“The easiest 3 you will ever earn.”

 One college Political Science course at most major institutions.  (Maybe not at some snobby places.)  About 49% of the possible points!  Not as good as a 4 or 5  (Even snobby places will take those.)  MUCH better than a 1 or 2  (Don’t even think 0 !)

 There are 120 possible points.  If you got 59 points in 2013, you achieved a 3.  If you got 75 points, you achieved a 4.  If you got 86 points, you achieved a 5.  That’s only 72% !

 First, you have a Syllabus…   Find it on the Coursework pages.

 Second, you have a textbook…  READ, doggone you!  Pay special attention to the Learning Objectives at the end of each chapter.

 Third, know what the test looks like…  This will be no problem, since every one of your tests will look like one!  There are only two elements…

 There are 60 Questions to answer in 45 Minutes.  (Pace yourself at 40 Seconds per Question)  (That will leave you a little “buffer”)  Questions are worth 1 point each.  (So, get all of them right, and you have your 3.)  Get your College Vocabulary ready!  It‘s built by “Good” test-makers.

 Always 5 possible answers.  None are “Mickey Mouse”.  There are some tricky wordings…  They are in random order of difficulty.  There is No Penalty for a wrong answer!

 Read through every question at pace  Answer all the easy ones  Mark out incorrect answers immediately  Jot down any ideas you have in the margin  Underline key words (it’s a test booklet, not the Bible!)  Go get ‘em again!  On Graph Questions, read the Answers before you read the Questions!

NOW you can GUESS !

 Four Questions  5 – 8 Points Each times a multiplier for a total of 60  (The MEAN score in 2013 on any individual question was 2 [Two] !!!)  25 Minutes each  Often are 2 or more Curriculum items

 It is NOT an Essay.  “Answer the Question!”  More is not always better  Stay on Pace.  READ. UNDERLINE. PLAN.

 Look for the Key Words:  Define  Identify  Describe  Explain  “Why…” leads to “because…”  “How…” leads to “by…”  Compare (which implies Contrast)

 Things to Avoid:  Slang  Name-Dropping  Data-Dumping  Cites  Editorials  even Patriotism

 Things to DO:  Use a Black Pen  Be Legible  Be sure how many parts are in the Question  The Order is unimportant, but Number them  Use your context vocabulary  More examples are OK  Answer the Question!

Now you have a chance!