I’m going to be a sophomore this year and I’m taking APush. I’m extremely nervous about the class seeing that this summer we’ve already been given an essay assignment. Many of my older friends said the class was easy if I just studied, but I don’t think I’ll study hard enough. For people who have already taken the class what score did you get? Any tips or advice?
I got a 4 on the 2015 exam. My only advice is to spend time reading the text and be sure to make connections with it in order to remember specific details until the exam. I studied with the Barron’s review book and found it really helpful. It’s a large book, like a simplified, condensed version of my textbook… But it wasn’t overly simplified because it still included information that was really helpful in adding detail to the FRQ and DBQ.
I got a 5 on the 2014 exam, which unfortunately is the old version of the exam, so I don’t really know how the current APUSH course has changed.
However, you should most definitely read your textbook carefully, and make sure to keep track of what events are happening in a similar timeframe and make connections between them. You definitely need to keep track of important legislation and events and remember what topic/time period they belong to, and how they affected the country.
Your older friends are largely correct in that if you study the material consistently, you should do well on the exam. If your teacher gives out reading guides to fill out, don’t neglect them! Write down important details in your notes.
I used the REA Crash Course book for review, which is extremely simplified. While I loved it, getting that probably isn’t a good idea if your teacher doesn’t prepare you well in class (and I had an incredible APUSH teacher). I’ve heard that the AMSCO prep book for apush is very good, though.