DSST Civil War & Reconstruction

This was the most difficult exam thus far for me. I studied for almost three weeks, using The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Civil War. I read through it quickly first, then went through it slowly, making a huge, like, twenty page timeline of every little battle that took place. I passed with a 61, so I guess it worked! This exam was particularly difficult for me simply because it goes into so much detail, and it was a bit awkward to keep track of the twenty different armies all running around at once. I recommend a map if you are not familiar with the area, as well. I've seen a lot of other people recommend the Ken Burns documentary series, so if you can find that on Netflix or amazon, it would probably do good to check it out. But the local library probably has tons of videos for this, as there seems to be a bit of a cottage industry for folks who can't get enough about the Civil War. I had no trouble finding loads of books and videos at my library. Good luck!

 

Civil War and Reconstruction was a difficult exam in my opinion. I studied for 2 1/2 weeks for about 3-4 hours a day. My study time included watching the Ken Burns documentary (5 DVDs). Also, I read two Sparknotes guides: Reconstruction, and The Civil War. These guides may have been enough to pass if you study them well. They include practice questions which were generally easier than the actual test.

This was my first DSST. I must say that the wording of the questions was not as straight forward as the CLEPs I have taken. Having 4 choices instead of 5 was nice but since the questions were difficult, it didn’t help that much.

Taking US History I prior to this was somewhat of a help, because some questions dealt with events leading up to the war.

I knew almost nothing about the Civil War prior to this, so if I could do it, you can do it! I ended up with a 61 (47 is passing).

 

I did a bit of studying (reading my old Civil War trivia book and the good old American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War). I got a score of 60. (Then again, my father is somewhat of a history buff and a Civil War buff...)

 

2 passed

My students passed this earlier this year. This exam is deep, not broad and a lot of fun to study for. We used the Idiot's Guide, Spark Notes CW and Reconstruction and the Ken Burns DVDs. For the movie lover I would highly recommend Gods and Generals and Gettysburg. A big help with some of the key players but even more important for the battles.