History proficiency exams Fall 2012

1. Proficiency examinations are set in essay format and will be given on the dates listed below and as determined by the Department of History. What follows are details of registration, recommended reading, and information about the tests.

2. Proficiency examinations will be given only during the first full week of instruction of fall and spring semesters. Students may register to take exams during the two weeks preceding the scheduled tests.

3. For Fall 2012, students must register to take proficiency examinations with the department no later than Wednesday, 12:00 PM, (August 29, 2012) during the first full week of instruction. Failure to register by noon will delay such examinations until the next testing period. To officially register for the exam, please email Sandy Carley at carley@illinois.edu. Please include the following information in the email: Name, UIN, College, Major(s), Class (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior), Preferred Test Date (August 30 or September 1), and Which Exam (HIST 141, HIST 142, HIST 171, or HIST 172). Please note: You may only take a maximum of two proficiency exams. If you sign up for two, you must take one on August 30 and the other on September 1. Please indicate which exam you wish to take on which date.

4. Proficiency examinations will be read and graded promptly. A passing grade is 70%. The results will be available at the front desk in 309 Gregory Hall within five days. This will enable students who are successful to drop and add courses within the time allowed.

5. The Student Code prohibits examination for credit in a subject of elementary character if more than one course has already been taken in the subject. The Department interprets this rule to exclude students from taking the examinations for HIST 171-172 if more than three hours of 200-400 level work has been taken in American History, from taking those for HIST 141-142 if more than three hours at the 200-400 level have been completed in European History (including British and Russian). The Department prohibits the retaking of any proficiency examination which a student has failed.

Fall 2012 Proficiency Exam Dates/Times/Location:

Thursday, August 30, 2012: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM in 111 Gregory Hall
Saturday, September 1, 2012: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM in 111 Gregory Hall

HISTORY PROFICIENCY EXAMS SUGGESTED READING LISTS
Fall 2012

The proficiency examinations are intended to deal with the material of the course described in the university course catalog. The list that follows is intended only as a series of suggestions for students who have some familiarity with the subject matter but may wish to brush up and learn what sorts of books have been assigned in the related courses at the University of Illinois in recent years.

HIST 141 - Western Civ to 1660 (Professor Clare Crowston)
· Mckay, Hill, Buckler, Crowston, Wiesner-Hanks, History of Western Society 10e V1 & Sources of Western Society V1, ISBN: 978-0-312-54844-5
· Davis, Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives, ISBN: 978-0-674-95521-9

 HIST 142 - Western Civ Since 1660 (Professor Tamara Chaplin)
· Conrad, Heart of Darkness, ISBN: 978-0-486-26464-6
· Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, ISBN: 978-0-684-82680-6
· Drakulic, How We Survived Communism & Even Laughed, ISBN: 978-0-06-097540-1
· Ibsen, A Doll’s House, ISBN: 978-0-486-27062-3
· Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, Smith, Voltaire, Gordon, Lualdi, Making of the West 3e v2 & Sources for The Making of the West 4e V2 & Candide, ISBN: 978-1-4576-4014-8

HIST 171 - US Hist to 1877 (Professor Frederick Hoxie)
· Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness Of God, ISBN: 978-0-312-11151-9
· Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself, ISBN: 978-0-312-25737-8
· Cabeza De Vaca, Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition, ISBN: 978-0-14-243707-0
· Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May, Ruiz, Created Equal: A History of the United States, Brief Edition, Volume 1 with MyHistoryLab and Pearson eText (3rd Edition), ISBN: 978-0-205-81359-9

HIST 172 - US Hist Since 1877 (Professor Kathryn Oberdeck)
· Moody, Coming of Age In Mississippi, ISBN: 978-0-440-31488-2
· Sinclair, The Jungle, ISBN: 978-0-451-52804-9
· Foner, Give Me Liberty With Voices of Freedom Volume 2 – 3rd edition, ISBN: 978-0-393-13974-7