08-07-2007, 01:14 PM
Whew!!!! Am I glad that's over!!! I got a 63. Yahoo!!!!
Here's some feedback for those of you working on it right now....I'll paste this in the specific feedback section also. I wish I could remember more suggestions, but I was so stressed it was hard to keep my brain in gear.
*Know what the Histadrut is
*Know what the Nakba is (I think that is the word)
*Know exactly what persuasion (Arab, non-Arab, Muslim, non-Muslim, Sunni or not) the Copts and the Armenians are
*Know what sparked Nasser to nationalize the Suez Canal
*Know what the "Sultanate of the Women" is
*Know which work is considered the epitome of the Arab novel
*Know which Middle Eastern leader was most responsible for the Ottomans joining the Central Powers in WWII
*Know a little bit about Huda Shaarawi (I think it was) and why/where she removed her veil
*Know which countries countributed to the overthrow of Reza Shah
*Make sure you're quite familiar with the Tanzimat and the Young Turks
Suggestions for study:
1. Study a LOT. I put in 30-40 hours.
2. IC is helpful but is NOT enough. I could only answer about a 30-40% of the questions based on my knowledge from IC.
3. I used the book "A History of the Modern Middle East" by William L. Cleveland for details. It is very thorough and covers a LOT of details. It gave me a lot of background to be able to make a number of educated guesses on questions I didn't know the answer to. I would definitely recommend it.
4. Use the DSST outline (The DSST Program : Students&Adult Learners) to see the breakdown of what is on the test. I took the outline and made my own notes, culling from IC, the Cleveland book and the internet. This helped me keep track of what was going on.
5. Search the internet for timelines. I had a lot of trouble keeping track of what was happening when, so printing off some timelines on the Ottoman empire, Iran, and Israel helped quite a bit.
The test itself follows the DSST outline breakdown fairly accurately. There was more stuff about modern events than I had anticipated, based on others' reports.
I felt 95% confident on about 15-20 questions. Most of the rest I could rule out one or two of the answers, but then had to make an educated guess. And some I had to guess completely. Don't go into the test expecting to answer all the questions with confidence.
The test is a lot of work, but it IS passable, so don't be discouraged!! You can do it!
Here's some feedback for those of you working on it right now....I'll paste this in the specific feedback section also. I wish I could remember more suggestions, but I was so stressed it was hard to keep my brain in gear.
*Know what the Histadrut is
*Know what the Nakba is (I think that is the word)
*Know exactly what persuasion (Arab, non-Arab, Muslim, non-Muslim, Sunni or not) the Copts and the Armenians are
*Know what sparked Nasser to nationalize the Suez Canal
*Know what the "Sultanate of the Women" is
*Know which work is considered the epitome of the Arab novel
*Know which Middle Eastern leader was most responsible for the Ottomans joining the Central Powers in WWII
*Know a little bit about Huda Shaarawi (I think it was) and why/where she removed her veil
*Know which countries countributed to the overthrow of Reza Shah
*Make sure you're quite familiar with the Tanzimat and the Young Turks
Suggestions for study:
1. Study a LOT. I put in 30-40 hours.
2. IC is helpful but is NOT enough. I could only answer about a 30-40% of the questions based on my knowledge from IC.
3. I used the book "A History of the Modern Middle East" by William L. Cleveland for details. It is very thorough and covers a LOT of details. It gave me a lot of background to be able to make a number of educated guesses on questions I didn't know the answer to. I would definitely recommend it.
4. Use the DSST outline (The DSST Program : Students&Adult Learners) to see the breakdown of what is on the test. I took the outline and made my own notes, culling from IC, the Cleveland book and the internet. This helped me keep track of what was going on.
5. Search the internet for timelines. I had a lot of trouble keeping track of what was happening when, so printing off some timelines on the Ottoman empire, Iran, and Israel helped quite a bit.
The test itself follows the DSST outline breakdown fairly accurately. There was more stuff about modern events than I had anticipated, based on others' reports.
I felt 95% confident on about 15-20 questions. Most of the rest I could rule out one or two of the answers, but then had to make an educated guess. And some I had to guess completely. Don't go into the test expecting to answer all the questions with confidence.
The test is a lot of work, but it IS passable, so don't be discouraged!! You can do it!