[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Navy"]I have just returned from taking the DANTES Rise & Fall of the USSR exam and have the following thoughts and observations.
First, I only elected to take this exam as it would fulfill my final 3 UPPER level credits and my depth requirement in history. Those are the ONLY reasons that prompted me to sit the exam otherwise I would not have considered it.
Secondly, as for the exam itself, I can sum it up this way - "Be prepared!" Thus far I have taken/passed nearly 2 dozen CLEP exams and one other DANTES (Civil War) and feel that this was the toughest of the bunch.
Here too with DANTES, the questions and answer choices are oddly written and YOU MUST know what the question is looking for even if it is written somewhat vaguely and the answers just don't seem to fit. I devoted the same amount of time to this exam as I have with every other that I have taken/passed thus far and that is 3 weeks of regular study.
I walked into the exam feeling comfortable and confident about the material and walked out feeling less certain about what my results might be. I felt that way about the Civil War exam too hoping for the bare minimum score of 47 and received a 62. With this one the bare minimum score is 45 and I "feel" that I will make the grade but not by much. Only time will tell and I suspect that I will have my results "hopefully" back around May 5th.
As for the material itself this is what I found:
There were 95 questions of which ......
approximately 15% were based on the Tsarist era (pre-1917) and went back to Alexander I.
Lenin and Stalin era's combined to around 50% of the exam.......
with another 20% on the Kruschev era......
and the balance of 15% on the Gorbachev era.
The topic itself runs around 100 years events and is thus a lot to digest and spread out over 95 questions, yet if you can grasp the meat of each particular era and of the persons and main events in each you should be OK.
Some have asked in other threads if using InstantCert "alone" will allow you to pass this one. For me, I would have to say no, but add that InstantCert addressed roughly 75% of the questions I saw. I also used 3-4 other books and a video on the topic which filled in the gaps yet I saw 3-5 questions on the exam with words, topics and events that were completely foreign allowing me to use my mighty power of "the best guess" option. CRAP!!
Anyway, I now know why there is a need for a spring break and the need to let loose. This exam was (to me) the toughest exam I have faced yet I believe that I did OK. Only one more to go and that is CLEP - College Mathematics - DOUBLE CRAP!!
Best of luck to all with this and all other exams!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]
First, I only elected to take this exam as it would fulfill my final 3 UPPER level credits and my depth requirement in history. Those are the ONLY reasons that prompted me to sit the exam otherwise I would not have considered it.
Secondly, as for the exam itself, I can sum it up this way - "Be prepared!" Thus far I have taken/passed nearly 2 dozen CLEP exams and one other DANTES (Civil War) and feel that this was the toughest of the bunch.
Here too with DANTES, the questions and answer choices are oddly written and YOU MUST know what the question is looking for even if it is written somewhat vaguely and the answers just don't seem to fit. I devoted the same amount of time to this exam as I have with every other that I have taken/passed thus far and that is 3 weeks of regular study.
I walked into the exam feeling comfortable and confident about the material and walked out feeling less certain about what my results might be. I felt that way about the Civil War exam too hoping for the bare minimum score of 47 and received a 62. With this one the bare minimum score is 45 and I "feel" that I will make the grade but not by much. Only time will tell and I suspect that I will have my results "hopefully" back around May 5th.
As for the material itself this is what I found:
There were 95 questions of which ......
approximately 15% were based on the Tsarist era (pre-1917) and went back to Alexander I.
Lenin and Stalin era's combined to around 50% of the exam.......
with another 20% on the Kruschev era......
and the balance of 15% on the Gorbachev era.
The topic itself runs around 100 years events and is thus a lot to digest and spread out over 95 questions, yet if you can grasp the meat of each particular era and of the persons and main events in each you should be OK.
Some have asked in other threads if using InstantCert "alone" will allow you to pass this one. For me, I would have to say no, but add that InstantCert addressed roughly 75% of the questions I saw. I also used 3-4 other books and a video on the topic which filled in the gaps yet I saw 3-5 questions on the exam with words, topics and events that were completely foreign allowing me to use my mighty power of "the best guess" option. CRAP!!
Anyway, I now know why there is a need for a spring break and the need to let loose. This exam was (to me) the toughest exam I have faced yet I believe that I did OK. Only one more to go and that is CLEP - College Mathematics - DOUBLE CRAP!!
Best of luck to all with this and all other exams!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]
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