The exam in history is considered by experts to be one of the most difficult school exams. You need to know a huge amount of information that is difficult to learn in a year if you did not study well in previous classes. And recently, the new Minister of Education, Olga Vasilyeva, said that since 2020, an exam in history will be mandatory for passing. So the question is "How to take it?" will be relevant in the future. Let's look at the methods of successful preparation for the exam in history.
Sources of information
History teachers in schools certainly provide a lot of information that will be useful in exams. But how to distinguish grains from chaff - what we need from the history curriculum to prepare for the USE, and what we can safely forget?
To understand this, you will need, firstly: go to the website of the FIPI (Federal Institute for Pedagogical Research), go to the section "Unified State Examination and Guild-11", and there you can find the item "Demo versions, specifications and codifiers". There you will find the main documents for exams in all subjects, including history. Of the three files, we need two.
Demo version is a test task, selected on the same principle as on the exam, - 19 test and 6 tasks with a free answer. The codifier is a list of topics that you should focus on when preparing for the exam in history. Then check yourself - mark those points that you more or less know - so you need to remember the rest. You can work on the codifier during the year, working through topic by topic and recalling the program of elementary grades.
The first option is to prepare yourself
In preparation for the exam in history from scratch, this decision is very risky. But if you are confident in your abilities, you can try to prepare yourself at home, buying reference materials and working with information on the Internet.
With this method, first of all, make yourself a plan of tasks. Not necessarily for the whole year - for the first time it will be enough for a week or a month. Decide how many topics you will be able to repeat during this time and stick to your schedule. In no case do not miss the days of preparation - even if it is "for the first and last time." Having given yourself an indulgence once, you will continue to find reasons to evade.
The second option is a tutor or group work
Another opportunity is to hire an individual tutor who has extensive experience in preparing for exams and will be able to teach you how to deal effectively with specific tasks. The disadvantage of this solution is that it is quite expensive, on average, a quality tutor costs from 400 to 800 rubles per hour. A less costly option is to sign up for the online and offline "passing exams" courses, which are now very numerous. Just before that, you should check their reliability and read reviews - there is a risk of running into scammers.
Another, less well-known, option is to prepare for the exam in history together with a friend who has chosen this exam. Working together, you can arrange checks for each other, and, just as importantly, you will work more efficiently so as not to fall face down in the mud in front of a friend. Well, as they say: "One head is good, and two is even better."
Exam features
So, what distinguishes the preparation for the exam in the history of Russia from other exams? First of all, of course, the rear format - 19 tasks of the first test part and 6 in the second - with a detailed answer. Test tasks, unlike, for example, mathematics, with several correct answer options, which significantly increases their complexity. But the tasks indicate the number of correct answer options, so sometimes the right decision can be chosen by exclusion. Below is a video showing how to do this.
The second part includes working with the text, providing arguments for and against a historical statement, as well as writing a historical composition. Here you should pay attention to the tricky 24th task. Arguments to confirm and refute a certain historical position require knowledge of different points of view on this issue. Solve more of these tasks in preparation for the exam in history - this will come in handy on the exam itself. Moreover, it can be lucky, and you will get a topic that you have already met in test cases.
An equally important and difficult task is a historical work. They give a lot of points for it, and I do not want to lose them because of trifles. Let’s say right away - the historical composition is very different from what you are used to writing in the lessons of the Russian language and literature. However, if you keep in mind the plan that is outlined in the video below and adhere to the requirements, then write it without any problems. By the way, be attentive to the choice of the theme of the essay - you will have three options by which you can write it.
To summarize
No matter how terrible the exam may seem to you at first glance, it can be passed successfully. Preparing for the exam in history from scratch, of course, is more difficult than refreshing the material you already know, but this is also not a hopeless case.
Look for opportunities to expand your knowledge, sign up for various trainings and seminars, fill up teachers with questions if necessary - and the result will not be long in coming. I wish you a successful exam and good luck!