Review PowerPoint 1: Strategies for Multiple Choice Questions

1. Review PowerPoint 1: Strategies for Multiple Choice Questions

2. Techniques 1.) Identify the key terms/phrases/clues This not only lets you identify important information, but allows you to identify extra/unnecessary information that you can disregard (in technical terms these are actually called ‘distractors’) 2.) Reword the question (on paper, or just in your head) to make it easier to understand, based on the key words. 3.) Identify what you know – think of words that clue you off to what chapters/topics this questions pertains to and doesn’t pertain to 4.) Eliminate as many incorrect answers as you can, based on the previous two steps

3. Tips for identifying the KEY TERMS/WORDSin a question -Look for 1 OR MORE of the following things in a question.. • The scale of the question (global, regional, national, local). For example, if a question has a phrase like “worldwide” “in the world” or “globally”, you’re using the global scale. If it mentions a region of the world, like Latin America, it’s on the regional scale (this tends to be the case with large topics like religion, languages, even disease distribution). If it mentions a specific county, it’s the national scale(e.g., “In the United States…”). You answer must be correct to the scale of the question – so if the question asks for a global scale and they answer you pick is only true at the national scale, you’ll get it wrong. • The periodization of the question (historical time, including the terms ‘prior to’, ‘mid’, or ‘late’, or an actual year) • Actual vocabulary used in the question (e.g., ‘pastoral nomadism’) • Any model/Theory that is referenced (demographic transition, Von Thunnen, Wallerstein, Malthus.)

4. Example Using a Real Question (next slide)

5. This is the most important word in the question, which gives you the answer. Recall that commercial farming means that farmers are selling products, or otherwise making money from them. Compared to North American ranchers, commercial ranchers in the Pampas of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil are more likely to: A.) raise mostly sheep B.) lease their grazing land C.) rely on feedlots D.) raise livestock primarily for export E.) use practices developed by indigenous people This is openly meant to confuse you – you don’t need to know what this is at all! Since we know the key terms, we can then eliminate some of the unnecessary information. Basically the entire question is one large distraction. Similarly, these particular countries happen to be irrelevant (in this case, anyhow) to getting the answer, and are meant to distract you (“I don’t remember anything about Uruguay!”)

6. Now that we’ve analyzed the question, let’s examine the answers within that context…

7. These seem like they might be right, particularly if you fell for the distractors in the question. If you do that, you’ve convinced yourself that the answer has to be really specific to countries you know little about, so you miss the simple, obvious, general answer (which happens to be the correct one) Compared to North American ranchers, commercial ranchers in the Pampas of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil are more likely to: A.) raise mostly sheep B.) lease their grazing land C.) rely on feedlots D.) raise livestock primarily for export E.) use practices developed by indigenous people This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and is also strangely specific. The correct answer is choice “D”, and the explanation (if you haven't figured it out yet) is quite simple, based on our identification of the key terms (in this case, “commercial”). If ‘commercial’ means that you make a profit (money) from your farming, choice “D” (especially the expression “…primarily for export”) is the only match. Both terms (‘commercial’ in the question and ‘export’ in the answers) naturally go together – they both involve sales for profit.

8. Remember the first thing to do is to decode the question. Do this by looking for any clues/mental references in the question: Next, reword what these things mean in simple language, either by recalling what you memorized, or figuring it out (usually this can be done by analyzing the term itself.) *2.) According to the theory of environmental determinism, which of the following areas would have the most productive settlements? A.) Tropical regions B.) Temperate regions C.) Mountainous regions D.) Arctic regions E.) Arid regions Let’s pretend you DON’T remember this term (this will happen on the A.P. and it’s ok) – break it down into parts. We know that to determine something is to directly cause its outcome (e.g. The dropping of the atomic bomb determined the end of World War II). So, then, ‘environmental determinism’ must mean that the physical environment (remember the term ‘environment’ in a geographical context refers to the physical environment) determines (or, causes) something. In this case, the ‘something’ refers to the type of society and culture… Now…settlements are places people inhabit (live). ‘Productive’ could refer to agricultural production (a lot of crops), or something else, but because we’re discussing the physical environment, it’s most likely crops.

9. *2.) According to the theory of environmental determinism, which of the following areas would have the most productive settlements? A.) Tropical regions B.) Temperate regions C.) Mountainous regions D.) Arctic regions E.) Arid regions Now that we understand the question, let’s reword it entirely… In what type of area could people grow the most food and most easily live? *This is my own wording, you could use something different Now something complex seems much more simple (because it is simple, the wording is to throw you off!).

10. So now that we understand the question, let’s examine which answers make sense to answer it…take them in turn, and look at ALL of them, even if you think you see the correct one. *2.) According to the theory of environmental determinism, which of the following areas would have the most productive settlements? A.) Tropical regions B.) Temperate regions C.) Mountainous regions D.) Arctic regions E.) Arid regions Too hot! Of course agricultural products grow in the tropics (most export-based, cash crops as we’ve discussed), but this would not be ideal, or the “most productive” Yes, you could have production here as well (remember terraced farming of Asia) but, again, not the best place if you had a choice! This leaves only the correct answer (B – Temperate Climates) The artic is too cold for both production and large scale human settlements. Too dry! Recall that in arid regions things do grow, but not many, which is why you have systems like pastoral nomadism!

