<p>I'm taking American History AP this year, as it is the only AP available to juniors and if I chose not to it would conflict with classes I wanted to take.</p>
<p>The problem is: I can't stand history. It bores the hell out of me. Yes, I know how important it is. Yes, I know I'm gaining essential skills and so forth.</p>
<p>But, I find myself falling asleep ten minutes into my homework, even if I do it early afternoon. I completely zone out in the class. No matter what I try (50/10 minute blocks, rewarding myself for progress, etc,) I can't seem to focus.</p>
<p>I'm doing well (test scores 94, 99, 91, 93 compared to class averages in the 60s), but I really don't think I can sustain that considering the obscene amount of time it takes me. I know there are many things I'll have to do in my life that I don't want to but I find myself wondering "Why do people care?" more than being productive.</p>
<p>How can I get through APUSH (spend less time on readings, notes, DBQs and FRQs) without letting my grade drop? How do you deal with classes you can't stand?</p>
<p>Honestly, your predicament isn’t really fixable. Sometimes, you just have to go through things you don’t want to go through. If you don’t like history, you’re most likely not going to be able to develop a liking for it. What textbook do you have? I found the American Pageant to be very, very entertaining (but this coming from a US History nut).</p>
<p>I used to completely loathe history and thought it was the most boring class ever. For me, the problem was that I focused too much on memorizing. Rather than just memorizing names and dates, which I’m not sure you do, try to analyze them, answer any kind of discussion questions about them, and tie new things back to previous information, since the class is built on themes such as immigration, racial conflict, federal gov’t vs states rights, etc. For me, that’s what made history interesting. Plus, it puts the focus on familiarity rather than rote memorization.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t work for you, and you really want to spend less time on it, I would just use AMSCO and Crash Course - they tell you what you need to know without all the unnecessary stuff. If you have to read the textbook for class, read AMSCO first, then just skim the textbook chapters, stopping at important information and writing it down, then just study off of that and AMSCO. I wish there was a game or something to make it more interesting, but there’s really not. Trying to analyze themes and similarities to past events will at least help you get more involved in the reading, but otherwise I’m afraid you’re just going to have to grin and bear it. </p>
<p>What do you find most boring - the reading, the material itself, the teacher?</p>
<p>I got into politics this summer, so the political side of US History are very interesting to me. Alot of the political problems we’re going through have been done in the past. The evolution of the political parties intrigues me. The social and economic stuff is tough to read, though. And for the record, I am not a History person (I hated AP World), I’m a math/science person. Don’t think of it as a history book, think of how you would think of your favorite book (if you have one lol). And don’t think of reading just to pass a test, either.</p>