<p>Hey, for this coming up 2010 year, I am planning on taking the AP Euro History exam but not the class. How difficult is the exam, and would I be able to do well (like 4 or 5) on the exam without the class? I'm going to study for it of course, but I don't want to waste all this time studying if I still won't get a 4 or 5.</p>
<p>Yes, I self-studied this year. I couldn’t take the exam because I missed the entry date, but I feel fairly confident that I could have done pretty well. I would recommend either reading A History of the Modern World by R.R. Palmer, or reviewing from Princeton Review. Good Luck! :)</p>
<p>The Princeton Review book is really really good.</p>
<p>I got a 4 and I took WH</p>
<p>My son’s school does not offer European History AP, so he self-studied and got a 4. We found a textbook by checking out the College Board AP site and surfing the web to find out what books the top tier schools were using. He ended up with “The Western Heritage” by Kagan, Ozment and Turner.</p>
<p>He also used the Princeton Review book to get ready for the test, but I wouldn’t recommend just using that book. The textbook had a richer presentation and gave the real flavor of the times. He did not want to just get a grade on the test, but understand the material.</p>
<p>He just did a little each week, and since he loves history, it was not a chore. He was the only one so far at his school to self study for that test.</p>
<p>Yea, I self-studied for AP U.S. history, and I got a 4. That was just by looking up common terms from the multiple choice. I like European history better, so I might study more and take a shot at a 5.</p>
<p>I got a 5 but I honestly do not know how that happened. I worked hard during the school year, so I guess I learned the material pretty well, but I didn’t study too much for the actual exam. So I ended up COMPLETELY BSing one of the FRQs, and I thought I got a 3. But I guess I got lucky. The important thing for this kind of thing is to understand. You really have to pay attention and comprehend the concepts during the school year everyday, rather than memorize a bunch of facts to cram for the exam. The majority of the questions on the exam aren’t your usual straightforward questions (like who did this? A B C or D). A lot of them require you to apply the concepts you learned and take it a step further.</p>
<p>Anyways, good luck!</p>
<p>Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, but you should buy an actual AP Euro textbook to read alongside an AP book. It might be a little more time consuming, but if you read bits from the textbook as well, it will really help you.</p>
<p>Okay thanks. I am planning on buying both a textbook and the Princeton Review. I just want a 4, but a 5 would be really great. Is the material at least interesting. I have my own preconceived notions about the stuff, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>In addition, I think I am going to take the AP Micro exam without the class. What is that exam like, and is it “pure memorization” like I have heard? I will be in a regular economics class at the time bc my school doesn’t offer AP Econ.</p>
<p>I took the AP Euro History class at my school, and it was one of the most interesting history classes I’ve ever taken. That was sophomore year. This past junior year, I took AP US History, and I just want to say that Euro History is so much more interesting…a lot more art as well which I found to be cool. However, there’s a lot more material and it gets confusing at times when you haven’t studied the different kings, wars, etc. well enough. I did better on the APUSH exam even though I liked AP Euro better, if that helps you any. Good luck!</p>
<p>jodessky’s 5 Steps to a 5 on Euro:
- Buy Modern European History by Birdsall Viault. Now. Now. Now. Memorize it throughout the year. You might already have a five just by doing that.
- Princeton Review is good and I used it, but when I actually went to the bookstore and looked at all the Euro books, REA was the best. If you have time, use the REA - if not, use PR.
- Use the resources from thecaveonline.com. This guy is one of the board members who writes the exam.
- If you feel like you need another prep book, get CliffsAP. It’s really awesome.
- Do the past essays from the CB website and then read completely through all the scoring guidelines. It really helps. Also, take past Euro practice tests from [Free</a> AP Practice Tests](<a href=“http://ap.testfrenzy.com/]Free”>http://ap.testfrenzy.com/). These were the only accurate tests that I took all year.</p>
<p>On a side note, don’t bother reading a textbook. I tried for so long, and ultimately, it helped with nothing.</p>
<p>I walked out of that test feeling like I got a 90%+ on the MC and near-perfect scores on all the essays without having read more than two chapters of a textbook. I got a 5.</p>
<p>i took it my soph year and got a 5 :] I actually took a class with a really good teacher, and I used Kagan. I stopped reading after the french revolution though, and I used Modern European History, Cliff’s, REA, and lots of web sources… Definitely get the Modern European History book, and get REA instead of a textbook. I thought it was detailed enough to be substituted as a textbook, because it has lots of illustrations in it as long with timelines. Go to historysage.com and purchase the teacher’s notes. They are very good notes to Kagan, and it’s very useful to go along with REA. Get Cliff’s a month before the test to look through the material lightly before taking the test in may. Good luck!</p>