree that this was extremely difficult - and I studied!! The questions are very wordy and confusing and the topics were not properly outlined in the test description. Despite doing the Saylor course, the Study.com course and purchasing a used copy of one of the suggested textbooks I still felt woefully unprepared.
For anyone taking this test, it is broken up into four blocks of 20 questions each and then two essays. The depth and breadth of the topics is very broad and very detailed. The final block of questions were pretty much all about the governments of other countries. I specifically remember getting a few questions each about Israel, Africa and Latin America. My two essay questions both asked me to compare a topic between two different countries, so you need to know enough about the topics to have at least two examples.

I'll get my grade within two weeks, but I don't feel at all confident that I passed.

Thanks for your input. Hopefully you did better than you think and can sneak past this exam. I think they should slightly change the name of this exam to Comparative World Politics. For a US based educational facility, the focus of a lower level Comparative Politics course should be on US politics, and a Comparative World Politics course be an upper level equivalent.

Sneak past I did indeed. Just got my grade and I got a 70! What a relief. A little nerve wracking knowing how close I cam to failing. But now I can put it behind me. And I totally agree that this definitely felt more like an upper level exam.