How to ACE an Essay Test

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How to ACE an Essay Test

• Writing to make the point obvious

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How teachers think

• Important concepts
• Life lessons
• State standards
• Grading
• Details general statements do not earn points
• Facts MUST be accurate
• Examples from the class lessons or text
• Good writing not error free
• Introduction thesis statement
• body, and
• Conclusion last impression so make it good!

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Clues to what will be on the test!

• What was emphasized?
• Repeated
• Covered two ways
• (vocab and worksheet or movie and handout)
• Teacher excited about it
• What questions would I ask of my students?

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Accuracy of facts

• Some of the challenges that US settlers faced
  were that they took the wrong trail. I think
  they took Oregan Trail instead of the California
  Trail. Once the settlers settled they had a
  horrible lives. They were treated wrong. They
  werent respected by the other people that lived
  there.

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Accuracy of facts

• The Mexican government was angery because more
  and more people came to Texas. He thought if its
  going like this. There just going to be another
  states. Then more people came. The governor
  gave up and just gave them the land for a price.
  That how Texas becam a state.
• Sometimes mountain men will attack people along
  the trails. Thievs would also steal and attack.
  There was hardly any food . . . . .

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Accuracy of facts

• Texas and the Mexican government didnt agree on
  things. The Spanish people who owned the
  territory were afraid that if more Americans
  came, their land would be taken away from them.
  They didnt want the Americans to take control.
  They signed a treaty and thats when the Mexicans
  gave up their land.
• The Mexicans went to Austin Texas to take some
  salves to do work in Mexico or Spain. Some are
  defeated some survive the war but most hide in a
  swiss fort called Sutters fort and defeated the
  Mexicans territory.

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Proofread!

• They had to plan the trip so that they wouldnt
  get stuck in the snowy mountains, and they had to
  pack lost of food to make it. Most of the
  settlers walked and were bitten by snacks or got
  many blisters.
• The Texas settaler trieyed to rule but they were
  to week in power so they faled to do that so
  Mexico took over and got Texas and Florida Oregon
  and all the British Bolonyings.

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If questions are provided early

• Write them down and do the following
• Break down the question or questions
• Review relevant information highlighter
• Plan organize info for answer
• Write a rough draft of your essay answer
• Study by re-reading what you wrote

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1. Break Down Question(s)

• Key words in Question highlight or underline
• information requested - make a list or
  organizational chart

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TERM definitions

• Brief NO more than one paragraph (2-5 sent.)
• Short Only ONE or TWO paragraphs
• Write an essay MINIMUM of THREE paragraphs
• Handout KNOW these words!

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2. Review relevant information

• list vocabulary related to topic
• what occurred before
• what occurred after
• List All Key Players WHO? Where? When? How?
  (TELL THE STORY)

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3. Plan / Organize Information for Answer.

• Thesis Statement
• Web (format used matches the required info.-
  see 1 above)
• Cause and Effect Arrow Chart
• Compare and Contrast Venn diagram
• Report of information many options
• Outline
• Magic 3!!!!!!!!!! SPECIFIC EXAMPLES from class
  activities

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4. Write a rough Draft.

• transitions
• flow
• RE-READ!! And modify

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5. Study by re-reading

• 5 times
• out loud
• in front of a mirror

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Sample question 1

• Among ourselves the most ignorant, the most
  inferior . . . , is recognized as having equal
  rights. . . . This is founded on the principle
  that no man is born with the right of governing
  another man.
• Albert Gallatin, Peace with Mexico, 1847
• Does Gallatin believe that some people have the
  natural right to rule over others?

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Sample question 1

• Among ourselves the most ignorant, the most
  inferior is recognized as having equal rights.
  This is founded on the principle that no man is
  born with the right of governing another man.
• Albert Gallatin, Peace with Mexico, 1847
• Does Gallatin believe that some people have the
  natural right to rule over others?

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ANSWER 1

• No, Gallatin does not believe that some people
  have the natural right to rule over others. In
  his book Peace with Mexico (1847) he states just
  the opposite. Gallatin states that the concept
  of equality is based on the principal that no
  man is born with the right of governing another
  man. This clearly shows Gallatins belief that
  no one has a natural right to rule over any one
  else.

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Sample question 2

• What happened to the land rights of Mexican
  Americans after the Mexican/American War?
• On your own paper, provide a brief answer for the
  following. Remember to use facts and examples to
  support your answer.

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Sample question 2

• What happened to the land rights of Mexican
  Americans after the Mexican/American War?
• On your own paper, provide a brief answer for the
  following. Remember to use facts and examples to
  support your answer.

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ANSWER 2

• After the Mexican/American war, the land rights
  of the Mexican who remained were generally
  ignored. Because the land laws of Mexico were so
  different granting land rather than deeding it
  many former Mexicans were forced to go to court
  to prove that they had title to the land.
  Between battling the squatting settlers and the
  cost of the court battle, most Mexicans lost the
  land they had held for generations.

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On your own paper, write an essay on one of the
following subjects. Remember to use examples to
support your answer.

• Discuss Thoreaus concept of Civil Disobedience
  and how it has continued to be used to effect
  social and political change in America.

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On your own paper, write an essay on one of the
following subjects. Remember to use examples to
support your answer.

• Discuss Thoreaus concept of Civil Disobedience
  and how it has continued to be used to effect
  social and political change in America.
• Concept of Civil Disobedience - definition
• How used by Thoreau protest Mexican/American
  war
• How used later Civil Rights Movement
• Give examples of how use made changes in U.S.
  society (politically correct) and laws (politics)

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Answer

• The essay should describe Thoreaus concept of
  Civil Disobedience as the breaking of an unjust
  law to demonstrate and publicize the injustice of
  the law in an effort to and effect change.

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COMPOSING AN ESSAY 50 points On your own paper,
write an essay on one of the following subjects.
Remember to use examples to support your answer.

• A. Explain the concept of manifest destiny, and
  describe how the United States acquired Texas,
  Oregon and California.
• B. Describe the events of the Mexican War,
  including conflicts near Matamoros, Santa Fe, San
  Diego, Monterrey, Veracruz, and Cerro Gordo.
• C. Describe the California Gold Rush, the
  forty-niners journey, prospecting for gold and
  life in the mining towns.
• D. Discuss the beginning of the Mormon religion,
  the events which prompted their move west, and
  the Mormon accomplishments in the West.