How do you take notes in AP World History?

Test Preparation AP History & Social Sciences
1

Hello,

I started AP World History this year as a sophomore in high school, and so far, i’ve been having a lot of problems with how to take notes in the class. I enjoy the class itself, and my teacher is really good; however, I have absolutely no idea how to take good notes efficiently. I tried taking notes on one of the chapters, but it literally took me about an hour to finish about 8 pages. Usually, chapters are around 15 - 20 pages long, and I have to finish reading a chapter every 2 days for the next class. How am I supposed to take good notes efficiently for AP World History? I don’t have any problems with taking notes for classes like Honors Biology or Honors Algebra II, yet I still cannot find an effective way to take notes in AP World History. Does anybody who has taken AP World History know a great way that they took notes for the class?

Also, this is my first AP class i’ve ever taken, so i’m still new to taking notes for AP courses in general.

Thanks in advance and please help! :slight_smile:

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My class for APHG has an interactive notebook, where you take abbreviated notes on a section on one side of the page and interact with it on the other. That’s actually what I should be doing now… oops.

If you already know something, don’t write it down, if that helps. Also, I’m not sure how vocabulary works in WHAP, but if it’s important, write down the word, the definition, and the most important example.

3

A good alternative to a textbook would be getting the Princeton Review book. In my experience in APWH, I used the site getafive(dot)com and took colorful notes on literally everything he said (trust me, the videos are really information dense and he also provides brief analysis of the meanings of interaction). I used GA5 two days before the exam and got a 5 last year. I would strongly suggest using it for both your chapter tests and the exam- you’ll be fine.