11. Everything on the last slide was using the process of elimination technique. While this is more than valid to use, let’s examine the logic you could utilize at a higher level.

12. *2.) According to the theory of environmental determinism, which of the following areas would have the most productive settlements? A.) Tropical regions B.) Temperate regions C.) Mountainous regions D.) Arctic regions E.) Arid regions There are logical reasons why human societies began where they did – many of which you know from Global (e.g., fertile soil), but a large part of that was also the climate. For the same reason there aren’t huge population clusters in the artic circle, or in very arid regions, is the same rationale as to why you wouldn’t have very productive agricultural settlements Remember that, on an A.P. exam, you’re not looking for ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers, per say. In other words, the 4 ‘wrong’ answers are wrong only in the context of answering the question, they can still be factually true, or somewhat correct. You’re looking for the best answer to address the question you’re given. Key words to do this are things like “MOST” in this question. This seems minor, but it is crucially important. Remember that crops grow in all these regions, so which would be the MOST productive settlement?

13. Another Example

14. So the entire field of geography (this is important) ‘principally’ can be exchanged with the easier ‘mostly’ As an academic discipline, geography is principally concerned with the: A.) nature and meanings of place names B.) impact of the environment on human understandings and activities C.) evolving character and spatial organization of Earth’s surface D.) absolute location of places, peoples, and processes on Earth’s surface E.) construction of maps that depict places, peoples, and processes as accurately as possible The clues in the language here tell you something very important about the type of answer you’re looking for. Since the question is asking about the entire field of geography (and not just 1 small aspect of it), they’re telling you to look for a general, large-scale answer, NOT something really limited or specific. “What does Geography mostly study?” (my own rewording)

15. Remember as we go through the wrong answers what we already discovered in the wording of the question – we’re looking for a large scale, general answer…. As an academic discipline, geography is principally concerned with the: A.) nature and meanings of place names B.) impact of the environment on human understandings and activities C.) evolving character and spatial organization of Earth’s surface D.) absolute location of places, peoples, and processes on Earth’s surface E.) construction of maps that depict places, peoples, and processes as accurately as possible There are 2 primary reasons why choice ‘A’ should seem incorrect to you: 1.) As we already established, we’re looking for a general answer, and ‘A’ is way too specific. It should seem obvious that the entire field of geography does not JUST study the names of place (this would be like ALL of Biology just studying birds, or ALL of music theory just studying whole notes!). 2.) From a content standpoint, it should also be understood that ‘A’ is really the definition of “TOPONYMS”

16. Remember as we go through the wrong answers what we already discovered in the wording of the question – we’re looking for a large scale, general answer…. As an academic discipline, geography is principally concerned with the: A.) nature and meanings of place names B.) impact of the environment on human understandings and activities C.) evolving character and spatial organization of Earth’s surface D.) absolute location of places, peoples, and processes on Earth’s surface E.) construction of maps that depict places, peoples, and processes as accurately as possible B is wrong for the same general reason that A is wrong (too specific), AND it is the definition of Environmental Determinism (which, coincidentally, was the subject of the previous question we just analyzed). Same thing with choice D, AND it is the definition of absolute (or ‘mathematical’) location – they even use the term ‘absolute’ in the choice! E is incorrect for the same reason, AND it is the definition of cartography, or the science of making (constructing) maps.

17. Remember as we go through the wrong answers what we already discovered in the wording of the question – we’re looking for a large scale, general answer…. As an academic discipline, geography is principally concerned with the: A.) nature and meanings of place names B.) impact of the environment on human understandings and activities C.) evolving character and spatial organization of Earth’s surface D.) absolute location of places, peoples, and processes on Earth’s surface E.) construction of maps that depict places, peoples, and processes as accurately as possible Now let’s analyze the correct answer (choice C). Notice that it is general in nature – meaning that it isn’t just a part of what a geographer might study, but is more like the type of definition you’d see if you looked up the term ‘geography’ in a dictionary. Notice the phrase ‘…spatial organization…’, which generically refers to where and why ANYTHING on earth is where it is (religions, languages, state capitals, pig farms, hospitals, anything!).

18. Examples of a question with periodization These types of questions give you a specific historical context, and often begin with phrases like: ---In the first half of the twentieth century ---Prior to 1750 ---In the mid eighteenth century These questions have built in clues that should help you, at the very least, eliminate answers that make no historical sense given the timeframe offered in the question.

