<p>Hey I want to sef study for AP American government. I am enrolled in a normal class at my high school. I was wondering how hard this test is and what the best review and textbooks are.</p>
<p>By a "normal class" do you mean a non-AP gov course? I don't know a textbook to recommend (my AP course never used one) but I think all the major review books are OK. The important thing, though, is that you should be already interested and knowledgable about politics (if you weren't, why would you want to self-study)? If you read major newspapers and magazines reguarly, the only thing you need is to brush up on a few relatively obscure topics like important SCOTUS cases and poly sci jargon (they're big on "efficacy").</p>
<p>Well, I'm taking it this year, and we're using Wilson/Dilulio's American Government.... it has a liberal slant to it so if you're political ideology differs a lot you might not able to sit and read through some of it. But it's an easy read and nicely organized.</p>
<p>Maybe take a practice test right now (there are a few dozen questions in the course prospectus on the collegeboard.com website). If you get, say, half of the questions right now it's probably worth persuing.</p>
<p>My AP Gov't class is using Wilson/Dilulio. The book's stance is definitely more conservative than liberal. If you read Wilson's brief bio, you'll figure out that he's a hardcore conservative. As for prep books, we'll be using one based on the Wilson/Dilulio text.</p>
<p>I wouldn't bother with a text. I used the PR rev book, a list of Supreme Court cases and learned the Articles and Ammendments each case pertained to, and got the easiest five ever. It's really more of a vocab quiz than a test, I think.</p>
<p>I took honors government last year, and ended up taking the AP test. Make sure you get the AP review book(s) now, and read a little bit every night... 15min would work. Because I noticed when I studied and took the test, that there is a lot on the AP that isn't covered in the class. Also the AP Gov. test sounds easy, but it's really not. It's not like Chem where you get half right and still get a 5. In fact I think it's one of the lowest scoring AP test out there.</p>
<p>I self-studied and did fine...If you know politics well, just buy a prep book and learn some terms and important cases and you'll be fine.</p>