I’ve seen folks end up with Cs or Ds in this subject while they still get As or B+ in Eng or Math. They say AP History is extremely challenging due to its demanding workload and arbitrary test questions. I’m a math person and not quite strong at reading & analyzing lengthy literatures. Anyhow, I’d like to be best prepared for this “demanding” AP subject during this summer. Any suggestions(reading list, strategies) are welcome.
- Suspend your belief in historical accuracy and logic.
- Don't take it. Other AP's will give you the same credit. You may find AP CS or Stats more to your liking.
@Lovvydovvy - I am an AP history teacher (US/Euro/World) which AP history are you planning to take? A great resource for helping to understand core concepts are the Crash Course books published by REA (all available on amazon etc) these help delineate the concepts you MUST understand, vs those it is just nice to know for additional support.
I disagree with @TooOld4School 's suggestion that you stick ONLY to things you are good at… it is great to stretch yourself in other areas. AP history classes are particularly strong at learning to use source materials (primary sources, charts, maps, graphs etc) to inform answering questions, and in clear, persuasive writing. These are valuable skills no matter what you eventually study in college
Let me know what class you are taking, and I would be happy to point in the direction of other resources
Thanks for this suggestion! It’s AP World History. What other resources are good to use?
It’s AP US history that is the problem. AP world history is more like a regular AP class.
Again @TooOld4School - we find ourselves in disagreement. I find APUSH to be the most “clear cut” of the AP history classes (and I teach all 3) in that it is A. focused on one country, and the country you live in at that. B. Has the greatest familiarity for students. C. Requires the most concrete knowledge, which is actually the easiest skill for kids to learn… after all, memorizing is a skill kids have before they start AP. APUSH often has lower scores than Euro or World, not b/c it is more difficult, but b/c it is the most frequent “1st AP” class for many students. But while I am curious as to how you developed your feelings about APUSH, all of this is immaterial to the OP, so I will return to the question at hand.
@Lovvydovvy - I love AP World. It is a the most conceptual of all the AP histories- very much about the big picture. In addition to the book I already recommended, you might want to check out “a history of the world in 6 glasses” … a fascinating description of how a beverage of choice can impact a culture, it’s an easy, entertaining narrative. Also, on YouTube, find John Green’s Crash Course World History videos. (No tie to the book I suggested earlier) Green is engaging and really helps creat connectOns between topics. He has 2 world history video series. One is chronological, and one is thematic. Both are excellent.
Let me know if you have other questions. 
Thanks so much @toowonderful ! Below is the comment from my current history HN teacher when I asked her for any suggestions for improvement.
“You are very good at explaining the basic information (who, what, when, where) it is the why that you struggle with. You need to critically think about the information and ask yourself why? Why did it happen? Why do we study it? Why is it important? I also think you could spend some time decoding primary and secondary sources. Many students including you struggle with Document Based Questions which has students analyze multiple documents and then answer one question in the form of an essay using the documents as evidence.”
@Lovvydovvy - the DBQ is a unique animal… but hopefully your teacher will help you figure it out. If you want a sneak preview- you can go on the AP central website and look at this year’s test questions. There are 3 types of extended response- short answer (basically a paragraph), the LEQ (a standard persuasive essay with a coup,e of unique qualities), and the DBQ - which has the most hoops to jump through. Here’s a little secret- the DBQ is at once the most complicated and the most simple. There are many components, but they also give you the most info to work with.