<p>This class is literally killing me. I finished my last exam before winter break today, and I almost starting crying during the test, I was that stressed out. :( The teacher even went so far as to call me up to his desk during the second portion (essay) of the test, and asked me "Do you really not know where this place is?" (points to St. Petersburg... sad, I know.) He seemed really disappointed and even kind of disbelieving that I was in his class. It was really disconcerting, and I saw my test grade for the first half - already 46 points were taken off!</p>
<p>Everyone else in the class is bloooody brilliant. I feel like I should've taken some preresquisite class before this... how do they all know so much? Why do I know NOTHING? I feel so incredibly STUPID in this class! ;(</p>
<p>Any ideas on how I can improve? I mean, the only homework he gives is usually note-taking, or filling out some organizer. How can I know EVERYTHING? It's impossible... even if I study my brains out, I feel like I'm gaining nothing. Nothing is HELPING. And I don't really want to approach the teacher, because he's that sarcastic kind and I don't feel comfortable talking to him about it... </p>
<p>:(... (this is gonna kill my entire vacation)</p>
<p>I don't know if my advice will do you much good, because European history was a pretty much a breeze for me... I knew alot of the info from books I read during my spare time (although I was definitely amoung the minority). There definitely isn't any type of prerequisite you should take. </p>
<p>In my opinion, European history is all about the big concepts. Once you get those down, it's easy to extrapolate stuff, etc. For example, on some of the essays, it doesn't matter if your points are "obvious," etc. And alot of the stuff on the tests kind of seems like common sense after a while... </p>
<p>Then again... my teacher didn't really get nit picky with the exact dates. Either way, I think my technique worked, because I breezed through the class with an A and the AP with a 5.</p>
<p>By the way, I would recommend reading your textbook ALOT (Spievogel?). I loved that book. And when AP time comes around, Princeton Review is frickin' awesome! Mnemonic devices are great too (Haha, was that random or what?).</p>
<p>Thank you, nvision (and wrathofgod64 and happyggal!) You resemble the other fifteen members of my AP Euro class, heh... (they actually said AP Euro was probably the easiest AP class? PSH!) Your post helped... I do try and concentrate on major points, but when it comes to test-taking time and it refers to some specific event or thing, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing :( And common sense? How so? If you could explain your reasoning, that'd be a great help :) (If I can treat questions like common sense... I'd be doing a hell of a lot better, haha. I probably guess on 2/3 of all his tests! I just feel like I don't know... anything at all.) </p>
<p>My teacher's probably, actually a LOT like yours. He doesn't get picky about dates - more about major events, specifics about the event (who? what? when? where?) And all of what you say is true - on my DBQs, I found I did better when I stated the obvious as concisely as I could rather then sticking it in subtly with big vocab words (like I do for English. which works there. but not here, lol) </p>
<p>And aaah, my textbook. I HATE MY TEXTBOOK. Probably because I'm not the kind of person who's into warfare, politics, economics and all of that... but it simply puts me to sleep! (We just discovered recently the writers were members of some pro-imperalisim board... go figure) When I take notes, I find myself not concentrating and I have to take SO MUCH that I just type everything down, not bothering to really comprehend what I'm doing :( And class notes NEVER HELP me either. </p>
<p>Spievogel? (your textbook?) I'll try finding a copy. We're using "The Western Heritage" 8th Edition...</p>
<p>Hmm, I've never heard of your textbook. Spielvogel is the name of the author of my textbook from last year. I think it's fairly popular amoung Euro classes, so you shouldn't have a hard time finding it. It's a monster though, so be warned :P.</p>
<p>Regarding the main points. I think it would help if you tried to summarize the main points after the end of each chapter (I dunno, how your book organizes stuff though), as there was quite a bit of extraneous information in the textbook (at least mine :-p). Once you have the main points down, you should be able to remember the some stuff about the parts in between. </p>
<p>Another tip my teacher gave us last year, was that you should be aggressive with the questions (if they're AP style). You shouldn't be afraid to eliminate 2 (or 3), right off the bat due to errors. Then it's usually the wording that's wrong with 1 of the last 2. I swear, that probably saved my butt on the AP lol.</p>
<p>hanae, i feel so bad for you
the exact same thing happened to me last year.. AP euro was SOO hard and i constantly felt like i was the only one doing bad. anyway for some reason my teacher liked me and gave me a nice grade (in the low 90s, which was then weightedt x 1.1) on my report card even though my test avg was slightly above failing like others (man the tests were HARD). although i remember once i spent literally a whole week studying for a test that was on imperialism and something else... and i got 28/33. that was the highest i ever got. boy was i SO proud that day lol but anyway on the AP test i got 3... which i am absolutely thrilled about but i know somer CCers think its mediocre. anyway i dont know why i just told u my story... oh yeah, i wanted to tell u that I too have no clue why people are saying AP euro was "a breeze".. i mean come on that was the hardest class i have ever taken (and i consider myself to be a really good student). so, there IS hope for u getting at leat a 3 (if ur ok with that) because i seriously was expecting a 1, before AND after taking the test lol.</p>
<p>What is your grade in that class?
