So, my AP world teacher was not the greatest of teachers, and she told us that for the structure of the essays all you needed was…</p>
Thesis
Body
Body
Body
Restatement of thesis</p>
No opening, No conclusion. She also made us keep the thesis in one long sentence.</p>
Is this appropriate for the actual AP exam or do I need to add some things like a conclusion?</p>
Thanks for your help</p>
That’s basically the way my teacher explained it as well. For the COT and Comparison you start with your thesis, provide evidence, analysis, evidence, analysis until you’re done with your evidence, then restate your thesis as your conclusion. If the grader didn’t give you a thesis point in your first thesis he/she might give you the point for it in your conclusion.</p>
DBQ’s are confusing. I don’t know how to organize my essay. In groupings? Or what?</p>
That’s exactly right, sort them into groups. My teacher had an example where she had everyone take off a shoe and leave it in a pile in the middle of the room. Then various students sorted them based on color, style, things like that. She explained that you do the same with the documents and write each paragraph based on a different group from each sorting, and use all of the documents.</p>