<p>Hello, guys. So, it's the middle of the semester and I am starting to think that our AP USH teacher is truly leading my classmates down the path to 1's and 2's. Mind you, this is her second year of AP teaching; however, she has been teaching Civics/US History/World History for 17 years now, but she is just really a horrible teacher of history.</p>
<p>We have had 4 tests so far this semester and the average on all of them for the class has been around 50%; of course, there is inflation in the form of make-ups and padding assignments because after the first grading period, she got hell from parents and the principal. Her assignments are ridiculous - we have horrible "group" assignment that are so incredibly easy with a weight of three test grades or something; it is ridiculous! Apparently her idea of a substitute for teaching is grade inflation! I, myself, manage to beat the curves on tests and end up with a good grade anyhow (I am first in my class, so go figure.)</p>
<p>In all of my classes, I have never really worried about grade inflation because it never really existed too heavily. My classmates are coming to me concerned about the AP exam because they feel they will fail it horribly like last year's AP USH class did. I just feel this course is an exercise in self-learning except with 1.5 hour mandatory class meetings 5 days-a-week.</p>
<p>Has anyone experienced this in their APUSH classes? Is it common? (This question is geared more towards regular schools that are pretty small, large black/hispanic population, poverty-stricken. Although you top-notch guys can chime in too!)</p>
<p>I go to a poor, mostly african american, public high school. Most of my teachers don't really care if we learn or not, and most people in AP classes get 1's on the exam. Last year is the first time in 18 years (no exagerration), that someone recieved a 3 on the APUSH exam...of course, this year will be the first time anyone recieves a 5 (me :) ) ...My AP chemistry teacher also sucks. I don't even know if he knows how to teach......BECAUSE HE HASN'T YET!!!. most of the people in my school are screwed. I was lucky enough to be born with innate intelligence.</p>
<p>to give you a picture of my school, here's the avg. SAT score:</p>
<p>is she giving you practice AP tests that make you all get 50%? because if so, you are doing fine. A 50% on the AP test is not bad...because it has such a high curve.</p>
<p>Also, have some pity for history teachers. All other teachers teach you how to DO something, how to write a good essay, how to balance chemical equations, how to factor, how to integrate etc etc. All a history teacher can do is try to teach you guys the information, but its up to the students, not the teacher to make sure you retain it.</p>
<p>If you go into a class thinking that she sucks because other people said so, you won't do well, and your grade will reflect it. If you give her a chance, and study on your own, your grade will improve.</p>
<p>My APUSH teacher sucks this year. I come from a very white redneck highschool where just over 50% of the students go to college OR a tradeschool. I've found asking tough questions during the lecture helps. It opens up a discussion and is a much more engaging lesson. Also, my teacher seems to be starting to understand that he can not expect the class to sit through a lecture and a history channel movie every class. He has actually given my class a midterm this year, and it was a group test. How lame is that! My mom used to teach APUSH, so I ended up telling my group ALL the answers, and we scored highest in the class, even though the other two students did nothing on a midterm!</p>
<p>My teacher was the same last year. I ended up dropping out of APUSH second trimester, then I read the AMSCO book a week before the AP test, and I got a 5. Your learning is your own responsibility, don't blame the teacher if you don't do well.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the replies, guys! However, some of you are under the impression I myself am doing badly in the course; I study on my own and have an A in the course at the moment! Notice the last line of the second paragraph (reading is tech, as we say in Magic: The Gathering.) "I, myself, manage to beat the curves on tests and end up with a good grade anyhow (I am first in my class, so go figure.)"</p>
<p>To answer pinksquirrels' question: "No, the tests we have are ones from Pageant's Publisher." I do realize that 50% on AP USH practice tests are pretty good, lol.</p>
<p>My school's APUSH teacher is HORRIBLE!! I think he blames his unablity to teach on the students' reading level. He made us stop reading from the Pageant and told us to read from a regular US History textbook. We hadn't had anyone who passed the APUSH exam with something besides a "1" yet in the past 10 years! And by the way, my school is really poor, large, with a majority of black and hispanic students. I would advise you to make sure to get an "A" in the class to keep your GPA up and to prepare yourself for the exam by reading from the Pageant and prepping from Amsco.</p>
<p>You have more than one APUSH teacher? It must be nice to live in such a school district. Our school has had such a teacher shortage that we sacrificed our AP program down to semester courses, not that I am complaining, however. AP courses don't need to be year-long, but it was like that for 15 years or so. </p>
<p>@ Vandan:</p>
<p>It's pretty easy to keep an "A" in this course for me with the all of the padded assignments like projects and what not. Tomorrow's exam should be a breeze as well -> Part 4 of Pageant. I have found out that reading Pageant, then going back to reading the AMSCO version really solidifies the information in my mind.</p>
<p>I don't think my teacher appreciates it, though, when I don't really pay attention to her during class; instead, I just read the text. :-)</p>
<p>Hmm... that almost sounds like my teacher... but not quite. I mean, people did horrible on his tests. That's because we didn't know how to learn rather than he didn't know how to teach, sort of. I mean, my grades eventually improved towards the end of the year because I finally learned how to write papers and how to take away the salient information from the text. (also I finally realized that I actually had to read the text and take notes) My teacher's been teaching APUSH for 5 years, and I think it was 85% of his students get 4s or 5s on the test. He's regarded as the hardest APUSH teacher, but I also think he's the best.</p>
<p>I'm very happy with my APUSH teacher. He's very strict with the homework and tests but he wants us to struggle as much as possible with the practice tests so we can view the real test as a piece of cake.</p>
<p>But anyways, if your teacher is helping you out then you should try your best to learn the material on your own. I guess if you have the money you can attend an ap prep course.</p>
<p>I didn't even know there are AP prep courses; I live in a small town in NC, so I doubt we have the likes of that around here. Nevertheless, I don't really need a teacher anyway to "teach" me anything. I have always found that our education system is more like a gigantic day care center more than anything. I think I will do fine on the AP exam, hopefully a 4 or 5 (and that would be quite the accomplishment considering no one has gotten above a 2 in APUSH in recent years.)</p>