The most popular term this time around was “monsoon” — almost everyone picked it. “Pepper’ and “Aztec” tied for second place, followed closely by “humanism”, “joint-stock company” and “imperialism.” The least popular term was “Siberia” — almost 90% of you avoided it — with “Mughal”, “Vasco da Gama” and “Mali” also in the single-digits.

Just a reminder: memorizing the glossary definition won’t get you much beyond C-range, if that. Memorizing the paragraph in which the term first appears only works sometimes, but usually there’s a lot of context if you read futher back and forward from there. Also, you really don’t want to ignore what I say in class: Part of my job is to provide further context and significance….. Conversely, what I say in class is intended to supplement the textbook, not replace it.

The high score in the class was 29.5 out of a possible 32. So here’s how the grades come out:

Here are some sample answers which scored 4 out of 4. I’m not endorsing copying their form or style, nor are they necessarily perfect, but they get the job done: cover the ground and get to the point.
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