I am also taking the AP US gov. class at my school. I’m gussing that some of you have summer projects if your taking the class in school. I have to watch the new hour on pbs every night with a test on it during the first week of school. I also have to read and outline the first few chapters my teacher covers in the book. She skips around so it’s like chapter 1 then something in the teens.</p>
I am taking AP US Government and Comparative Government this year. I have heard Crash Course is the best for US Government and the Ethel Woods book is best for COmparative.</p>
Self studying for both us and comparative government exam. Any Advice? Textbook? Prepbook?</p>
Who has anything to say about your U.S. gov. AP class?
Mine is a class composed of about 15 people. The teacher is a fun young man. 
</p>
The first homework is to outline the first chapter of the textbook, which is quite boring. I glanced at other chapters. They’re more interesting - Constitution, Federalism, … It has been taking me a long time to do this homework. Then someone told me, outline is not supposed to be a detailed reading. So I’ll fast read the rest of the chapter. </p>
We didn’t have any summer reading assignment in this subject. But I did read some on my own.</p>
I’m taking AP US Government this year. Any study tips, etc.?
Also, any tips about homework/outlines? I think that I need help on that :</p>
I am also taking AP US Government this year, but I don’t follow politics well… I’ll probably just have to work harder than most people for a good grade.</p>
What books are good? I’m taking both in one class… :D</p>
yeah right?</p>
what do you mean?</p>
Liking the class so far. Today we talked about the parties reaction to Obama’s job plan and what we thought might happen as the bill works its way though congress.</p>
I will be taking AP Gov next semester for the test next May, so I can’t say much for now, but looking forward to it!</p>
I had a quiz on Federalist papers #10 last week. I did okay except some points were taken off in FRQ. Friday I’ll have a quiz on F. paper #51. Anybody did that?</p>
My class did #10 for two days tgen briefly touched on 51- its 10 that you’ll need to know and understand- if you see the text, be able to analyze, but don’t expect it to be very agonizing or anything.</p>
We already started political culture and ideology. This is a very good class!!!</p>
I took AP US Gov last year and I got a 5 on the exam, so I thought I’d share some things. It’s never too early to be prepared!</p>
My teacher wasn’t remotely useful so I basically self-studied the whole thing. As to which book to use, I bought Barron’s from the beginning and read it throughout the course. The chapters basically cover everything you need to know and tend to go into specifics. It overpreps you, but in this case it’s really good because the more you know about government the more you understand it and the better you’ll do on the exam.</p>
Do not take the practice tests in Barron’s too literally. I usually scored 70-80% on these and I still got a 5. Some questions are way to specific to be on the actual exam. You can attempt the frq’s but the ones they had were borderline ridiculous and the ones on the actual exam were actually fairly easy compared to the them. If you want more accurate tests, there’s nothing better than released actual exams, which I found a couple online. </p>
The best way to prepare for the frq’s is to first look at the ones up on collegeboard from previous years as they give you a general idea of the difficulty of the questions.
Make sure to keep up with current events as they’ll often ask you for examples of a government function and if you’re politically aware, this should be fairly easy.</p>
Also, you must must watch the AP US Gov review on CSPAN. It’s these two teachers who go on CSPAN every year the weekend before the exam who take questions from people studying for the exam and discuss topics that could be on the exam. From personal experience and other people who took the exam previous years, the topics covered in this segment are pretty much spot on to what you can expect for the frq’s; it’s very accurate. </p>
Oh and don’t memorize all those court cases. My teacher told me to know at least 20 and I studied at least 30. There was only one on the actual exam. And it was Marbury v. Madison. Which is pathetic. But still, I’d say you should no the ten most crucial court cases (most importantly Marbury v. Madison, McCullough v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Brown v. Board, and a little more civil rights cases). Just know how they essentially changed the country. You don’t have to memorize historical background and procedure for the cases, if they show up on an frq the exam will most likely tell you a bit of background before asking you the questions. </p>
It’s essential that you know the basic types of federalism (dual, cooperative, etc.) because they had a couple questions on those. Oh and some people think you have to know abotu functions of state and local governments which is completely false. The only thing you’d have to know is their function in relation to the federal government, like what powers are reserved to the states versus the ones delegated to the federal government.</p>
Also, like I previously mentioned, get access to a prior multiple choice test. I know they published a couple and they were extremely useful. Since the government of the US hasn’t changed all that much recently, the multiple choice questions don’t change much either. By looking at a previous multiple choice test, you’ll know what you need to know. Not the exact questions, but the knowledge necessary for the exam. </p>
Anyways, good luck to you all and if you have any questions about the class or the exam then you can post them here I’ll tell you everything I can.</p>
Thanks Bjac10 very helpful</p>
How’s everyone doing in the class? What about people that are self studying, I feel like I will definatly get a five based of the way my teacher is teaching it!</p>
Considering self-studying U.S. Government with 5 Steps to a 5 and Petersen’s. Does anyone have practice tests?</p>