Friday, March 25, 2011

General Anthropology DSST

I took the DANTES General Anthropology exam. I think it went quite well, and I am pretty sure I passed it.

I didn't think it was TOO hard an exam. Definitely harder than CLEP Sociology, but not as hard as DANTES Intro to World Religions.

As usual with DANTES, there were quite a few questions that I didn't know the answer to. But I am hoping that I was able to correctly answer enough questions to pass. 

Only time will tell!


Resources:


Wikipedia (I looked lots of terminology up).
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~tljone...ew%202004.html
http://www.umanitoba.ca/anthropology/kintitle.html


Things to Know (based on MY version of the exam):

Cross-cousins (identify on a kinship chart)
ziggurat
Catal Huyuk
Superposition/Stratigraphy
Mana
Ethnology
Ethnography
Linguistics (Sapir)
DNA (just know what it is)
Genetic Drift
Natural Selection
Hominids (know this stuff well. Know the different kinds of hominids, where, when, what they did first, where their fossils/bones have been found, etc.)
Oldest hominid found so far in USA
Dating Technology (Scientific Dating of Archaeological Sites and Artifacts)
Civilization (definition)
Culture (definition)
Ideal/Real Culture
Ethnocentrism
Cultural Relativism
Diffusion
Emic/Etic
Status
Symbols
Band/Caste/Chiefdom/Class/Clan/Tribe/Kinship/State etc.
Lineage (Matri/Patri)
Endogamy/Exogamy
Monogamy/Polygamy/Polyandry
Hunter-gatherer/Horticulture/Agriculture/Industrial/Market Exchange.
Reciprocity
Redistribution
Potlach
Animism
Revitalization
Cargo Cults (know what they are. I LOVE those guys: Cargo cult - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Myth
Folktale
Shamanism
Taboo
Totem
Applied Anthropology


Names (just know why each name is important):

Darwin
Mendel 
Tylor
Boas
Rivers
Frazer
Malinowski
Sapir
Benedict


Civilizations to Know:

Maya
Inca
Aztec
Aborigine
Olmec


Bonus Point: Which civilization first invented "zero"?

7 comments:

  1. I believe it was the Sumer. I know this because of playing too much Civilization games ;)

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  2. Actually,Indians first used zero as a standalone number.

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  3. That seems like a lot of information to retain, hope you did well..

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  4. hope you are successful. good luck.

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  5. I have a question even though I know this post is old... I need to take this test in the next month or so and I can’t seem to find a straight answer as to whether all questions are multiple choice, or if there are fill-in-the-blank style questions?? I was under the impression that all CLEPs and DSSTs were multiple choice, until I took College Mathematics a few months back and got more than a couple surprise fill in the blanks. Hoping you can share your experience in this area! Thanks:)

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