Intro to Modern Middle East

[snazzlefrag]

Hi All,

I just got back from taking DANTES Intro to the Modern Middle East.

This was a HARD exam! I can't stress this enough. I studied hard for this exam. I learned everything in Instantcert, researched lots of things in Wikipedia, and used some additional web sites....but I don't think it was enough.

First of all, the notion that this exam is about the MODERN Middle East is absolutely ludicrous. The exam covers 2,000 years of Middle Eastern history.

Second of all, the notion that this exam is an INTRODUCTION to the Modern Middle East is also outrageous. I found this 'lower level' exam to be more difficult than the Soviet Union and the Civil War exams.

Don't be misled by the title of this exam. It should be renamed "Advanced History of the Middle East from Ancient times to Modern".

Despite all my studies, I felt grossly under prepared for the exam. In many cases I had no clue what the question was talking about, let alone what the answer should be. My only hope is that the curve will save me on this one.

Ironically, I really enjoyed studying the material. It was extremely interesting and explained a lot about the history behind current events in the Middle East.

Here's what you need to know for this exam:

Don't take it!
(Take something else instead, unless you are in the mood to get your ass kicked for three hours)

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As with Money & Banking, I don't want to give you a list of things to study. It might fool you into thinking that you can get by with simply working your way down a list of topics. Trust me....you need to study DEEP for this exam. Why on earth they think this exam is lower level is beyond me.

Sorry I can't be more helpful for this particular exam. It was a horrible experience for me. I feel battered, bruised, and exhausted. I am used to being very well prepared for each exam (even if it is a hard one). I studied as hard as I usually do, but still felt clueless for a lot of the questions.

I WAS able to answer a whole bunch of questions without guessing though. So with a bit of luck, and a helpful grading curve, I still may pass. But I have a horrible feeling that I either failed, or scored very low.

It's going to be a very long wait for my score to arrive.

I will let you know how it goes,
Snazzlefrag