<p>How long do they have to be, and what kind of structure are they looking for? The SAT essays are pretty sketchy, but since you have more time for the AP essays, they probably have to be more polished and more lengthy, right? What's the best way to prepare yourself? I have been self-studying for the USH exam and I have my MC down but I'm not as confident on being able to recall important facts to support a thesis.</p>
<p>Maybe you should refer to a review book?</p>
<p>I'd like to have advice from people who have taken the test.</p>
<p>they don't have to be polished. you don't have that much time to do them. they just have to be somewhat articulate and rife with information. </p>
<p>about length, my DBQ was 4 pages and my other two essays were like 2 pages long.</p>
<p>if you're doing well on MC, then you must have enough knowledge to write at the least decent essays. if you're scared about not having enough time, my advice is to make yourself write essays under a time limit. take 5 minutes before the standard essays to make a rough plan of what you want to talk about and use the 15 minutes or whatever for the DBQ to read the passages and plan.</p>
<p>I have small handwriting and my essays were around a page, maybe 1.5 or 2 for the DBQ. I wrote no more than 5 paragraphs, on some 4, and I got a 5 on the test.</p>
<p>This is what our class did, and it helped immensely! (I received a 5 on the test, and I was getting around 60/80 questions right on practice MCs, so my essays definitely carried me)</p>
<p>First we were ALWAYS told to have a VERY specific and detailed thesis. Intro paragraphs were the "background" information and overview paragraphs for the prompt, getting more specific until your thesis. Some examples of thesis's I had for essays last year are:</p>
<p>"Progressive policies and programs during the 1900s and 1910s, of which included muckraking techniques to end corruption, antimonopoly fervor, political reforms of initiative, referendum, and primary, and prohibition, were rooted in reforming the fallacies of the past, whereas New Deal policies and programs of the 1930s, which included the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, Works Progress Administration of 1935, and Farm Credit Administration, aimed at providing Americans direct relief from the Great Depression; however, several reform-based New Deal programs did exist, such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, the Truth in Securities Act of 1933, and Social Security."</p>
<p>"The United States entered World War I in 1917 to advocate the progression of democracy as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania and Sussex, Zimmermans telegraph, and a massive propaganda campaign; although several economic factors persisted, they were not the primary reason for Americas entrance into the war."</p>
<p>Some here may think those are way too long, but that's what our teacher required.</p>
<p>For our body paragraphs, we were advised to proceed in order of our thesis (as this is the most logical progression) and add specific proof for our overall thesis (and specific parts in our thesis).</p>
<p>For DBQs specifically, oftentimes the prompt is an evaluation, in which the reader forms 4 conclusions: Prompt question is exactly true, mostpart true, mostpart false, exactly false. Most of the times the best answer to a DBQ prompt lies in the mostpart true/false area. </p>
<p>For example, a DBQ prompt that we practiced was the "To what extent was democracy increased under President Jackson?" The easiest supported answer would be that democracy was extended a good extent. Proof for this includes land requirements for whites for suffrage was eliminated, the Scopes system was implimented, Jackson personally believed that Cabinet members could learn on the job (so no political experience needed), which ties into the fact that he choose some commoners for Cabinet positions (in fact Jackson was known as the first "common man President", so right there that tells you that democracy was increased because prior to Jackson almost all government was run by the wealthy). Out of the 8-10 documents, about 8 will support this above position. However, there will always be around 2-3 documents that will support an opposing opinion (that democracy was not advanced that much). Most people leave these alone, which could cost them a point or two for not enough information. Use these documents in a, as we called it, "concession paragraph"; this would come right before the conclusion/thesis summary paragraph. After you have thoroughly supported your thesis, add a paragraph that starts with, "Though democracy was indeed extended greatly during Jackson's presidency, there were some shortfalls." These include lack of women's suffrage and that Jackson appointed only Democrats to his Cabinet rather than reaching for balance. These positions will be supported in your "concession" paragraph; this paragraph gives you a great opportunity to add outside info to really "wow" the reader of your essay.</p>
<p>For the three essays last year (2004 USH AP test version A - of which the prompts are available at the CB website) I wrote a total of 10 pages: 4 for DBQ, and 3 for each FR. Some people I know wrote about 5 total. So obviously I remember a TON about each prompt I chose to write about, and that allowed me to get my 5. Also, my handwriting is average - about 10-12 words per line, so just FYI.</p>
<p>If you want to see a few of my essays from last year (I still have them saved on my computer), just pm me, or email me, or AIM me. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>our thesis was supposed to be short and to the point. this is how the first paragraph had to be set up for our class:</p>
<p>1) Two introductory sentences
2) Thesis
3) Point 1, Point 2, Point 3, etc.
4) Concluding statement</p>
<p>We were supposed to talk in generalities and not use any specific historical information as crypto86's sample theses do. </p>
<p>For each point we had, we then had to use at least distinct pieces of evidence to support that point.</p>
<p>BTW, I followed this intruction to the letter and got a 5 as well, so it goes to show you that as long as you know what you're talking about and you can say it well, you'll get a good score.</p>
<p>I took the class last year and got a 5 on the AP. Come up with a thesis with 2 or 3 "prongs," then brainstorm for about 5 minutes what facts you can use to support each one. I made sure I had at least 3 specific facts to support each prong. Usually mine were general... lots of the questions ask about the impact of an event on the US, and I generally had thesis statements like "The whatever event had social, economic, and political impact." Using broad topics makes it easier to come up with details. Write a body paragraph for each prong of the thesis statement, and if you have time write a conclusion, but it is the body paragraphs that really matter. You're graded on how well you support your argument and if your facts are correct. Even with a minor mistake on the facts, you can still make a 9 on that essay (essays are graded on a scale of 0-9, 0 being no response). Grammar and spelling don't matter as long as they don't "detract from the essay," so make sure things are mostly right, but don't stress over minor grammar stuff.</p>
<p>My teacher taught us not even to write an intro paragraph, but to just write the thesis and go. It worked out beautifully (5).</p>
<p>Rather than writing a concession paragraph, wouldn't it be more wise to incorporate the opposing documents and refute them with supporting documents or outside information, if at all possible? That's what I do on my practice DBQs...</p>