how daunting is AP Art History??

<p>I'm taking art history this year. My school got rid of the AP designation because we wanted more freedom in the curriculum, but I am still taking the AP test. I would say that the course is very slide based, and you need to keep up with readings/notes to particpate fully in class. Also be prepared to write a lot of papers. I'm not sure about courses in other schools, but my class requires a paper about every two weeks. The teacher usually asks us to research topics based on current museum exhibitions. I'm really passionate about art history, and plan to major in it during college, so I would say that definitely helps. It's also funny that this year my class was all girls.</p>

<p>I'm taking AP Art History this year in HS and it's the best class I've ever taken. I honestly am not that great at drawing. if I spend enough time I can draw but I'm no great artist. </p>

<p>To me, it's easy to make As in the class, because you're basically observing art. They show you a picture and you write about it and apply it to the prompt for timed writings. The names of, for example, the Etruscan and Roman artists may be hard to remember but there are all sorts of tricks and ways to remember them. </p>

<p>Once you know them, Art History is pretty much a breeze bc it's so much fun and the best part is that wherever you go, you always see something that you learned in the class. This is the part where I start rambling about Constantine's big head from the Basilica Nova and all my friends stare at me like 'how the heck do you know all that.' and shake their heads. </p>

<p>I would say, even if you don't need the course (like I'm going into MIS) it's a just one of those classes that opens your eyes to things you've never thought about before.</p>

<p>I have a really great teacher who's so awesome, so I think her class is fun and easy, but it really does depend on the teacher you have to get through the course bc there are soooo many things you have to know in the class. From late august to now, we've already covered Prehistoric cave drawings-Christian mosaics and churches. We use the Gardner's 13th edition text and it's a gigantic book but it's the best guide for the class.</p>

<p>Hope this helps! :)</p>

<p>Art experience is absolutely not necessary for the class, you are analyzing pieces of art, not creating them... thank god for me!</p>

<p>AP Art History is an amazing course, there is so much to cover, but one benefit is that the canon of pieces are already established in textbooks everywhere so therefore it shouldn't be a surprise that you have seen all of the pieces on the exam. They will not pull some random, obscure, Arizona artist just to try and catch you, only major and important works. </p>

<p>The REA book is highly recommended by me and others, and I also have the Barron's and am considering buying the Annotated Mona Lisa. It's a great class but you have to put in plenty of extra work, but well worth it.</p>

<p>My school does not offer AP Art History, but I am highly interested in taking the test. Since my school is not partnered with a Virtual High School, all of the credited online courses I’ve found are very far out of my budget. Does anyone know any good online courses to take this with?</p>

<p>If not, do I -need- to take a course for this class, or will I be able to get a 4 or 5 with sufficient self-study? </p>

<p>REA, Barrons, and the Annotated Mona Lisa seem like popular choices. Any other books or habits reccommended for self-study?</p>

<p>I’ve never done a class like this on my own before, so any help is appreciated! =]</p>

<p>Hey 62442, which schools do you know offer credit for AP Art history?</p>

<p>If i self study this exam, will it fulfill my UC fine arts requirement?</p>

<p>I know that Boston University for instance will give 8 Art History credits (equivalent of two courses) for a score of 4 or 5 on the exam.</p>

<p>I don’t know what you mean by UC (sorry! XD). University of California? </p>

<p>When I talked to my guidance counselor, she said that if I self-studied it wouldn’t go on my transcript, affect my GPA, or fulfill high school credit requirements as it’s not actually a class, but that a note could be made on my application/she could point it out in a reccommendation letter.</p>

<p>^ Yeah, 62442, University of California. I don’t need it for graduation, merely entrance to UC’s.</p>

<p>Oh. Gotchya. I don’t know. In that case, I’d check the UC’s website and see if they have information on that.</p>

I know this is a dead thread but if anyone else out there is curious about independent study art history you might find this helpful!

I’ve been studying for the ap art hist exam since this summer and borrowed the annotated Mona Lisa from a teacher. It’s a great big picture/conceptual book, way smaller than a textbook, with great images, quick facts, and comprehensive organization.

My best suggestion to you, though, is to down load the Kahn academy app. Their art history info is far better than any of their math/science stuff as far as I can tell. They have a combination of short 10 min read articles and 5 min long videos that are really well formatted for mobile use. I spent about 30 min to an hour on there a day and haven’t gotten through everything so I promise they’re thorough. At the same time it’s formatted well so you can get an over view of everything and go as in depth as you have time for. They provide suggested readings at the end of every article and links to other great resources too!

Also, power point is a really undervalued tool for making a chronological/topical log of artworks. Much better than a flash card app or something and wayy better than handwriting it in my opinion. Include one slide for each image and a following slide for the ID and eventually add more detailed info. This was you can test yourself later and work from a top down (big picture to small picture) mind set.

Hope you find this helpful, best of luck!