Well, tomorrow at high noon you’ll be knee deep in an eternal grapple with the history of art. It’s a date with destiny and although your knees may wobble and your stomach churns, relax.

You’ve been working really hard on this course all year long. Feel confident in that and also feel confident that your teacher has given you the practice and the skills necessary for you to succeed tomorrow. Feel your inevitable success, envision it in your mind!

Let’s talk about some tangible strategies though to help you out tomorrow, too.

First you’ll have two sections: 115 multiple choice questions in one hour and 10 essay prompts in 2 hours. We’ve been working on these all year long so there is nothing on this test that you haven’t seen before.

Let’s start with the multiple choice test. The first 30 or so questions will ask you to answer them based on a pair of images, one on the right and one on the left. The next bit will have you answer questions NOT based on images, but they may make use of them in black and white.

The key thing about the multiple choice portion is the pacing. You have only about 30 seconds per question to answer them all. This means that you have to either know it or move on. If you can’t either recognize what the question is asking or predict the answer when you first set about reading it, move on. That way you will give yourself the most questions you feel the surest about out of the way first. Then you will have more time to answer the remaining questions (you may actually increase your response time with the remaining questions from 30 seconds if you do this right).

In your second round with herbs multiple choice questions, be sure to eliminate any answers to increase your chances. There is NO penalty for guessing which means you should answer EVERY question.

As for the second part you will have to answer the essays. Make sure you read the question carefully first and, like the multiple choice, whenever possible move on to the next essay question if you don’t immediately have a way to answer it.

In order to guide your thinking, circle any action verbs in the question (what it is asking you to do) and underline any key terms that it asks (who, what, when, how many examples, etc.). This way you can be sure to answer the prompt and get the highest points possible.

Remember you should select an image (for long essays) that you can generate at least three supporting statement about.

Also, remember that Egypt and Mesopotamia do NOT count as outside the European perspective. Recall the images and examples from the culture you presented on on class.

Finally, don’t cram. It doesn’t help. Your mind, like your body, needs rest. Make sure to get plenty of it and to eat a good balanced breakfast with proteins. You’ll do fine! Don’t doubt yourself! If you faithfully have done the work we’ve asked of you, your success is guaranteed! And most of all, have fun with this! It will pass and you will look fondly back on this experience someday – as strange as it sounds!