AP US History: What does it take for a high score?

Test Preparation SAT Subject Test Preparation
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<p>In June I took my first AP US history subject, I scored around a high 600. I felt I was underprepared due to lack of studying and basically not really caring much about the subjects. Starting around late July/August I planned to retake the subject test, so since then Ive been studying for a couple months. </p>

<p>Coming to these forums, I heard about the AMSCO book, and so I got a copy and read over the whole things twice. I expected at least some improvement, but after retaking the real test in the Blue Book for subjects I basically got the same score. </p>

<p>What I don't understand is how to go about improving my score to a near 800. For people who have scored fairly well, other than reading the AMSCO book, did you read other resources, and if so, did these help you significantly? </p>

<p>Aside from that, I feel some problems in the tests require that you read firsthand documents, and even after attempting to explain the problems I got wrong by going through my AMSCO book again, there were some that I couldn't even find an answer for. </p>

<p>For example, number 18 on the Blue Book (P64), they state the answer is D when in the AMSCO P494 it clearly states overuse of credit (E). I can see that D also makes sense but it seemed like something more assumed than a fact in history. </p>

<h1>31 P72, where exactly do people find information on something like this?</h1>

<h1>44 P75, What internal conflicts?</h1>

<h1>51 P77 - How can you know this without actually reading about this statement?</h1>

<h1>64 P79 - Ditto</h1>

<h1>69 - Ditto</h1>

<h1>71 - Ditto</h1>

<h1>73 - Why A over D?</h1>

<h1>77 - Again with the direct quotes, how do you know this without having read this before?</h1>

<p>Theres some other ones too I won't bother to find, but my main question is, am I totally screwing up on my use of AMSCO, or in order to get a high score the AMSCO is BY FAR not enough of a resource? </p>

<p>Any comments, concerns, and hints would be helpful. Thank you for your time.</p>

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<p>I posted another thread on resources for the U.S. History test as well. I got a 5 on my AP US and was wondering if it would be adequate to read over AMSCO and then use Kaplan practice tests to prepare for a 770-800.</p>

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<p>By the way, am I looking at the right AMSCO book? I’m currently trying to find United States History—Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination, Revised which was published in 2006, is that the right book?</p>

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<p>The US subject test is actually different from the AP test in terms of the types of MC questions. The AP test likes to ask more interpretive questions that take a bit of mulling over to get, but the SAT likes to ask more factual questions. In any case, if you did well on the AP, things should be pretty easy. My administration saw a lot of colonial questions, and I had just read that section in the AMSCO book that morning, so I guess I got lucky, but since the subject test questions are less interpretive, there’s less room for reasoning your way to the right answer. I’m sure the AMSCO + Kaplan prep should be plenty good.</p>

<p>And to .Masochist, the test has a lot of quotations and direct sources, but the only way to really know who said them without reading them beforehand is to think it through (I’m contradicting myself), consider the choices and their beliefs, and basically choose the person whose beliefs are most consistent with the quotation. There are also some famous ones you should know like “remember the ladies” and “cross of gold,” etc.</p>

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<p>I remember comparing my Kaplan book with my friend’s AMSCO, and after some further research we found some flaws in what AMSCO tells…It’s a great book and helps you get information, but sometimes it can be wrong. (very rarely, however)</p>

<p>The book that worked best for me was Sparknotes SAT II: US History, which I used before Kaplan. While my scores weren’t amazingly high (AP & SAT II), I know that if I had more time to study and less stress from tons of ECs, then I could have gotten pretty close to 800.</p>