<p>You should know most of the presidents and their important treaties, legislation, controversy etc, but, the social trends, wars and other key figures in US culture are more important IMO.</p>
<p>Maybe it was because I studied the presidents and legislation so much last year that those questions seemed easy to me, but last years test has many toughies on American artists, important cultural revolutions, social trends etc. I got questions on key points in Andrew Jackson’s presidency (defiance of Supreme Court on Worcester v. Georgia is a popular choice for questions) up to even a few questions on Clinton. Not too much stuff on Pre-Columbian/Discovery of Americas for me.</p>
<p>I was really surprised on how many questions there were on writers and artists, (writers weren’t too hard, but I was virtually clueless on some stuff for the artists). Know “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, thats usually a biggie. Also, F. Scott Fitzgerald is huge. </p>
<p>Study a bit of yellow journalism, “barons” of industry, a lot about the time of Teddy Roosevelts presidency (not necessarily the presidency but the social trends), know McKinley vs Bryan in the 1896 election (gold vs silver standard). Umm… know Gulf of Tonkin incident, Northwest territory and laws for statehood back in those days, some of the famous Civil War battles, medicare, etc. Basically study everything, helps if you’re currently taking a history course, if not, load up on US History SAT books, not just practice test books, sparknotes.com helps A LOT. </p>
<p>Last but not least, beware of the practice tests, although they do help a lot, don’t expect that if you get an 800 once you’ll get it on the real thing, there’s just so much to cover that the questions really can vary and many tests are so different from others. I got 780’s and 800’s on practice tests, but on the real thing I got a 720 in my freshman year, after taking the basic US History course required in my school.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>