My teacher is mediocre, so we learned a lot of things but not as much as I would like. I only have till May 15 for the exam, but I feel so far behind. We only have done one CCOT essay, and it was a BS essay from 5 Steps to a 5. My problem is that I have Ways of the World by Strayer and Barron’s APWH and Princeton’s APWH, but I don’t know where to start studying… In class, we are on chapter 17 out of 24, and we’re skipping around A LOT. I want to read my textbook to its entirety, but I don’t know when I should begin to read… if I read it now, I might forget the info. I want to read it in the beginning of April to where I have 1 month and 15 days to finish it. </p>
Also, how should I read Barron’s and Princeton’s in conjunction with the textbook? I also have REA Crash Course APWH as well, and I would like to ready all 4 of the books: 3 prep books and 1 textbook. </p>
And with the essay, how am I suppose to get help when the teacher can hardly teach me how to do one? I feel like it’s an independent study class. Any tips and specific study schedule on when to read which book in what time would be so beneficial! On top of that, I have to read Barron’s SAT World History…after May of course.</p>
<p>For the essay questions: Go to the college board website and find all the old released FRQ questions. They have years of these materials on-line and they did not change that much when the exam was revamped a few years back. The material is split into separate documents for the prompt, the real rubric (that’s the generic rubric annotated to show what they were really looking for that year), and sample essays with grades and notes on how the sample essays were graded. If you hunt, you can find this. Try a bunch of these essays and use the info to grade yourself, or find someone from your class who you can trust to swap papers with. These materials will show groupings and thesis statements that the graders like for the DBQs and they will mention common pitfalls for specific CCOTs and C/Cs. That should help, and give you more info than any of the review books. Also, you are using real College Board questions. Some of the teachers in our district use these on in-class tests, but they are public domain.</p>
<p>There are no released MC questions easily available other than the few that appear on the College Board website. I’d do as many of those as I could. Do a lot of practice MC questions from review books, but take them with a grain of salt since they are not real College Board questions. You can go back and read sections if you are getting a lot of questions wrong from a particular Period. Barron’s is organized with MC questions after each unit. PR is not. </p>
<p>It is frustrating that there are not released real MC exams for you to work from, but that’s just the way it is. I think there is no problem reading Strayer right now to get an overview. If you go to the Strayer website (in my edition of the book the url is at the end of every chapter) and set up a log in ID (you don’t need a code from your teacher although you may get one - the code is for the paid content which is just the book online), you can take MC quizzes on each chapter after you read it. There are also chapter outlines. I cut and paste them into word documents and print them out. You can use those to study from and remember what you read, or you could take your own notes on each chapter, so you can get going with your reading. The website is wonky, so you have to wait a while after you click submit for it to grade your MC quizzes, but it can be helpful. </p>
<p>To do well on the AP exam, practice the AP exam, and fill in the gaps from your books. </p>
<p>For fun and review, watch the Crash Course World History videos on youtube. </p>
<p>Thank you, that was very informative!</p>
<p>I have the same book as you and we’re on Chapter 20. I suggest making notecards for each of the vocab in the back. It’s a lot for each unit, but worth it in the end.</p>
<p>Have y’all done all the chapters from 1-20 yet? @andrewm1</p>
<p>Yes, been reading throughout the year for quizzes my teacher assigns. All 20 chapters so far, and I’m so grateful that she required us to write that insane amount of notecards for each unit. I’ve really enjoyed this class and would recommend it to anyone. Good introductory course if you’re going to do APs later in your HS career.</p>