<p>How plausible does it seem that I should self-study US History, if I think my load will be large with other things to do. All we have at my school is US History Regulars, though the rigor of my school and the teacher make it at LEAST honors, and border-line AP. The only thing I think that is the bad side is: no essays. I think this is the hardest/biggest part of APUSH though...any thoughts or opinions? I really want to take the test though, albeit I don't want a 3 or below. Doable?</p>
<p>I think it is doable. I took APUSH last year and basically slept everyday in class, and I definitely got a 5 on the exam. But yeah, i think the lack of writing experience may hurt you. But maybe a really great review book (not sure which one) will have some writing strategies etc. I say go for it. If you feel like you bombed it after the test, you can always immediately cancel your scores.</p>
<p>You can take an AP more than once though, right?</p>
<p>As long as you pay for it, you can take an AP as many times as you want to. What grade are you in? Cuz if you have the time and the money, you can take the first one as a test run and then the next year take again.</p>
<p>I'm a junior. But my schedule is really busy, and I'm taking (only) 3 AP classes, so I have to also prepare for those.</p>
<p>Well, if you think you can prepare on your own with your heavy course load, then go for it.</p>
<p>:-) I hope I can. Any other opinions? Think I can do it?</p>
<p>I took the AP test last year. Here are some essay tips to remember. </p>
<p>The AP readers have thousands of essays to read and not a lot of time on their hands. The introduction and thesis are crucial. If they're strong, the readers won't pay too close attention to the body and conclusion. However, if they aren't strong and it doesn't look like you know what you're talking about, they will read the rest very thoroughly. My teacher knows this because he was offered the job before. </p>
<p>The DBQ (document based question) is the grandaddy of the 3 essays and it's not as hard as it seems. The docs will help steer you into the general idea of what your thesis should be about. However, there will be at least one doc that contradicts the rest of the documents and you must use that to provide a counter argument. The essay question asks very broad, well-known events. They are not going to ask you about some obscure battle. </p>
<p>In order to get a very high essay score (7-9), you must use all the docs, provide a counter-argument, have a very strong thesis and facts to support it, and very good organizational skills.</p>
<p>Even though the DBQ is the largest, be prepared to also answer the free-responses eloquently. Even if you nail the DBQ and don't answer too well on the 2 Free Response, then you probably won't get a 5.</p>
<p>Do you think the DBQs and essay questions will kill me, if I don't have too much practice? I think it would...</p>
<p>If you don't know how to properly construct the essays and provide a ton of information about the topic, then they could hurt you a lot.</p>