§ — — Reading in Philippine History
Your prelim in Reading in Philippine History almost always draws from the first four modules of this course. Professors love this stretch because it tests both memory (dates, names, definitions) and skill (classifying sources, applying criticism). Here is exactly what to expect and how to prepare in one week.
| Module in this app | Typical weight | What actually gets tested |
|---|---|---|
| The Meaning and Relevance of History | ~20% | Stearns's four purposes of history; primary vs secondary; artifact vs ecofact; the three types of unwritten sources; Philippine and foreign repositories |
| Tests of Authenticity and Credibility | ~30% | External vs internal criticism; Gottschalk's credibility criteria; the Maragtas case; rules for disagreeing and hostile sources; research ethics |
| Case Study: The Tejeros Convention of 1897 | ~25% | The Katipunan split, the two factions and their leaders, the March 22, 1897 election and its aftermath, and why Alvarez is primary while Agoncillo is secondary |
| Early Philippine Chronicles — Pigafetta and Plasencia | ~25% | The Magellan expedition timeline, Pigafetta's manuscripts, Plasencia's Customs of the Tagalogs, and the biases of both chroniclers |
| Type | What it looks like | How to win it |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple choice | Four options, usually one "trap" distractor built from a nearby fact | Eliminate the distractor that belongs to a different module or person |
| Identification | "Give the term/person" — no options | These come straight from the memorize list below |
| True/False | Statements with one wrong detail (a date, a name, an "always") | Absolute words like "always" and "never" are usually false |
| Primary vs secondary classification | A described source; you classify it | Ask one question: was the creator present at the event? (Proximity is the key distinction) |
| Document analysis | A short quoted excerpt plus 2–3 questions | Name the source type, the author's vantage point, and the bias before answering anything else |
If you can recite everything here, you can answer roughly 80% of a typical prelim.
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Module 4
| Day | Focus | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Meaning and Relevance of History | Recite Stearns's four purposes; build a two-column primary/secondary chart; drill artifact vs ecofact |
| 2 | The Meaning and Relevance of History | Memorize the repositories table — country, archive, and the one fact attached to each (1821, 1762–64, Seville, PARES) |
| 3 | Tests of Authenticity and Credibility | External vs internal criticism until automatic; Gottschalk's four credibility criteria; the Maragtas case |
| 4 | Tests of Authenticity and Credibility | Rules for disagreeing/hostile sources and the basic assumptions; say the "prosecutor, attorney, judge, jury" quote from memory |
| 5 | Case Study: The Tejeros Convention of 1897 | Draw the faction map (Magdiwang/Noveleta/M. Alvarez vs Magdalo/Kawit/B. Aguinaldo); rehearse the March 22, 1897 sequence and the Alvarez-vs-Agoncillo source comparison |
| 6 | Early Philippine Chronicles — Pigafetta and Plasencia | Write the 1519–1521 timeline from memory three times; list Plasencia's key terms (Bathala, catalonan, maca, casamaan) |
| 7 | All four modules | Take the free 15-item practice set below under time pressure (20 minutes), then the mock exams; review every miss against the lesson |
One warning: do not study the modules in isolation. The best prelim questions cross modules — for example, applying Module 2's criticism tests to Module 3's Tejeros sources or Module 4's chronicles. That is exactly how the practice items below are built.
Work through these 15 items in 20 minutes, closed notes. They are built exactly like real prelim questions — same modules, same traps. The answer key with explanations is at the bottom.
1. According to Peter Stearns (1998), a community coming to understand who they are through their shared historical experiences illustrates which purpose of history?
2. Archaeologists recover rice seeds, shells, and animal bones from an ancient settlement. None of these were made or modified by humans. These are classified as:
3. Which question belongs to external criticism?
4. Louis Gottschalk described the historian's role as playing which roles "all in one"?
5. Which statement correctly describes the outcome of the Tejeros Convention of March 22, 1897?
6. Santiago Alvarez's memoirs are a primary source on the Tejeros Convention while Teodoro Agoncillo's The Revolt of the Masses is a secondary source. What single criterion drives this distinction?
7. On March 16, 1521, the Magellan expedition made its first Philippine landfall. Where, and what name did Magellan give the islands?
8. What happened at the Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521?
9. A source whose style and content do not fit the milieu of its supposed period is likely fabricated.
10. Fray Juan de Plasencia sailed with the Magellan expedition and wrote his account of the voyage in 1521.
11. The alleged document that historian William Henry Scott (1984) argued was based on suspicious oral traditions and fabricated written sources.
12. The person who challenged Bonifacio's qualification for the position he had been elected to at Tejeros.
13. The supreme deity of the Tagalogs described by Plasencia as "the maker of all things."
14. Classify each source as primary or secondary:
15. Plasencia listed the Tagalog religious specialists — the catalonan, mangagauay, and others — under the heading "Priests of the Devil."
1. C — "Providing identity" is Stearns's purpose about communities knowing who they are through shared historical experience; civic formation is about informed citizenship instead.
2. B — Ecofacts are natural archaeological evidence not shaped by humans; artifacts are, by definition, made or modified by humans.
3. B — External criticism tests authenticity (is the source what it claims to be?); options A, C, and D are all Gottschalk's internal-criticism credibility tests.
4. C — Gottschalk's famous line: the historian is "prosecutor, attorney for the defense, judge, and jury all in one."
5. B — Aguinaldo won the presidency; after Danielo Tirona questioned Bonifacio's qualification, Bonifacio declared the proceedings null and void. The Malolos Constitution (D) belongs to 1898–1899, not Tejeros.
6. B — Proximity to the event is the key distinction between primary and secondary sources; opinions and publishers do not change the classification.
7. C — First landfall was the island of Zamal (Samar), and the islands were named the Archipelago of St. Lazarus. Cebu came later (April 7).
8. B — Magellan led the Mactan assault personally and was killed; Lapu-Lapu had refused to submit.
9. TRUE — This is one of the basic assumptions in working with sources: a source out of step with its supposed milieu is likely fabricated.
10. FALSE — Plasencia was a Franciscan friar who arrived in 1577 and wrote Customs of the Tagalogs around 1589; the expedition chronicler in 1521 was Antonio Pigafetta.
11. The Maragtas — Scott's 1984 critique is the lesson's example of why the test of authenticity is necessary.
12. Danielo Tirona — His challenge to Bonifacio's qualification triggered the nullification of the proceedings.
13. Bathala — The Tagalog supreme deity who dwelled in heaven, per Plasencia.
14. (a) Primary; (b) secondary — The diarist was present inside the events; the 2015 textbook author reflects on them from outside.
15. (a) It reveals Plasencia's colonial-Christian missionary framing — he treated indigenous religious practice as idolatry to be understood and replaced. (b) No — identifying a bias does not automatically disqualify a source; it shapes how the historian interprets it.
Scoring: 13–15 correct, you are prelim-ready — sharpen with the mocks. 9–12, re-read your weakest module first. Below 9, restart the 7-day plan at Day 1.
The four full-length 30-item mock exams below, with fully explained answer keys and a traps drill, come with the subject unlock.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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Drills, code labs, and full solutions.
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