<p>I relied on my memory and just read the chapters a couple times (once at the beginning when I had to do outlines, and once to study for the test). My book (American History: A Survey by Alan Brinkley - not positive about title) was relatively easy to read, and if I had to pick a textbook to enjoy reading, it'd be this one.</p>
<p>But then again, our tests consisted of all MC questions based on the reading. And we wrote, oh, five essays that year. And my teacher gave us pretty irrelevant essay advice. In the study packets she gave us for each chapter, there was always a list of IDs (kind of like vocab terms). We had reading quizzes for most of the chapters, which involved giving the definition and significance of two out of three IDs. Even though it wasn't required, I wrote down the definitions and importances of all the IDs for every chapter and studied them for the reading quiz because I knew that was the only way I'd remember them.</p>
<p>I did a lot of busy work for that class, and once I got used to the workload, it turned out to be relatively easy. I stopped paying attention in class after awhile. But, I got a 5. And I'm not really a history buff either. My suggestion is to do the reading and know which study methods work for you.</p>
<p>Well at my school APs are double class periods - 84 minutes. The first half of the class the teacher lectured, the second half we answered three questions and ate lunch. Every friday was test day - just read and you'll do fine.</p>
<p>course-notes.org is unreliable, it contradicts itself and the textbook. Only use it for emergencies, in other words, anytime after march.</p>
<p>Read your textbook religiously. Seriously, you can memorize all the dates and events for the APUSH exam. It won't help a bit because it actually does test for knowledge of trends and underlying themes that ARE NOT the main topics covered. </p>
<p>Therefore, Read EVERYTHING. Even the things that people say arent important. You will get the bigger picture and most of all, get a real sense and understanding of history instead of worrying about a standardized test that standardizes your point of view, perspective, and ability to think.
i really need to stop ranting....</p>
<p>Here's what got me an A and a 5 on the course:</p>
<p>For the studying part, read the entire textbook (at least skim the entire textbook). Don't try and read too much in one day, because you'll forget it all by tomorrow, although I know we all end up cramming anyways. For me, I read the chapter, then I went to <a href="http://www.course-notes.org%5B/url%5D">www.course-notes.org</a> to review. Like Boomer said, it's not perfect, but it's good for cementing concepts and time-lines into your head. I know some people that studied the notecards off <a href="http://www.apstudent.com%5B/url%5D">www.apstudent.com</a> for quick sequential review for facts and dates.</p>
<p>One important thing is to organize your facts into categories/timelines. Instead of having random dates and events floating around, try to put it in some kind of order. The easiest is cause/effect and timelines, like listing all the events that lead up to the Revolutionary War (colonizations, changes in British monarchy, tariffs, etc.) This makes remembering your facts a lot easier, and when the questions come up on the AP test, it'll all be in your head in the right format.</p>
<p>For the test, it's more important to know trends than facts, especially on the essays. The multiple choice is the easy part, and a lot of the questions are simple. The essays are what most people find harder. On the FRQs and DBQ, knowing the trends and putting them down on paper gets you most of the points. Listing events and dates only "wow" the reader - it adds that extra "i know it" but it won't make/break your paper. Myself, I memorized a couple dates for key concepts, like African American history, and when anything on that comes up, I make sure I put those couple dates down to show I do know something.</p>
<p>Those are just tips I found to be useful.. My teacher was really good too, so that helped. Good lucK!</p>
<p>The thing readers (the essay graders) most like to see is comprehension. You get what the question asks, and you answer it. You wouldn't believe how many people don't address the prompt. When you answer it, make sure you show your understanding of the reasoning behind your answer too. Don't just list events or dates; explain why they happened. Then if you're good, throw in the dates to give it that extra oomph. But above all, address the prompt and show your <em>competent</em> reasoning skills.</p>
<p>I guess there's no point in me repeating what everyone has said but the key is to read your textbook. It'll depend how your teacher does it, but mine didn't teach from the text at all, we were totally responsible for learning the information on quizzes by ourselves, and we went deeper in discussions and other article/primary source readings in class. Just do whatever it is your teacher asks of you... If you can't read a chapter for whatever reason, course-notes, like someone said, is a good back up, but don't rely on it. I also got Barrons AP flashcards to help work on the midterm and final...not perfect either, but pretty good. </p>
<p>I was so surprised by the end of the year when I went to review for the AP and I knew the answers. I was sure I had forgotten the little details, and I did to a certain extent and then just went over everything, but I really had a grasp on it after the year, and got my only 5 on the test. =P Good luck! </p>
<p>If you learn the information, you'll find the DBQs and FRQs are just writing a good intro and throwing in all the information jumbling around in your head (essays for grades during the year obviously require more thought than the test...the test itself is about what you know).</p>