Adam Norris, Adam Norris, and Adam Norris again!!
I had a terrible teacher, and would get 70s and 80s on his tests. The questions on the tests were way to specific although he did incorporate the new primary sources format in the tests. The only thing that saved me in his class were essays and a lot of bonus points (I am a good essay writer, especially for history; 5 on WHAP exam). Anyways things were not going good and I lost all my faith in the getting anything above a 3 on the APUSH AP test. About two weeks before the exam one of my friends (she had a much better teacher with different curriculum) told be about apushreviewm.com and Adam Norris. Not wasting anytime I started studying APUSH in depth by just his videos for about 4-5 hours everyday after school. In those two weeks before the exam I relearned the whole curriculum!! However when the test came I still didn’t feel confident enough, and even after the test I doubted my upcoming success. To my surprise as I checked my scores yesterday I got a 5!! Yes, a 5! Somehow just by watching all of Adam Norris’s videos and going over the formats of the essay I aced this AP test. So guys, my advice to you is definitely go to apushreview.com and check it out. Start doing so before every test and you will easily get a high A in the class and a 5 on the exam. But also don’t repeat what I did 
and don’t give up, after all you won’t have to take any more history in college unless you are majoring in that direction of course. Good luck next year!
I took both. Personally, I think that whichever one you take first is the harder one because you are learning the format of the exam, how to use primary sources, etc. Once you have that down, the second one is a piece of cake.
I got a 3 and I thought I did well…I have a job and got a 30 on my ACT so that may have affected my score but still…
If you want the best chance to pass…keep reading.
This year, I had a teacher who wasn’t even a teacher. He was a coach. The APUSH teacher I was supposed to have got promoted to assistant principal or whatever, so we were stuck with this guy. Nice man, but could not get his teaching straight. He knew his stuff semi-well, but not ALL of it. So I was lazy until December, when I realized 3/4 of my class was asleep. The remaining 1/4 was either on their phone or talking and there was one person paying attention. Like I said, my teacher just could not translate info well, and the PowerPoints were less than substantial.
The tests were borderline ridiculous. They had questions that were NOT EVEN IN THE REDESIGNED FORMAT. I didn’t even know the test was redesigned until December when I spoke to a friend. It was at that moment when I knew I needed to act. And act FAST.
In the beginning of the year I bought 5 Steps to a 5 study guide, flashcards, and the 500 questions. 5 Steps to a 5, the study guide, is not quite for the redesigned test. It’s okay, but its not worth the money. The 500 questions need to be updated to the new format, so don’t even bother. NOW, the FLASHCARDS. That’s another story. Worth every single penny. Most of the terms were ON THE TEST. There are 600 flashcards and they cover every event you need to know, every important law passed, books that were influential. Worth the 16-20$. Every single penny. And, its even useful for the SAT II test for US History (I got a 760 using solely these flashcards). These flashcards were sacred to me. GET THEM QUICK AND USE THEM. Study every single one.
I did buy the AMSCO. And I did get the Crash Course (yes I hoard books like no one’s business). Let me be very honest. I barely used the AMSCO. I only used it for practice DBQ, SAQ, and LAQ and for the 1980s and beyond. But if you truly want a study book… get this one. Its comprehensive but its not that hard to read and tells you everything you need to know for the test. The Crash Course book is OK for a quick review, but doesn’t give you your bang for your buck.
Now, the true star of the show here is a YouTube channel. I know, right?! YOUTUBE? Yes, YouTube. Believe it. I have no idea how I came across this guy. And no, its not Adam Norris. Somehow I could never get into his videos, although a lot of people like him. One word, go subscribe ASAP: JOCZPRODUCTIONS. This man makes videos for every single edition and version of APUSH textbooks. Chapter-by-chapter. He even makes videos of events that may need to be covered more extensively. He includes music, pictures, and funnies to keep you going. I took notes as he spoke about the material. Take a bunch of notes on his stuff. All the things he said were on this year’s exam: 7 Years War (he spoke about this extensively), comparing the colonies (has a video on this), Indians (segment on this). I learned all the curriculum in about 3 months. But it wasn’t memorization clearly, I retained all of it. So much so, that the couple of days before the exam, I did not scramble for extra help. I just went back to my flashcards and notes for a quick primer. BOOM. Prepared.
I walked out of the APUSH exam confident as heck. And I did get a 5 if you were wondering.
APUSH is a lot of material, its true. Is it challenging? Sometimes. But you don’t need fancy books. Get the set of note cards and this man’s YouTube channel and get to it! 
In my experience in the class, I was an average student. I got B’s on all of the tests except for the last one of the year where I got a C(lol a wonderful way to end the year :p). On quizzes, I usually got an average of an 8/10 ; sometimes a little higher and sometimes a little lower. My class was lecture based and I didn’t always pay attention to the lectures. Usually, our only homework for the class was to read the chapter(and we usually got a full week to do so). I started off taking no notes for the first 8 or so chapters, then taking notes for about the next 6 chapters before I finally gave up and resorted to just noting down key vocab for quizzes and reading the textbook itself. Though this may not sound like much, over the summer I had found a wealth of resources which included a lot of websites that had chapter summaries of the APUSH book(feel free to PM me if you want them). I also used Adam Norris who was an absolute godsend. I used his two course summary videos to study for the AP exam or when I just didn’t understand a topic/chapter. John Green also makes pretty good videos in my opinion, and I would find myself remembering little tidbits to write on tests.
