A History Major's Journey

[Westerner]

ECE World Conflicts Since 1900

Passed this test in April 2013 with an "A"! I was so nervous and totally did not expect that score. God is so good!!!

I spent about a month studying, 2 weeks to read the 3 recommended books for the first time and 2-2.5 weeks to review the books, go over IC's SEF tips, do the PTs, and research online.

I read Zeigler's "War, Peace and International Politics," Nye's "Understanding Global Conflicts and Cooperation," and Stoessinger's "Why Nations Go To War," in that order. For each book, I got not the most recent edition, but the one before that, all bought used on Amazon. They weren't too expensive that way. The books are arranged below in the order I liked them and thought them useful. But I do think all 3 are essential for a good score on the test. I didn't get the EC book of essays, but from the PTs, books and SEF, I got familiar with the other theories and theorists mentioned there.
—Zeigler's book was a great introduction, not written like a stuffy textbook and covers everything you need to know very well.
—Nye's book was heavy on international relations, which is crucial for the test, and it also explained things very well.
—Stoessinger's book is pretty much written from only his perspective and contains his opinions, not a well-rounded look at everything like the other 2. But it does a great job of explaining the conflicts in vivid detail.
—I also got the "Idiot's Guide to World Conflicts" and it was the first book I read, while waiting for the other 3. It only covers contemporary conflicts, but it's good for that.
—I watched some of Khan Academy's History videos, which I really like.

--Practice tests: I got 83% on the 24 questions in the Official Study Guide/Fact Sheet, so I bought the 2 practice tests and took the first one—58%. I review some more and took the second—66%. By then I was getting nervous, wondering if they'd refreshed the test and if the SEF tips weren't relevant anymore.
--In the hours before the test, I reread Nye's book and the first half of Stoessinger's, and reviewed both the fact sheet and the 2 PTs. I was hoping for at least a "B" but I had lots of family and friends praying for me and God miraculously enabled me to get the "A"!
--My percentages on the 3 sections were: Case Studies—92%, Theories: Competing Views—85%, Contemporary Sources of Conflict—72%.
--I found the fact sheet Qs to be more straightforward and the PT Qs to be more ambiguous. But there were some questions on the test of both formats. Test Qs ranged from basic ("Identify this person" or "The following describes what term?") to a few questions that were so subjective. If you don't know when the test was written, how do you know what they consider "today"? Well, you had to know, or guess, to answer something like, "If bunnies eat carrots, what impact does that have on Farmer Brown's garden today?" Silly question but you get the idea. (Thankfully there weren't many of that type!) Anyway. Bottom line: I would recommend buying the $25 PTs to be safe and get as high a score as possible

—Study up lots on nuclear weapons (when tests were done, treaties, timelines, MAD...)
—NGOs, non-state actors
—Realism (a lot), Liberalism, Conservatism, Marxism, Constructivism, Nationalism
—WW1—causes, alliances, leaders (Nicky-Willy telegrams)
—WW2—important people (Hitler & motives, beliefs), strategies
—Korean War—not too much on it, but know causes & outcomes
—Vietnam War—leaders, casualties,
—Communism & how the US & the world dealt with it
—India, Pakistan & Bangladesh—formation, wars, Kashmir, nuclear action
—USSR and how it was involved in wars
—Arab–Israel wars
—Wars of Arabs against each other
—Rwanda, how UN didn't intervene
—Breakup of Yugoslavia, Milosevic
—Somalia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro (+ Dayton Accords)
—Drugs, diamonds, oil & water, and the conflicts over them
—Sierra Leone (causes, diamonds, outcome)
—Huntington, Waltz (& their theories)
—Terrorism—definitions, important cases
—Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan
—Definitions of "detente," "domino theory," "self-determination"
—the UN, its makeup & what it's done
—Iran-Iraq War & what the US did
—Iraq & Kuwait—motives, US involvement
—Globalization and technology (impacts)
—Country A/Country B scenarios
—Don't neglect the early years of the 20th century—Austria, Germany, Russia and Japan were fighting wars then that you'll need to know about
—IC's SEF contains lots of other great tips

