APUSH difficulties. 2 months to make up for bad teacher.

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>I'm terribly worried about the APUSH exam in May because my essay-writing skills are not up to par. At all. I have a teacher who doesn't know what she's talking about. She limits us to 5-paragraph essays with three-sentence intros and conclusions. Each body paragraph has to be 9-11 sentences long. And for every essay, she wants us to concentrate on the politics, economics, and social conventions of the time. That being said, I sometimes have a lot of trouble organizing my essays while trying to stick to the 5-paragraph format and including pol, soc, and eco aspects, even if the essay question doesn't ask for them.</p>

<p>For example, one of our DBQ questions was: To what extent was the Constitutional and social effects of Reconstruction a revolution?</p>

<p>The question said nothing about the economics of the time period, but when writing this, am I still expected to write about economics?</p>

<p>I also have no idea how to organize my thesis. Again, with pol/eco/soc drilled into my head, I've been forming very generic and simple theses that specifically state I'll be talking about those aspects of the time period in question. However, from what I've heard, I don't think that's really how I'm supposed to write my theses.</p>

<p>For DBQ's, I'm also at a complete loss as to how to incorporate the documents. I've read that I should try to include at least half of the documents, but I'm nowhere close to doing that in my DBQ's. </p>

<p>In other words, I'm really, really lost.</p>

<p>Now I have to write an essay for Wednesday on how the Populism movement was an expansion of/reflected Jacksonian democracy (not a DBQ).</p>

<p>I'd like advice on how to better improve my essay-writing (in history, my analytical skills are somewhat lacking), especially on the DBQ. Thanks.</p>

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<p>bump this up</p>

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<p>Thank you. (:</p>

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<p>Take and read sample essays.
Study more and pratice your analytical skills.</p>

<p>Maybe a study guide or something like that?</p>

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<p>I've got REA, although I heard Amsco's the best.</p>

<p>How do I practice my analytical skills, though?</p>

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<p>If you need a good prep book, I'd recommend the Princeton Review book, which I used last year for APUSH.</p>

<p>About the DBQ: You should really try to incorporate as many documents as you can, I think. Try to look at who wrote the passage that you're looking at, or at what year the document came from, or any hidden implications the document might have. This should help you figure out how to incorporate the documents into your overall thesis. Try to bring in as much outside knowledge as you possibly can for the DBQ. </p>

<p>About your thesis: I think that writing a strong clear thesis that clearly outlines what you're going to talk about is best. For example, "Reconstruction had these social effects (list social effects) on American history, and thus it can be truly considered a revolution." Or "Reconstruction had only a small impact on American life, despite (list social effects), and thus can't be considered revolutionary." Just be sure to answer the question directly, and you should be fine.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much. (:</p>

<p>So basically... If the question doesn't ask about economics, I don't have to talk about that, then?</p>

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<p>No, unless economics underwent a revolution that affected the topics in the question.</p>