19. Some notes on the phrases: prior, mid, early, and late • “Prior” – this simply means ‘before’, so if a question begins with this (as in “prior to 1950…”) then you have to ask yourself the following question about EACH answer choice: is this answer true at ANY point before the timeframe they give you? If the answer to this question you ask yourself is NO, then you can eliminate that answer. Let’s use a fictitious sample question: QUESTION: Prior to 2014, the most common form of communication used by high school students in class was: A.) The IPhone 6 B.) Snapchat C.) Facebook D.) Twitter E.) Whispering to each other Now, some of these are true for certain years prior to (before) 2014, but in reality for an answer (let’s say choice D, Twitter) to be true, it has to be true at any point in history before the year 2014! Using that definition, only choice E works (No FB in 1500).

20. Some notes on the phrases: prior, mid, early, and late • Mid:means middle of, and is typically used in the context of centuries (100 years). So a phrase like ‘mid eighteenth century’ is common. This simply means about the year 50 of that century (1850, 1950, whatever). • Early: means before the year 50 (before the midpoint of a given century). So early twentieth century means anytime (approximately)from 1900-1949. • Late: is anytime from year 50 forward, so the late twentieth century means anytime (approximately) from 1951-1999.

21. So now let’s analyze a real A.P. question (2006), using the principles we just went through…

22. First, let’s again identify the key phrases/terms In this case the time period is 2 full centuries (200 years of time, the 1800’s and the 1900’s) Notice that there is no “prior to”, “mid”, or “late” used here, so the question is much more general, and the answer must be generally true over the 200 years in the question. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which of the following types of intraregional migration was the most prominent worldwide? A.) Rural to urban B.) Urban to Suburban C.) Inland to coastal D.) Highland to lowland E.) Urban to rural The next key term (a vocabulary term) is “Intraregional migration” – The first thing you should do here is differentiate INTRA (movement within 1 region, like the East Coast) from INTER (movement between 2 or more regions, like from the East Coast to the West Coast) Lastly (but as importantly), the scale is critically important. In this case, the correct answer must be correct worldwide (global scale)

23. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which of the following types of intraregional migration was the most prominent worldwide? A.) Rural to urban B.) Urban to Suburban C.) Inland to coastal D.) Highland to lowland E.) Urban to rural Keeping the previous definition in mind, the reword of the question could be something like: In the 1800’s and 1900’s, how were MOST people migrating (moving their residences) within a given region, worldwide?

24. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which of the following types of intraregional migration was the most prominent worldwide? A.) Rural to urban B.) Urban to Suburban C.) Inland to coastal D.) Highland to lowland E.) Urban to rural There are 3 problems with this, based on our key terms from the previous slide: the periodization AND the scale. First, there were no suburbs ANYWHERE in the 1800’s. Second, the rise in suburbs was largely an American phenomena, after 1950, so this can’t be correct. The last problem is that people aren't’ moving OUT of cities worldwide, they’re moving into them! Again, the trend in the world is not people moving OUT OF CITIES, but INTO THEM! For this to be true, it means that the majority of people worldwide have been moving to the country-side for the past 200 years! This obviously isn’t true. The problem here isn’t scale or period, the problem is that it doesn’t make sense! For this to be true, it would mean that the majority of people IN THE WORLD have been moving towards the coasts of countries for 200 years! What? First, the majority of people don’t living highlands to begin with – this is the stupid answer!

25. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which of the following types of intraregional migration was the most prominent worldwide? A.) Rural to urban B.) Urban to Suburban C.) Inland to coastal D.) Highland to lowland E.) Urban to rural The correct answer, choice ‘A’, fits ALL of the criteria that we need it to, outlined below: A.)Periodization: it’s true that more people have been moving to cities from rural areas since the 1800’s B.) Scale: this is also true worldwide (the largest scale they ask for), as opposed to only being true at a national (just in France, or the U.S.) or local scale (just true on Long Island). C.) If we ask ourselves, “What has to be true in order for this to be the correct answer”, the answer works perfectly. For choice ‘A’ to be true, then the most common form of people moving their residences from the 1800’sthrough the 1900’s has to have been(generally) from rural, agriculturally based areas into major world cities. We know this to be true.

26. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which of the following types of intraregional migration was the most prominent worldwide? A.) Rural to urban B.) Urban to Suburban C.) Inland to coastal D.) Highland to lowland E.) Urban to rural The Content Explanation: There are 3 types of intraregional migration (when you see that phrase, you should think of the types): Rural to urban (most common worldwide) Urban to suburban (common in U.S. post World War II) Urban to rural (‘counter urbanization)

27. Negatively Worded Questions

28. Negatively Worded Questions: • These types of questions are tricky because they’re negatively worded, and usually include phrases like “except”, ‘not’, ‘all but’, etc. • The strategy here is to realize that if the question is phrased negatively, then 4 of the 5 choices are true statements, and they are asking your for the false one. So, from a test-taking standpoint, the false answer is the correct one! For example: Question: All of the following are reasons A.P. Human Geo students are likely to pass their A.P. exam except: a.) Studying a lot b.) reading multiple sources for information, like text and review books c.) Getting a good night’s sleep the evening before the test d.) paying close attention to what their teacher tells them in class e.) not caring at all about their exam *In this instance, choices a-d are reasons WHY student would pass – but because the question is negatively worded, they’re asking for reasons students WOULDN’T pass, so ‘E’ is the answer.