EXAM PREP HELP

GSAHA wants to help you prepare for those horrible qualifying exams.

Helpful Hints

• SMALL GROUPS: Work in a study group – of just 4 to 5 people – with whom you can productively work. Even if you feel like you're not going to be helpful one week, or feel behind, go to your meetings and the study sessions anyway. Just listening to each other talk, telling jokes and anecdotes together, etc., will help you associate things, and remember so much.Meet once a week or once every other week. Have each person outline different chapters.

• FLASHCARDS: I made flashcards of every image in Gardner’s. It seems like a daunting task, but if you start early enough, and go chapter by chapter, the actual "making" of the cards is a great study tool....just using someone else's cards or outlines, or study materials, etc. isn't useful.Buy an old copy of Gardner's, cut it up, and make flashcards of all the images. The simple act of cutting them out is a form of studying.

• NOTES: When I was going through Gardner & my notes from classes I had taken I compiled 2 sets of notes. The first set was specific to the works of art and the second set was about general themes and ideas (& helpful historical facts) for each period or style. That way I already had a sense of what to think about for the essays.Make a timeline for each subject.
  
  
• KNOW THE FACULTY: Know who is coming up with each of the questions and what they're interests are, e.g. Hills will focus on politics, etc. That way you can limit what you need to think about.Before the test, review your notes from lectures and readings of classes you've taken, as essay questions are often made up by profs based on what they've been teaching recently!
  
  
• KNOW YOUR FACTS: It really helped me to have the title, artist and date down cold. That way I could immediately get something down on paper and focus my attention on ideas rather than thinking about the IDs. Plus, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment while you're studying.
  
  
• THINK OF THE BIGGER PICTURE: I tried to think of studying for the comps as preparing to teach a survey course. This made me take more thorough notes and kept me thinking about how to organize the information and create links. For the essays, think of big themes such as landscape, the human body, portraiture, light and shadow, politics, etc.
  
  
• RANDOM TIPS: I had all the images from Gardner on my computer and set my screen saver to cycle through them randomly. That way I tested myself every time I walked by the screen.
  
  
• AMERICAN ART: Study American art not only from Gardner's, but also from the paintings at the MFA. Pat likes to choose from the permanent collection there. Use a supplementary American art text because Gardner’s does not have much on American art.
  
  
• NON-WESTERN ART: For the non-Asianists: just skip it. Too much to study for two questions that can be thrown out.
  
  
• ATTITUDE: It's very important to be confident. Even if you can’t remember the title, artist, date, etc., you can write something intelligent.

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