Hey, does anyone with experience with the APHG Exam know how the AP graders want you to organize your response to the free-response questions? My Barron’s review book uses bullet points. Should I follow Barron’s method or use an essay format?</p>
Thanks in advance.</p>
I’m also self-studying HG out of Barron’s and I agree that it does not do the best job of preparing you for FRQs. The real-world examples are limited in the text, but the example FRQs are filled with information, usually consisting of some not found in the text. Does anyone have experience or a technique that worked for them in tackling APHG FRQs?</p>
I took the class last year and took the 2010 FRQs. On questions 1 and 3 I used essay format (while on #3 I labeled which paragraph corresponded with each part of the question), however on question 2 I used more of a bullet format (partly because this was the last FRQ I did and I was running low on time). However, I thought question 2 fit well with a bullet format.</p>
So I think depending on the situation and question, choose whichever method you think will be more effective when it comes to the AP readers. Barron’s is great for information, not so much for preparing you for the FRQs. By the way, I found the Barron’s practice questions less specific and sometimes a bit easier than those on the AP Exam, treat them as easy practice questions to better prepare yourself for the specific and difficult questions on the exam.</p>
What did you score on the exam? What other books/resources did you use, if any, besides the class?</p>
I am an APHG teacher. The instructions clearly state that an itemized list isn’t normally acceptable. The cracks need to be filled in with enough bs to let the readers know that you know. Also, my trainer for the APHG indicated to me that Barron’s AP Test Prep was possibly the worst of the lot. He seemed to like the Princeton Review version and also Kaplan’s.</p>
I have now supplemented Barrons with Princeton and Rubenstien’s “An Introduction to Human Geography.” I feel like these two books help better prepare me for FRQs by supplying many real-world examples.</p>
There is another way to study for the Free Respnses. Go on google and type in College Board. That website has a whole bunch of information on APHG. They even give you example free responses and guidelines for answering, and even student examples for the answers.</p>
<ol>
<li>copy and paste this link: [AP</a> Central - AP Human Geography Course Home Page](<a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>AP Human Geography Course – AP Central | College Board)
2.When you get there go to the thing that says: Exam Information and Resources</li>
<li>Click on AP Human Geography Exam Information</li>
<li>Then on that page it gives free responses from each year. </li>
</ol>
Hope this helped. :)</p>