us history regents short essay example

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General Education

Taking US History in preparation for the Regents test? The next US History Regents exam dates are Wednesday, January 22nd and Thursday, June 18th, both at 9:15am. Will you be prepared?

You may have heard the test is undergoing some significant changes. In this guide, we explain everything you need to know about the newly-revised US History Regents exam, from what the format will look like to which topics it'll cover. We also include official sample questions of every question type you'll see on this test and break down exactly what your answers to each of them should include.

What Is the Format of the US History Regents Exam?

Beginning in 2020, the US History Regents exam will have a new format. Previously, the test consisted of 50 multiple-choice questions with long essays, but now it will have a mix of multiple choice, short answer, short essay, and long essay questions (schools can choose to use the old version of the exam through June 2021). Here's the format of the new test, along with how it's scored:

In Part 2, there will be two sets of paired documents (always primary sources). For each pair of documents, students will answer with a short essay (about two to three paragraphs, no introduction or conclusion).

For the first pair of documents, students will need to describe the historical context of the documents and explain how the two documents relate to each other. For the second pair, students will again describe the historical context of the documents then explain how audience, bias, purpose, or point of view affect the reliability of each document.

Part A: Students will be given a set of documents focused on a civil or constitutional issue, and they'll need to respond to a set of six short-answer questions about them.

Part B: Using the same set of documents as Part A, students will write a full-length essay (the Civic Literacy essay) that answers the following prompt:

• Describe the historical circumstances surrounding a constitutional or civic issue.
• Explain efforts by individuals, groups, and/or governments to address this constitutional or civic issue.
• Discuss the extent to which these efforts were successful OR discuss the impact of the efforts on the United States and/or American society.

What Topics Does the US History Regents Exam Cover?

Even though the format of the US History Regents test is changing, the topics the exam focuses on are pretty much staying the same. New Visions for Public Schools recommends teachers base their US History class around the following ten units:

As you can see, the US History Regents exam can cover pretty much any major topic/era/conflict in US History from the colonial period to present day, so make sure you have a good grasp of each topic during your US History Regents review.

What Will Questions Look Like on the US History Regents Exam?

Because the US History Regents exam is being revamped for 2020, all the old released exams (with answer explanations) are out-of-date. They can still be useful study tools, but you'll need to remember that they won't be the same as the test you'll be taking.

Fortunately, the New York State Education Department has released a partial sample exam so you can see what the new version of the US History Regents exam will be like. In this section, we go over a sample question for each of the four question types you'll see on the test and explain how to answer it.

Multiple-Choice Sample Question

Base your answers to questions 1 through 3 on the letter below and on your knowledge of social studies.

• Upton Sinclair wrote this letter to President Theodore Roosevelt to inform the president about

1. excessive federal regulation of meatpacking plants 2. unhealthy practices in the meatpacking plants 3. raising wages for meatpacking workers 4. state laws regulating the meatpacking industry

There will be 28 multiple-choice questions on the exam, and they'll all reference "stimuli" such as this example's excerpt of a letter from Upton Sinclair to Theodore Roosevelt. This means you'll never need to pull an answer out of thin air (you'll always have information from the stimulus to refer to), but you will still need a solid knowledge of US history to do well.

To answer these questions, first read the stimulus carefully but still efficiently. In this example, Sinclair is describing a place called "Packingtown," and it seems to be pretty gross. He mentions rotting meat, dead rats, infected animals, etc.

Once you have a solid idea of what the stimulus is about, read the answer choices (some students may prefer to read through the answer choices before reading the stimulus; try both to see which you prefer).

Option 1 doesn't seem correct because there definitely doesn't seem to be much regulation occurring in the meatpacking plant. Option 2 seems possible because things do seem very unhealthy there. Option 3 is incorrect because Sinclair mentions nothing about wages, and similarly for option 4, there is nothing about state laws in the letter.

Option 2 is the correct answer. Because of the stimulus (the letter), you don't need to know everything about the history of industrialization in the US and how its rampant growth had the tendency to cause serious health/social/moral etc. problems, but having an overview of it at least can help you answer questions like these faster and with more confidence.

Short Essay

This Short Essay Question is based on the accompanying documents and is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. Each Short Essay Question set will consist of two documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purposes of this question. Keep in mind that the language and images used in a document may reflect the historical context of the time in which it was created.

Task: Read and analyze the following documents, applying your social studies knowledge and skills to write a short essay of two or three paragraphs in which you:

In developing your short essay answer of two or three paragraphs, be sure to keep these explanations in mind:

Describe means "to illustrate something in words or tell about it"

Historical Context refers to "the relevant historical circumstances surrounding or connecting the events, ideas, or developments in these documents"

Identify means "to put a name to or to name"

Explain means "to make plain or understandable; to give reasons for or causes of; to show the logical development or relationship of"

Types of Relationships :

Cause refers to "something that contributes to the occurrence of an event, the rise of an idea, or the bringing about of a development"

Effect refers to "what happens as a consequence (result, impact, outcome) of an event, an idea, or a development"

Similarity tells how "something is alike or the same as something else"

Difference tells how "something is not alike or not the same as something else"

Turning Point is "a major event, idea, or historical development that brings about significant change. It can be local, regional, national, or global"

It's important to read the instructions accompanying the documents so you know exactly how to answer the short essays. This example is from the first short essay question, so along with explaining the historical context of the documents, you'll also need to explain the relationship between the documents (for the second short essay question, you'll need to explain biases). Your options for the types of relationships are:

• cause and effect,
• similarity/difference
• turning point

You'll only choose one of these relationships. Key words are explained in the instructions, which we recommend you read through carefully now so you don't waste time doing it on test day. The instructions above are the exact instructions you'll see on your own exam.