I took AP Euro last year, and yes, It was a freakin' hard class!!! The highest test score I ever got was 92.1%, simply because the concepts for me were hard to grasp... I remembered I studied for six hours for tests and still received a C+ on them... yeah, terribly sad I know.
It was even harder for me because all my friends were absolute history nerds and got A+s in the class without working their butts off like me.
My best advice for you would be to "work ahead". Be at least two days ahead of the reading. Take at least two nights to study for tests. Two nights before the test, review all your notes and all the stuff you don't get. Make sure you UNDERSTAND everything, why everything happens, how it happens, etc. If you're like me, make diagrams!!! I used powerpoint to make charts and included pictures of Stalin and Bastille Tower to help me remember things. Tell it like a story. After all, that's what it is... a story.
How much time are you spending in that class? Honestly, i spent probably three hours a night just trying to comprehend the reading and all the complexities with it. If that class is killing you, then you need to spend at least three hours a night, if not more. </p>
<p>Modern European History is a great book. Get Princeton Review's if "simple talk" is easier for you to understand.</p>
<p>I received A- as a final grade and am very proud of it. I got a 5 on the AP test btw.</p>
<p>Oh yeah. There are also really good websites with flashcards, quizzes, notes, resources. Just google in AP European history</p>
<p>AP Euro is one of the toughest classes you will take. I took it last year, got an A- in the class, a 4 on the exam.
I took very very careful notes... cause we had a quiz everyday based on our notes. It took me about 3 hrs each night to do them... killed me.
I got both the Princeton Review and REA. REA was mainly to cram and review right before the test.
If it really is giving you that much trouble... I'd just drop out. It may not be worth the stress it's causing, the GPA boost (if it ends up helping your GPA at all) and who knows what you'll get on the AP.
I'm not a history person myself; can't take it all in.
All I can say is, you read the book, and you take the notes..
or you don't. That's it basically. A lot of it is memorization.</p>
<p>I'm taking ap euro and struggle with it too - I have a bad memory too, but still, I never know why everyone else knows so much!! I can't get anything higher than a C+ on the tests, what saves me are DBQs and other essays because I'm a decent writer. All I can say is read euro history stuff for fun - reading world news kind of helps, in a way, too. Sometimes they talk about the history leading up to an event, and being able to tie it to a present day event helps. Good luck, chicita.</p>
<p>"I'm not the kind of person who's into warfare, politics, economics and all of that... but it simply puts me to sleep!"</p>
<p>That's what European history is about. It doesn't matter if your author is affiliated with a "pro imperialism" board or not, books don't change. If you're not into that stuff, why did you sign up for the class?</p>
<p>There's only one secret to doing well in Euro:</p>
<p>READ THE TEXTBOOK.</p>
<p>Yes, it may be boring, but it's all you'll ever need. APs are supposed to prepare you for college, and in college you will have to read a lot of textbooks you don't like. Get used to it now while it won't hurt you as much.</p>
<p>Aaaaaah... :( I'LL TRY. I'm probably not spending enough time with the subject if you guys are doing 3 hours per night... oh my god, lol. I probably spend 3 hours per night doing my homework total. </p>
<p>I guess I signed up to prove some point to myself. (I failed.) Half the year is almost gone, and I got a C last term (ugh, lowest grade I have ever EVER recieved!... does it kill my chances at ANY good schools with a huge assortment of B's and a few A's?) </p>
<p>And yea, like oneiros lykos8 said - DBQs and essays are the only things that save my ass, lol. I'm a decent writer... on every test, there's always two portions, an objective (multiple choice) and an essay. I ALWAYS do well on the essay portion, but I usually get 30+ points off on the objective... highest I've ever gotten was an 88 on a QUIZ :(</p>
<p>but BLAH. It's too late to drop out - I'd get a fail (which is ultimately worse then my C atm, lol)</p>
<p>In 10th grade my teacher bragged the whole year about how she had a son at Harvard and a son at Yale and a bunch of idiots in her AP Euro class.</p>
<p>You can imagine her face when I told her I got into harvard ;)</p>
<p>Three hours total in homework? that's how much i usually sleep.</p>
<p>For history, there is a correlation between how much time you spend and what grade you get in the class. it's all about memorizing and understanding.</p>