My final Final Exam Advice:

Writing an essay that communicates a SEMESTERS worth of understanding can be a bit

overwhelming at first. Here a little help: break down the semester into overarching themes and then
the main concepts. Because I love you so much and I long for you to be successful, Ive done that for
you.

1. History of the Constitution

A. Basics concepts of Government and theories
B. Articles of the Confederation
C. Constitutional Convention
D. Articles of Constitution and Amendments
2. Judicial Branch
A. How structure is set up
B. How a case reaches the S Court
C. Key cases studied
3. Congress
A. Structure of Congress
B. Powers of Congress
C. Bill to a Law Process
D. Outside sources (Lobbyists, PACs, Interest Groups, etc)
4. Elections
A. Political Parties (2 Party System)
B. Gerrymandering
C. Single-member districts

Now take this outline of the past semester and see if you can generate a response to those essay topics
on the Review Guide that would provide support for these from EACH of these themes. Some
questions will pull from all of the sub points of a theme, others will require you to think extra hard to
find a connection.

Here are some sample theses to stimulate your brain a bit (remember the S. Court cases can be
excellent examples to use as support):
The USA IS a democracy OR The USA is NOT a democracy
Federalism is a core concept thats written into every major aspect of government
The USA government is inefficient in its design.
The Legislative or Judicial Branch is the most powerful branch of government.
The structure of USA government encourages OR discourages citizen participation

Final Essay Preparation Outline:

Directions: Please complete the outline below for the question that you were
assigned. You information should be SPECIFIC and DETAILED.

THESIS: (write out the entire sentence) ______________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
I. Main Point #1: ____________________________________________________________

A. 1st Supporting point for #1: __________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
B. 2nd Supporting point for #1: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
C. 3rd Supporting point for #1: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

II. Main Point #2: ___________________________________________________________

A. 1st Supporting point for #2: __________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
B. 2nd Supporting point for #2: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

C. 3rd Supporting point for #2: __________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

III. Main Point #3: __________________________________________________________

A. 1st Supporting point for #3: __________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
B. 2nd Supporting point for #3: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
C. 3rd Supporting point for #3: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

III. Main Point #4: __________________________________________________________

A. 1st Supporting point for #4: __________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
B. 2nd Supporting point for #4: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
C. 3rd Supporting point for #4: __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________