Help me plan out my winter testing - 2(or 3) DSST History Exams

[needgames4lyfe]

Hey All!

As some of you know, I am trying to accelerate my B&M college plan by taking DSST and CLEP exams for law school so I can be a double major and have a better chance at a top school.

I am going to be finishing college on the 18th of December, going back on the 19th of January, 2011. During this time, I will be taking 1 winter semester class which requires no studying, but is 4 hours a day. I will have the rest of the time to study.

For my major, I need to take 2 or 3 of these exams:
DSST Rise and Fall of USSR
DSST Western Europe since 1945
DSST Modern Middle East
DSST Vietnam War

Would it be doable to take 3 of these (or two) in the time-frame mentioned? Does anyone have any choice of which Exam I should take and how should I study?

What books should I buy? I am also going to be using IC.

I have a strong foundation in history.

Thanks for the help guys!:patriot:

[studyhard]

I'm not completely clear on your time frame here--how much time are you alloting for the tests? For myself, I took about 2-3 weeks of study time per test. That worked pretty well, although it was intensive study.

I think the hardest one is Western Europe Since 1945--at least, it was for me. So many countries to keep track of and so many treaties and so many sound-alike acronymns.....gaaaah!!!! Unless it's a topic you're very familiar with (which I was NOT) I would avoid it.

The other three were about equally hard. Following are the books I used for each:

Middle East:
Amazon.com: A History of the Modern Middle East (9780813343747): William L Cleveland, Martin Bunton: Books

USSR:
Amazon.com: The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, Second Enlarged Edition (9780674304437): Geoffrey Hosking: Books

Vietnam:
Amazon.com: Vietnam: A History (9780140265477): Stanley Karnow: Books


And, of course, use the InstantCert flashcards. Absolutely positively use them. They will help you IMMENSELY. You're lucky...they didn't have flashcards for some of these exams when I took them and I had to make my own.

Another helpful site that covers some of these things (and often has little review quizzes you can take) is this one:

History Study Guides - SparkNotes


Something else that is helpful is to get the DSST fact sheet outline for each test and start making notes to yourself on each section as you read things. Google anything you're unfamiliar with and write it down on your notes as well. Here's the link to the fact sheets:

DSST - GetCollegeCredit.com

Hope this helps!

[needgames4lyfe]

I'm not completely clear on your time frame here--how much time are you alloting for the tests? For myself, I took about 2-3 weeks of study time per test. That worked pretty well, although it was intensive study.

I think the hardest one is Western Europe Since 1945--at least, it was for me. So many countries to keep track of and so many treaties and so many sound-alike acronymns.....gaaaah!!!! Unless it's a topic you're very familiar with (which I was NOT) I would avoid it.

The other three were about equally hard. Following are the books I used for each:

Middle East:
Amazon.com: A History of the Modern Middle East (9780813343747): William L Cleveland, Martin Bunton: Books

USSR:
Amazon.com: The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, Second Enlarged Edition (9780674304437): Geoffrey Hosking: Books

Vietnam:
Amazon.com: Vietnam: A History (9780140265477): Stanley Karnow: Books


And, of course, use the InstantCert flashcards. Absolutely positively use them. They will help you IMMENSELY. You're lucky...they didn't have flashcards for some of these exams when I took them and I had to make my own.

Another helpful site that covers some of these things (and often has little review quizzes you can take) is this one:

History Study Guides - SparkNotes


Something else that is helpful is to get the DSST fact sheet outline for each test and start making notes to yourself on each section as you read things. Google anything you're unfamiliar with and write it down on your notes as well. Here's the link to the fact sheets:

DSST - GetCollegeCredit.com

Hope this helps!

That did help - my time frame is about 3 weeks for all three, so a week each (or 1 & 1/2 weeks if I take two). So I guess I should take USSR and Middle east, and maybe Western Europe?

Any other advice?

[needgames4lyfe]

That did help - my time frame is about 3 weeks for all three, so a week each (or 1 & 1/2 weeks if I take two). So I guess I should take USSR and Middle east, and maybe Western Europe?

Any other advice?

Bumperoniessijfod!

[studyhard]

That did help - my time frame is about 3 weeks for all three, so a week each (or 1 & 1/2 weeks if I take two). So I guess I should take USSR and Middle east, and maybe Western Europe?

Any other advice?

If it was me, I'd opt for Vietnam over Western Europe. It's a little easier to keep track of. Actually, using the word "easier" with any of those is sort of incongruous--let's try saying "less horribly difficult" lol!

I would not try to take three in three weeks. Well, let me rephrase that. I would not start studying from scratch and try to take three in three three weeks. If I were you, I'd start reading and studying now--making notes, filling in the DSST fact sheet test outline with your own bullets and comments, doing the IC flashcards, etc. If you do that, you'll be in good shape.

[cde]

I took Vietnam history and USSR. Vietnam is lower level so it was pretty easy, I think you could do it in a week on just flash cards, wiki and specific exam feedback. I also looked at websites and youtube but that was over kill honestly. It took me longer then that to study for it but I am a bit lazy and work full time. I thought it would be a lot harder but I did USSR first and after that Vietnam was easy.

USSR overlaps a bit with Vietnam due to the communism. You could probably do it in two weeks with intense studying. Except for a few questions, it is mostly from 1900 on, at least the version I got. It was a hard test. Just make sure you know the information on the specific exam feedback on any of the history tests you take. The feedback for these two tests is spot on.

[needgames4lyfe]

If it was me, I'd opt for Vietnam over Western Europe. It's a little easier to keep track of. Actually, using the word "easier" with any of those is sort of incongruous--let's try saying "less horribly difficult" lol!

I would not try to take three in three weeks. Well, let me rephrase that. I would not start studying from scratch and try to take three in three three weeks. If I were you, I'd start reading and studying now--making notes, filling in the DSST fact sheet test outline with your own bullets and comments, doing the IC flashcards, etc. If you do that, you'll be in good shape.

I am actually a full time student right now, but This seems like a really good idea. I think I will start early december and plan to take the test in jan 15th or so for western europe and ussr, maybe vietnam. Sound good?