“What’s the point of history?”
“To understand past mistakes so that we do not repeat them.”
Studying for History
The common assumption when studying history is that it is all about memorizing dates and events in the past. This is not totally incorrect; history does involve a lot of memorization, but you should also keep in mind the historical concepts. Here, I will discuss some of the strategies I used throughout my IB HL History course.
Tips for Memorization
Taking Notes
Regardless if you’re taking notes in class or from a textbook, you’re going to need comprehensive notes to study for tests and exams. Firstly, your notes should be organized chronologically. This does not necessarily mean a proper timeline, but events that come first should be listed above events that come later. I find having that visual arrangement helps me remember the order that events occurred. Also, attach dates as much as you can and make them as precise as possible. If you do not know the date which an event occurred, try to find the month or season. Moreover, for every statistic included in your notes, you should also have a date attached. I like to include subheadings in my notes so that it is easier to navigate and find the information you’re looking for. I also bold any important event or statistic.
While you may want to include everything that seems interesting or important in your notes, the more cluttered a note is, the less likely you are going to read through all of it. Thus, you need to identify what information is important enough to be included in your notes. In my history course, our teacher looks for dates, data, details, and historians in our essay style tests, so my notes are full of them. It is imperative to identify what information is important. Look for hints where the teacher emphasizes a certain point or directly states that a specific topic will be on the test.
Studying for Tests
Whenever I need to memorize information, I cannot just read over my notes again and again - I have to test whether or not I memorized it. I used to recite the information out loud, but when there is a large volume of information, it becomes hard to keep track of what you’ve already said. Instead, I grab an empty sheet of paper and jot down as much information as I remember. Once I’m done, I compare what I have written down to the original notes to check what information I forgot or remembered incorrectly. I repeat this process until I have all the information memorized. If you don’t want to use paper, this exercise can also be done on a white board. Doing online history knowledge quizzes could also work, but they do not necessarily relate to the content of your course.
Applying Historical Concepts
I’m not sure if all history courses place as much emphasis on historical thinking as IB History. If your course does not focus on using historical concepts you can skip this section.
The four historical concepts are: cause and consequence, continuity and change, historical perspectives, and historical significance. Your teacher and textbook may not state these explicitly. Thus, this is where you can apply your own thinking to history. You can also use words like causes and effects in your notes, especially in a section about a major event. In addition, I add comments on my notes whenever I notice a trend (See the image below).
To keep track of all the different perspectives, I have an entire section of my notes dedicated solely to historians. For an essay test, I try to memorize at least several historians and their perspectives.
Doing Practice Questions for Essay Tests
Whenever you practice for a math or science test, you always do some practice questions. Why shouldn’t it be the same for a history test? Doing practice questions helps you think about the information you memorized and makes you organize it into an essay. This is just the same process for an essay test. Generally, I just make the outline because writing the full essay is just tedious work once you have your ideas down. Also, doing practice questions is an opportunity for you to practice your four historical thinking concepts.
So where do you get the questions? My textbook has examples of potential test questions, but you can also search online. I know for certain that many questions from past IB History exams can be found with some googling.
Other Tips
There’s a lot of history channels on YouTube, and here are some of my favorites:
Kings and Generals
This channel is dedicated solely to history and covers a variety of events. These range from Alexander the Great’s conquests to World War 2 to even the ongoing War in Ukraine. Their use of maps helps me understand where events are occurring. I also like that they will have videos on more niche topics, for example, the historical roots of the legend of King Arthur. Overall, the channel excels at illustrating the wars and campaigns throughout history. However, do note that their videos are pretty long. Each 25 minute video covers a single campaign in a larger war, so their series about a single conflict can last about 2-3 hours. Definitely not efficient if you’re studying for a test.
The Armchair Historian
The Armchair Historian, similar to Kings and Generals, goes in depth with their videos. For example, their videos normally cover a single major battle or address an important question like the reasons for the German success from 1939-1941. Occasionally, this channel will have an entire video dedicated to summarizing a single conflict. However, these videos only discuss smaller conflicts, e.g. the Korean War. I particularly like this channel for its videos that discuss certain wars from the perspectives of different countries. For example, World War 2 from the Swiss perspective.
Conclusion
So these are some of the strategies I use to study for my history tests. I am constantly improving them, but I hope these were helpful. Just remember - everyone has their own strategy so if these don’t work for you, that’s ok. Everyone studies in their own way.
Works Cited
Armchair Historian. “Armchair Historian Logo.” The Armchair Historian, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/@TheArmchairHistorian/about. Accessed 23 June 2023.
“Kings and Generals Logo.” Kings & Generals, Kings and Generals, https://www.kingsandgenerals.net/. Accessed 23 June 2023.
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