How many words should a dbq be

To make the most of your limited time, create a brief outline to organize your thoughts. Be sure to include at least five paragraphs in your essay.

It should start with an introduction, end with a conclusion, and have at least three body paragraphs in between. After organizing your essay, start writing a compelling introduction. Along with drawing in the reader and explaining what the essay covers, the introduction should include your thesis statement.

Since the entire essay depends on a good thesis statement, take an extra moment to make sure you are making a solid argument and responding to the original question.

Finally, write the essay, and take care to support your thesis statement throughout. Reference the historical sources repeatedly, and use your analytical skills to examine what the documents say and why. End with a conclusion that wraps up your argument, and if possible, mention how the issue affected history. When you take any AP exam, you have limited time to work with. Maybe 5. For the AP US History exam in particular, the graders are looking that you connect your argument to outside information, although you probably don't have a wide range of events to relate to since you haven't started the course, keep that in mind for the future.

Aug 14 PM 0 0. Just do an intro as opposed to just a thesis, body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion. Do you just write each paragraph about a different document? How should the format be? This dude knows what he's talking about. Don't just rely on the docs though, and don't use fluff.

Be concise, and draw heavily from prior knowledge of the subject so that you won't rely too heavily on the docs. They were created to streamline the process of your claim. It offers the most relevant information about your conditions that can be provided.

Make it short and to the point. Summarize what your main thesis and arguments were and leave it at that. The three essentials for a conclusion are the repeating of the thesis statement, revisiting each of the support points, and an explanation as to why the reader should care.

The conclusion should restate your thesis and strongest points in different words. You have the information that you need to write a 6-worthy essay. Do not underestimate the value of the LEQ outlines as they will immeasurably help better organize a comprehensive essay. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Sociology How do you write an introduction for a Dbq?

Ben Davis February 8, How do you write an introduction for a Dbq? You've been preparing, and you will have an easier time on exam day if you aren't stressed from trying to cram the night before. Below I've laid out how to use your time during the DBQ exam. I'll provide tips on reading the question and docs, planning your essay, and writing! First thing's first: r ead the question carefully , two or even three times.

You may want to circle the task words "analyze," "describe," "evaluate," "compare" to make sure they stand out. You could also quickly jot down some contextual information you already know before moving on to the documents, but if you can't remember any right then, move on to the docs and let them jog your memory.

It's fine to have a general idea of a thesis after you read the question, but if you don't, move on to the docs and let them guide you in the right direction.

Next, move on to the documents. Mark them as you read—circle things that seem important, jot thoughts and notes in the margins. After you've passed over the documents once, you should choose the four documents you are going to analyze more deeply and read them again.

You probably won't be analyzing the author's purpose for sources like maps and charts. Good choices are documents in which the author's social or political position and stake in the issue at hand are clear. Once you've read the question and you have preliminary notes on the documents, it's time to start working on a thesis.

If you still aren't sure what to talk about, spend a minute or so brainstorming. Write down themes and concepts that seem important and create a thesis from those. Remember, your thesis needs to answer the question and make a claim! When you've got a thesis, it's time to work on an outline. Once you've got some appropriate topics for your body paragraphs, use your notes on the documents to populate your outline. Which documents support which ideas? You don't need to use every little thought you had about the document when you read it, but you should be sure to use every document.

Make sure your outline notes where you are going to include your contextual information often placed in the first body paragraph, but this is up to you , your specific example likely in one of the body paragraphs , and your synthesis the conclusion is a good place for this.

Make sure you've also integrated the four documents you are going to further analyze and how to analyze them. Make sure you use all the documents!

I can't stress this enough. Take a quick pass over your outline and the docs and make sure all of the docs appear in your outline. If you go over the planning time a couple of minutes, it's not the end of the world. This probably just means you have a really thorough outline!

But be ready to write pretty fast. If you have a good outline, the hard part is out of the way! You just need to make sure you get all of your great ideas down in the test booklet. Don't get too bogged down in writing a super-exciting introduction. You won't get points for it, so trying to be fancy will just waste time. Spend maybe one or two sentences introducing the issue, then get right to your thesis. For your body paragraphs, make sure your topic sentences clearly state the point of the paragraph.

Then you can get right into your evidence and your document analysis. As you write, make sure to keep an eye on the time. You want to be a little more than halfway through at the minute mark of the writing period, so you have a couple minutes to go back and edit your essay at the end.

Keep in mind that it's more important to clearly lay out your argument than to use flowery language. Sentences that are shorter and to the point are completely fine. If you are short on time, the conclusion is the least important part of your essay. Even just one sentence to wrap things up is fine just so long as you've hit all the points you need to i. When you are done, make one last past through your essay.

Make sure you included everything that was in your outline and hit all the rubric skills! Then take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back. Remember the drill for prep: establish a baseline, build skills, take another practice DBQ, repeat skill-building as necessary.

Make sure that you know the rubric inside and out so you will remember to hit all the necessary points on test day! It's easy to lose points just for forgetting something like your synthesis point. This may seem like a lot, but you can learn how to ace your DBQ! With a combination of preparation and good test-taking strategy, you will get the score you're aiming for. The more you practice, the more natural it will seem, until every DBQ is a breeze. Haven't registered for your AP test yet?

See our article for help registering for AP exams. Studying for World History? See these AP World History study tips from one of our experts. One of the single most important parts of your college application is what classes you choose to take in high school in conjunction with how well you do in those classes.

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Choose Your Test. He's ready to start studying! Preparing for the DBQ The general preparation process is to diagnose, practice, test, and repeat. AP European History For this exam, you'll be given a minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time. Who knows—maybe this will be one of your documents!

AP World History For this exam, you'll be given a minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time. Finding a Trusted Advisor to Look at Your Papers A history teacher would be a great resource, but if they are not available to you in this capacity, here are some other ideas: An English teacher.

Ask a librarian at your school or public library! If they can't help you, they may be able to direct you to resources who can. You could also ask a school guidance counselor to direct you to in-school resources you could use. A tutor. This is especially helpful if they are familiar with the test, although even if they aren't, they can still advise—the DBQ is mostly testing academic writing skills under pressure. Your parent s! Again, ideally your trusted advisor will be familiar with the AP, but if you have used your parents for writing help in the past they can also assist here.

You might try an older friend who has already taken the exam and did well Once you feel oriented, take your practice exam! In the following section, we'll go over these skills and how to build them for each exam.