I scored a 62 on the Civil War and Reconstruction DSST.
I used two resources to study.
First, I read through the Instant Cert cards five to seven times.
And then I watched the most-watched program ever to air on PBS: the Ken Burns Civil War documentary film series. The man with the best voice to narrate anything, Morgan Freeman, narrates Frederick Douglass. The series is super expensive to buy so don’t, watch it on Netflix instead. To be honest, as much as I enjoyed the series, at eleven hours and thirty minutes long it’s not the best use of your study time, not if you’re in a rush. But it is a pleasure to watch, and you will have a better overall understanding of how things played out.
Another thing that was to my benefit was having passed US History 1 & 2 previously. The US History 1 exam runs up to the end of the civil war, and US History 2 begins with the Reconstruction Era. Do them in that order if you can and reap the credits.
Not everyone’s exam is the same. Mine didn’t have as many questions related to the Reconstruction Era as most first hand experiences I’ve read. You do have to understand the relation of events and key players: generals and politicians, not just the big guys either. Know your battles and the abolitionist movement, too. With all its portraits, the documentary helped me put names to faces, which aided my memory.
As far as other study resources, many recommend SparkNotes — The Civil War 1850-1865 and Reconstruction 1865-1877.
Some think this one is difficult, even after studying for weeks. But usually those people are scoring in the 60’s, which is way more than passing. Use the IC cards and you won’t need to study for weeks. They are on point and the best use of your time. When you’re not 100% confident in your answer, mark the question to review later with all the remaining test time. At first, I use to be nervous to click “end test” when I discovered I’d marked half the questions for review. But I never failed an exam. My score would always surprise me. So don’t worry!
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