A fun break while studying is to watch movies related to the subject. Movies about World Conflicts really helped me to visualize, get the main ideas really stuck in my head, understand the issues and get a good feel for that time in history My parents checked these movies out, though, and edited them. Be aware that things can and do get pretty violent here and use caution!
World War 1—Sergeant York, War Horse
World War 2—Sound of Music, Scarlet and the Black, One Against the Wind, The Hiding Place, The Great Escape, 55 Days at Peking, Guns of Navarrone, The Longest Day,
Korean War—Battle Hymn
Vietnam War—Green Berets
China—China Cry
Israel—The Exodus, "Against All Odds" TV series
India & Pakistan—Gandhi
Rwanda—Hotel Rwanda
Somalia—Behind Enemy Lines, Black Hawk Down
Drugs—various TV movies and shows

It was a good thing I took the Modern Middle East and Soviet Union DSSTs before this test—that helped a lot with several questions! It would've been good to take the Vietnam War DSST before too, but it's next on my list.

Definitely a level up from a History DSST, but extremely interesting to study for! (Except all the one-world-government stuff was kinda annoying.) So study hard for this one and have fun with it! God bless!


CollegePlus ACE-approved course "Social Justice From A Biblical Perspective"

Finished the course in approx. 3 weeks in December 2012. Loved it and learned so much!

The course is self-paced. There are 8 modules, each supposed to take a week, but, obviously, you can go faster than that. Each module consists of reading articles, watching lectures, and taking quizzes. You have about 24 video lectures to watch. You are given links to about 15 articles and readings online. The 2 books you'll buy and read a few selected chapters from are "Money, Greed and God" and "Restorers of Hope." There are quizzes after each lecture, and also 8 "Module" quizzes. There is a proctored Midterm and a proctored Final; you'll need a webcam, photo ID, and a quiet room with no books or papers in sight.

This is how I'd do it:
Read articles/chapters
Watch lecture
Do quiz(zes)

Here are some tips:

As another CP student suggested:
"I guess the best advice is to take good notes and review them really well. They will definitely prove helpful on the exam!"
THAT HELPED SO MUCH! I'm not a big note taker but for the tests for this course it was essential!!!

There are lots of definitions and one of the important things is to understand everyone's views on what the definitions of things should be.

A few tips for the midterm: Review Novak & Hayak and Kay Hymowitz's article (stats). Know authors and other people mentioned in lectures & their basic thoughts. Understand Ryan Messmore's thoughts too.

(How to prepare for the Final)
You might want to re-watch the lectures and skim the readings. If you took notes during the lectures and on the readings, review them well. I re-watched the older lectures so they were fresh in my head. And yes, the readings are long, but sometimes there are important nuggets buried in them. Reread, for sure, the Hayek one. If you know the author and can sum up in a couple sentences the article's main idea and maybe some important sentences/phrases, then that's good. And don't neglect the "Seeking Social Justice" videos. They might seem like just interviews and stories, but questions come up on those too.

(To: "Which is easier, the Midterm or the Final?")
Well, there's this feeling of nervousness and not knowing what to expect when you take the Midterm. When you get to the Final, that has pretty much worn off because you've had more experience with the course. For me, anyways I was definitely surprised at the Midterm, but I didn't find this course too hard. Just make sure you understand the different theories and everyone's views on the topics that come up. That could be one of the hard parts, but there aren't too many people However, be sure you know not only the people in the readings, but also the ones mentioned in the Lectures. (Quotes and stuff like that that he puts up on the screen—take note of those and who said them.) Also, stats are more important for the Midterm than for the Final. Make sure to review the Midterm if you can; I've gotten conflicting reports of whether you can do that anymore or not, but I could when I took the course. It's definitely helpful! So, I would say the Final is easier, but really about half of it is stuff you've already been tested on in the Midterm, so you (hopefully!) know that. Don't neglect re-watching most or all of the videos if you need to—they aren't that long. Go over ALL the quizzes one last time before taking the Final. And have fun—I learned a lot with this course and it was a definite refresher after all those liberal CLEPs!

My scores: Midterm 78%, Final 86%, Final Course Grade 84% (B)

Enjoy this course!