Next, read through the two documents, jotting down some brief notes if you like. Document 1 is an excerpt from a press conference where President Eisenhower discusses the importance of Indochina, namely the goods it produces, the danger of a dictatorship to the free world, and the potential of Indochina causing other countries in the region to become communist as well.

Document 2 is an excerpt from the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. It mentions an attack on the US Navy by the communist regime in Vietnam, and it states that while the US desires that there be peace in the region and is reluctant to get involved, Congress approves the President of the United States to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."

Your response should be no more than three paragraphs. For the first paragraph, we recommend discussing the historical context of the two documents. This is where your history knowledge comes in. If you have a strong grasp of the history of this time period, you can discuss how France's colonial reign in Indochina (present-day Vietnam) ended in 1954, which led to a communist regime in the north and a pro-Western democracy in the south. Eisenhower didn't want to get directly involved in Vietnam, but he subscribed to the "domino theory" (Document 1) and believed that if Vietnam became fully communist, other countries in Southeast Asia would as well. Therefore, he supplied the south with money and weapons, which helped cause the outbreak of the Vietnam War.

After Eisenhower, the US had limited involvement in the Vietnam War, but the Gulf of Tonkin incident, where US and North Vietnam ships confronted each other and exchanged fire, led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Document 2) and gave President Lyndon B. Johnson powers to send US military forces to Vietnam without an official declaration of war. This led to a large escalation of the US's involvement in Vietnam.

You don't need to know every detail mentioned above, but having a solid knowledge of key US events (like its involvement in the Vietnam War) will help you place documents in their correct historical context.

For the next one to two paragraphs of your response, discuss the relationship of the documents. It's not really a cause and effect relationship, since it wasn't Eisenhower's domino theory that led directly to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, but you could discuss the similarities and differences between the two documents (they're similar because they both show a fear of the entire region becoming communist and a US desire for peace in the area, but they're different because the first is a much more hands-off approach while the second shows significant involvement). You could also argue it's a turning point relationship because the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the turning point in the US's involvement in the Vietnam War. Up to that point, the US was primarily hands-off (as shown in Document 1). Typically, the relationship you choose is less important than your ability to support your argument with facts and analysis.

Short Answers and Civic Literacy Essay

This Civic Literacy essay is based on the accompanying documents. The question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purpose of this question. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document. Keep in mind that the language and images used in a document may reflect the historical context of the time in which it was created.

Historical Context: African American Civil Rights

Throughout United States history, many constitutional and civic issues have been debated by Americans. These debates have resulted in efforts by individuals, groups, and governments to address these issues. These efforts have achieved varying degrees of success. One of these constitutional and civic issues is African American civil rights.

Task: Read and analyze the documents. Using information from the documents and your knowledge of United States history, write an essay in which you

Discuss means "to make observations about something using facts, reasoning, and argument; to present in some detail"

Document 1a

Document 1b

• Based on these documents, state one way the end of Reconstruction affected African Americans.
• According to this document, what is one way Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois disagreed about how African Americans should achieve equality?
• According to this document, what is one reason Thurgood Marshall argued that the "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson should be overturned?

Document 4a

Document 4b

• Based on these documents, state one result of the sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth.
• According to Henry Louis Gates Jr., what was one result of the 1960s civil rights protests?
• Based on this document, state one impact of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Start by reading the instructions, then the documents themselves. There are eight of them, all focused on African American civil rights. The short answers and the civic literacy essay use the same documents. We recommend answering the short answer questions first, then completing your essay.

A short answer question follows each document or set of documents. These are straightforward questions than can be answered in 1-2 sentences. Question 1 asks, "Based on these documents, state one way the end of Reconstruction affected African Americans."

Reading through documents 1a and 1b, there are many potential answers. Choose one (don't try to choose more than one to get more points; it won't help and you'll just lose time you could be spending on other questions) for your response. Using information from document 1a, a potential answer could be, "After Reconstruction, African Americans were able to hold many elected positions. This made it possible for them to influence politics and public life more than they had ever been able to before."

Your Civic Literacy essay will be a standard five-paragraph essay, with an introduction, thesis statement, and a conclusion. You'll need to use many of the documents to answer the three bullet points laid out in the instructions. We recommend one paragraph per bullet point. For each paragraph, you'll need to use your knowledge of US history AND information directly from the documents to make your case.

