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Strategic Reviewing for the Exam You should begin your review about three weeks before the exam. Here are some important dos and donts. 1. DO read and study this book. If you are reading this book, you have already taken your first and most important step. Read and study it! Each chapter is carefully designed to review the artists, styles, and works of art you need to know. The two practice exams will give you a chance to test your knowledge and evaluate your progress. Use the tests and the answer guides to determine your strengths and weaknesses. Then refine your strengths and address your weaknesses. 2. DO go to AP Central. The College Board maintains a comprehensive Web site called AP Central at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com. The site contains a wealth of information about each AP exam, including a booklet titled “Art History Course Description,” which is the authoritative guide to the course and to the types of questions found on the exam. The information related to the AP Art History exam includes essay questions, sample essays, and all the slide-based multiple-choice questions since 1999. You should examine a number of the sample essays and multiple-choice questions. 3. DO NOT skip twentieth-century art. Your art history teacher may not reach the twentieth century, because covering everything is a challenge. Do not skip it when you prepare for the AP Art History exam. Between 10 and 15 percent of your test will be devoted to this topic, including a number of multiple-choice questions and at least one short essay question. In addition, using twentieth-century examples on your long essays can be very useful. The test writers know that teachers typically do not have enough time to cover this topic in depth. As a result, questions tend to focus on very specific information. This is especially true of the topics since 1950. 4. DO study the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt. Art works from the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt are categorized as art beyond the European tradition, and the two topics usually account for multiple-choice and short essay questions worth about 20 points, or 10 percent of your total test score. In addition, you can use examples from either the ancient Near East or ancient Egypt for the long essay question requiring at least one example of art beyond the European tradition. That example is worth another 12.5 points. 5. DO NOT spend too much time on African, Asian, pre-Columbian, and Oceanic art. Although these topics are important, interesting, and exciting to study, the reality is that the AP Art History exam contains few questions on them. 6. DO study female artists. Even though the AP Art History Committee has a wide range of topics, artists, and artistic styles to cover, in recent years emphasis has been placed on the important role and contributions of female artists. Carefully study and review Chapter 32 in this book, which provides a review of key female artists. 7. DO build a coalition of points. Your goal is not to score a perfect 200. You do not need 200 points to score a 5. You need 135 points to score a 5 and 102 points to score a 4. Set a score of 4 or 5 as your goal. With the help of this book, you can do it! The key to scoring a 5 or a 4 is to build a winning coalition of points. Your coalition should begin with the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt. These two topics can be worth between 20 and 30 of the points you need to reach a 102, the minimum needed for a 4. The next topics in your coalition depend on you. You need another 80 to 90 points. What are your favorite artistic styles and eras? For example, a combination of Greece and Rome, Gothic art, the Renaissance, and the twentieth century will usually be worth between 80 and 90 points.