I did feel, however, that my teacher prepared my class very well. He based his quizzes on how the actual AP exam multiple choicewould be(document based/inference). Tests were all writing and we did one DBQ.
The class wasn’t excessively hard, but if I had put in a little more effort I could have definitely gotten a better grade. However, I did get a 5 on the exam so I was happy. My best advice would be to not procrastinate on the reading and if you can actually become engaged and interested in the class, then it will be much easier.
OOo forgot to mention, to study for the AP test, I basically just used the two Adam Norris videos I mentioned above. I took copious notes while watching the videos and if I ever came across a term I didn’t understand, I would look it up and define it. I just read my notes over and over again. I think I studied for about two days for probably 4-5 hours each day and I felt completely prepared for the test except for the DBQ(lol) which I mostly bs-ed. Also forgot to add that this was my first AP history, I had previously taken AP Bio as a sophomore
If anyone needs help or has questions about this, feel free to PM me! I took this class last year 
My twin sister and I both were thrilled to get 5’s on the APUSH exam. We did work really hard for the scores though!!
We used the American Pageant textbook (reading every chapter at least once or twice, sometimes three times)
We also used the AMSCO 2015 book which is fabulous! My sister read this one twice, I read it once front to back
We also had the Princeton Review book, but I wasn’t as fond of this one compared to the info included in the AMSCO
Also what helped was taking online quizzes – Found History Teacher was great
We had an account on Learnerator but preferred the format of History Teacher and its 2015 redesigned format
I think for the format of the test, hitting hard the DBQ and FRQ during the year was a great help. We wrote at least 10+ FRQ’s and DBQ’s at school (one writing exam per unit), but also wrote additional outlines and essays at home. There’s plenty of prompts available from past tests, the most important part is brainstorming and remembering the info!
At school we created study guides for each unit, and I especially focused on the latter units. This was a major help to remember all of the little details, and in chronological order, and would be beneficial for in class prep as well as preparation for the writing exam portion of the test.
Both of us being history fanatics, we were able to devote about 2-3 hrs at least a day to this class. The best way to conquer it is to start from the beginning – don’t procrastinate at the beginning of the year and try to absorb as much as you can as early as possible. It makes studying for the test a whole lot easier!
Another nice thing is to pick out each president, be familiar with the time period their administration was in, and be able to identify key points during their term. This makes putting all of the info into chronological order much simpler and easier!
It was great for me to have my twin as a study buddy for quizzing – a quick way to access your knowledge of each unit and makes it a bit more enjoyable. Find a partner if possible that is just as serious as you are to help you out with this.
Hope this helps! If anyone needs any materials, I have a plethora of study guides for each unit, it breaks it down a bit simpler so that the course isn’t as daunting!
I know many people suggest Youtube channels, but my sister and I did not find the videos excessively helpful due to our learning style (read/write). We feel that reading & taking notes are the best way for us to absorb the information, but of course it all depends on the person’s unique learning style.
Hope this helps!
How much different is US History and World History AP?
In terms of what? The former concentrates on US History for pre-Columbian to present; the latter covers the entire world from 8000 B.C. to present. The structure of the course itself will vary depending upon the teacher. The exams are similar in that they have both MC and DQQ/FRQ sections, although the WH FRQ tend to be more formulaic with one focusing on continuity & change over time question and the other being compare and contrast.
Took APUSH last year and got a 5. I didn’t do anything too fancy - just kept up with the readings and then used “Pass AP U.S. History” for last minute study. I read through it 2-3 times. It’s short, but a fantastic resource. I think it’s the efficient route because I was taking 4 APs last year and didn’t really spend entirely too much time on APUSH.
Good luck all
Can I just watch the Adam Noris’s videos and not read the entire book. Will that be sufficient to get a 5 or 4 .
I have 5 APs this year!!!
Do you think its possible to get a 5 if I don’t take the class and just use like barron and amsco with like the adam norris videos? I seriously don’t have time to take the class because I already have a bunch of other stuff I have to handle…
Is the curriculum getting changed this year or is it the same as last years? What review books should I get
Hey fellow APUSH’ers for the 2015-16 school year! I’m getting AMSCO and have Barron’s APUSH 500 Flashcards 2015 addition (any other suggestions?)! I’m sooooo excited for this course! Since I’m kinda an overachiever, I reaaaally want a 4 or 5 on the exam. Any advice from APUSH veterans? Good luck this year! 
And this is my first AP, btw.
What are the best review books for apush? links would be helpful too ty
@chelcischool I hear that AMSCO APUSH is the best review book from reading a bunch of forums. Here’s a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789189046?redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1
I just took it last year and got a 5, which I largely attribute to the review book I used: the princeton review. My teacher was nice but not very good, and so the review book was an amazing help and was all around great
Had my first day of class today! Using Barron’s as a review book. Hoping to get a 4 or 5. Any tips?
Anyone self-studying?