History of USA

A lot of you have asked about my strategy in History of USA since I have got good score in it in my 2019 attempt.

Majumdar book was read by me at least twice. I had read it like a story book to get sense of the events. It helped me understand the main events occurred and the reasons behind their occurence. Since book is not according to syllabus, I bought History of USA by Umair Khan published by JWT. I prepared from that book. That part was done for 2018 attempt. Did not pay any attention to past papers and MCQs. Subjective paper was easy but MCQ paper was hell difficult. I only knew answer of 1 MCQ. It was hard to apply any technique for guessing the answers because each MCQ had 3 dates with fourth none of these option. I randomly marked all of them and managed to get 8 answers right. I was not that well prepared but I passed that paper when even the best prepared ones failed in it.

My marks were very poor and I wanted to improve them for next attempt because I did not want to change the subject at that stage. Therefore, I started searching for more books and sources to achieve my purpose.
Few of the high scorers and qualifiers of 2018 suggested to watch US history crash course on youtube. They are good. I will advise everyone to watch those lectures. It will certainly help you tackle unconventional questions which are not present in usual books. I bought book of Sir Zulqarnain (teaches at KIPS academy) on US history. I liked his book for some of the topics. They are well written. If someone want to see contents of his book or want to buy, please follow this link. It is of his page from where you can get the addresses of book shops which keep his books.

https://www.facebook.com/AcademicCounsellingForCss/

Before result, I also read a book on American history by Howard Zinn. It was a wonderful book. I also solved MCQs of past papers. Also, Umair Khan from JWT has solved MCQ book which I used for MCQ preparation.

Prepared recent events/current topics especially about Trump and his policies from articles published in Dawn and different journals and magazines (Both national and international).

Now, here is honest story of 2019 paper. Like I law paper, despite good preparation, I was only able to fully solve 3 questions i.e. Question number 3,6 and 7. I could not solve question 8. To solve question 3 and 4, I needed to scratch my brains out. I am not good at cramming. I was sure that I will commit blunder if I attempt any of the two since people around me were well prepared for the two and were writing tons of pages on those questions. Now, only option left for me was question number two which I had not prepared at all. Still, I dared to attempt it. Being a Commerce graduate, I had knowledge of Economics (I have studied four subjects of Economics at various levels of my degrees). I had a slight idea that what could have been the challenges of that area. I created around 12 points on economic issues by using Economic terminologies while keeping the timeline of Bill Clinton's presidency in mind. In second part, I tried to connect the issues with some of the steps taken during that time and just mentioned that Mr. Clinton did that. (Still not sure if those were the real problems or Mr. Clinton took those steps. :p) In short, I did not leave my paper blank and tried to solve it with my existing knowledge even if I was not prepared. If someone has studied all topics, he will be able to solve such twisted questions because we do have some knowledge about the things being asked. We are used to straight questions and crammed stuff which do no work anymore. Now, questions are twisted. Therefore, you need to twist your knowledge to give answers of such questions. No need to panic. Solve what you can solve easily. Rest, use your brains to come up with the solution.

About MCQs, all 20 were from past papers. Got 19 right since one was incorrect due to accidental filling of wrong bubble. It certainly helped in getting that score. They do repeat MCQs of past papers. Eat them; drink them. They are available on forum. It does not mean you should rely on those. Prepare as much as you can. Examiners are unpredictable. In 2018, MCQs were like hell and in 2019, they were like Sweetest Halwa. Do not push your luck. Prepare well.

My scores in History of USA
2019- 75
2018- 48