<p>For those of you who have gotten a 5 on the APUSH exam or 750+ on the SAT II, how did you study to achieve that score?</p>
<p>What do you think is the best way to study APUSH and get a 5 on the exam? Timelines? Review Book? Flashcards with terms, definition, and importance? </p>
<p>Please recommend some resources that have aided you in getting a 5 or 750+ on the tests. Also, please state how long you have used it and how greatly it helped. </p>
<p>Lastly, what is the best way to read the textbook and remember/understand everything (or almost everything)?</p>
<p>kyle, how well did u know the amsco book? like really really well with all the details or just got the main ideas and concepts from the chapters?</p>
<p>there are 650+ pages and its a LOT of boring material to read.</p>
<p>focus alot on social and cultural history. I was amazed at the number of pointless questions on the AP exam. Definitely know women's rights and civil rights in general. Also, books which discuss society in some way are important to know. And then there are some questions that are just bs. What I did was focus on the most obscure stuff possible bc I figured that the big stuff like the Civil War and WWII would be fairly straightforward, and thankfully they were. good luck.</p>
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kyle, how well did u know the amsco book? like really really well with all the details or just got the main ideas and concepts from the chapters?
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<p>More than just the main ideas/concepts, but not all the nitpicky details. I tended to remember a lot of the details anyway. They aren't necessary for the exam, though. While the book may seem long, it really isn't so bad -- there are lots of spaces with the sections and subsections, and many of the pages are quiz pages, DBQ pages, practice exam pages, etc. so it's much shorter than it seems.</p>
<p>I read up through the 1950s in the AMSCO book the day before the SAT II and got about a 700 on it; then, I wanted to study more for the AP exam, so I ended up re-reading the book (this time with less scrutiny) but still couldn't get to the last few decades. I got a 5. This is what I'd do if I were to do it all over again: read all the post-colonial stuff first, since then I'd feel like going all the way through the 80s (which is about where the exam material drops off). Then I'd go back to the colonial stuff, which is not as important as the stuff after it.</p>
<p>I read the textbook once, took notes and then reviewed it before the test. No review books/outlines/all that crap. Honestly if you read the book carefully it's really not a hard test at all.</p>
<p>I read some of American Pageant, but I'd say only about half of it. The REA review book = life. It has way more than you need to know and you should completely skip over the long-winded military discussions, but overall its good. I ended up with a 800 SAT II and a 5 AP, and I'm not a history fan, so trust me when I say REA is good.</p>
<p>My class did a 4-5 page outline on each chapter of the American Pageant and practiced writing a DBQ a few times. It was extremely time consuming, but all but one of us got a 4 or 5. The 4's were mostly people who did not do all the work. This is definitely not the easiest or quickest way, but you WILL know the material by the time you finish!</p>
<p>The AMSCO book might not help you as much on a midterm, since it's probably based on your textbook and not AMSCO. Review books can help, though.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies. Also, I'm in the middle of Andrew Jackson's presidency and I'm wondering what exactly I should try to remember. A lot of people suggested that I remember the order of presidents and their political party. Should I remember the exact years also? I find that it helps to sort things out. (i.e. Lousiana Purchase was made during Jefferson's presidency). Should I remember the dates of the big wars (American Rev., War of 1812, French & Indian War) and treaties (Treaty of Paris (1783)) as well? What else do you guys recommend me remembering that you guys wished you had done by the time of the AP exam or your school finals? </p>
<p>Do you guys know of any outlines that are good? Sparknotes? Should I use my textbook outlines? </p>
<p>I still am not finding the best way to study APUSH... Previously in my World History, I took notes on chapters and just read them over and over again (took hours and hours) until I had them stuck in my head. I like to try to summarize things as I learn them and go back to a certain time to see if I have retained the information. This takes soo long though. I'm kind of falling behind on my reading; yet I do not want to study now and forget it later. I don't know what I should do exactly. :(</p>
<p>Starting two-three weeks before the AP exam, my teacher had study sessions (with previous tests/outlines/review books, et al) in the mornings, afternoons, and sometimes at night. If you showed up for 14 hours worth of review sessions and did two practice DBQs, you were exempt from his final.</p>
<p>That's the only studying I did for it, and I scored a 4 (would have been a 5 but I got sick during the DBQ portion and only had the thesis done).</p>