As with the short essay, we recommended devoting a paragraph to each of the bullet points. In the first paragraph, you should discuss how the documents fit into the larger narrative of African American civil rights. You could discuss the effects of Reconstruction, how the industrialization of the North affected blacks, segregation and its impacts, key events in the Civil Rights movement such as the bus boycott in Montgomery and the March on Washington, etc. The key is to use your own knowledge of US history while also discussing the documents and how they tie in.

For the second paragraph, you'll discuss efforts to address African American civil rights. Here you can talk about groups, such as the NAACP (Document 3), specific people such as W.E.B. Du Bois (Document 2), and/or major events, such as the passing of the Civil Rights Act (Document 5).

In the third paragraph, you'll discuss how successful the effort to increase African American civil rights was. Again, use both the documents and your own knowledge to discuss setbacks faced and victories achieved. Your overall opinion will reflect your thesis statement you included at the end of your introductory paragraph. As with the other essays, it matters less what you conclude than how well you are able to support your argument.

3 Tips for Your US History Regents Review

In order to earn a Regents Diploma, you'll need to pass at least one of the social science regents. Here are some tips for passing the US Regents exam.

#1: Focus on Broad Themes, Not Tiny Details

With the revamp of the US History exam, there is much less focus on memorization and basic fact recall. Every question on the exam, including multiple choice, will have a document or excerpt referred to in the questions, so you'll never need to pull an answer out of thin air.

Because you'll never see a question like, "What year did Alabama become a state?" don't waste your time trying to memorize a lot of dates. It's good to have a general idea of when key events occurred, like WWII or the Gilded Age, but i t's much more important that you understand, say, the causes and consequences of WWII rather than the dates of specific battles. The exam tests your knowledge of major themes and changes in US history, so focus on that during your US History Regents review over rote memorization.

#2: Don't Write More Than You Need To

You only need to write one full-length essay for the US History Regents exam, and it's for the final question of the test (the Civic Literacy essay). All other questions (besides multiple choice) only require a few sentences or a few paragraphs.

Don't be tempted to go beyond these guidelines in an attempt to get more points. If a question asks for one example, only give one example; giving more won't get you any additional points, and it'll cause you to lose valuable time. For the two short essay questions, only write three paragraphs each, maximum. The short response questions only require a sentence or two. The questions are carefully designed so that they can be fully answered by responses of this length, so don't feel pressured to write more in an attempt to get a higher score. Quality is much more important than quantity here.

#3: Search the Documents for Clues

As mentioned above, all questions on this test are document-based, and those documents will hold lots of key information in them. Even ones that at first glance don't seem to show a lot, like a poster or photograph, can contain many key details if you have a general idea of what was going on at that point in history. The caption or explanation beneath each document is also often critical to fully understanding it. In your essays and short answers, remember to always refer back to the information you get from these documents to help support your answers.

What's Next?

Taking other Regents exams ? We have guides to the Chemistry , Earth Science , and Living Environment Regents , as well as the Algebra 1 , Algebra 2 , and Geometry Regents .

Need more information on Colonial America? Become an expert by reading our guide to the 13 colonies.

The Platt Amendment was written during another key time in American history. Learn all about this important document, and how it is still influencing Guantanamo Bay, by reading our complete guide to the Platt Amendment.

Need more help with this topic? Check out Tutorbase!

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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• Curriculum Development Team
• Content Contributors
• Getting Started: Baseline Assessments
• Getting Started: Resources to Enhance Instruction
• Getting Started: Instructional Routines
• Unit 9.1: Global 1 Introduction
• Unit 9.2: The First Civilizations
• Unit 9.3: Classical Civilizations
• Unit 9.4: Political Powers and Achievements
• Unit 9.5: Social and Cultural Growth and Conflict
• Unit 9.6: Ottoman and Ming Pre-1600
• Unit 9.7: Transformation of Western Europe and Russia
• Unit 9.8: Africa and the Americas Pre-1600
• Unit 9.9: Interactions and Disruptions
• Unit 10.0: Global 2 Introduction
• Unit 10.1: The World in 1750 C.E.
• Unit 10.2: Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism
• Unit 10.3: Industrial Revolution
• Unit 10.4: Imperialism
• Unit 10.5: World Wars
• Unit 10.6: Cold War Era
• Unit 10.7: Decolonization and Nationalism
• Unit 10.8: Cultural Traditions and Modernization
• Unit 10.9: Globalization and the Changing Environment
• Unit 10.10: Human Rights Violations
• Unit 11.0: US History Introduction
• Unit 11.1: Colonial Foundations
• Unit 11.2: American Revolution
• Unit 11.3A: Building a Nation
• Unit 11.03B: Sectionalism & the Civil War
• Unit 11.4: Reconstruction
• Unit 11.5: Gilded Age and Progressive Era
• Unit 11.6: Rise of American Power
• Unit 11.7: Prosperity and Depression
• Unit 11.8: World War II
• Unit 11.9: Cold War
• Unit 11.10: Domestic Change
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Regents Prep: US Exam

Short essay checklist, for student writing and teacher feedback shor.

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Resources for Part 2: Short Essays: Short Essay Checklist

Students can use this checklist while writing OR teachers can use this checklist to give students feedback on their short essay responses. 

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