<p>I have already taken AP Euro and AP Gov and received a 4 and a 5 respectively. I am planning on taking AP US History next year. Do you think it is a good idea to try and self study for the World History test?</p>
<p>Self-studying and ap exam is never going to be “easy” but if you are a diligent worker it is definitely doable. It is more based on memorization so the biggest tip is not to wait until the
night before to start studying. I also plan to self-study ap world next year because I hear that the class at my school is brutal!</p>
<p>Yes lol. It may even be one of the easiest APs out there (I’m not sure why the number of 5s this year was so low, but don’t let those statistics fool you.)</p>
<p>I did take a class, but I didn’t learn anything from it. My teacher was decent, but this year I procrastinated immensely and ended up spacing out every class period and basically, that was my math homework/doodle period for the whole year. Since I don’t really read the news (or much at all hah), I came into the class direly unprepared and oblivious to basically everything. Until two nights before the AP, I didn’t even know some /REALLY/ obvious things (when I say really, I mean really.) Two nights before, I crammed like crazy and read Barron’s, Kaplan, 5 Steps to a 5, Princeton Review, and my textbook. I kept scoring extremely low on practice tests, and my highest MC grade was a 59%. After looking at all of the practice essays released by different things for WHAP, I could only answer around 30% of the questions… so that said, I felt DIRELY unprepared for the exam and decided that if I got a 1, then I would just cancel my score. I was confident that I’d get no higher than a 2.</p>
<p>When I went in, the test was a lot easier than I expected. On practice tests, I wasn’t even sure what the questions were even referring to, but on the actual, every question was easy. IMO it was more analysis than memorization (unlike bio which, last year, was all memorization and a pain to study for. I’m surprised I even got a 5 on that lol), and I felt like I could answer everything correctly without knowing what I was thinking about. This might just be me, but I think the WHAP exam is mostly analysis of passages and simple common sense. The essays were as well. You don’t need to memorize detailed events (or even some of the main ones lol), all you need to have is a good sense of reason so that you can look at a situation, think about what would have happened, and go from there.</p>
<p>By the way I got a 5 from /technically/ 2 school nights of studying. Two of my friends are geniuses when it comes to history, and they probably know more than our AP teacher, and they were making fun of me because I knew about 1% of what they know, but yeah. I got a 5 haha. </p>
<p>From experience, I think the easiest APs are psych and world.</p>
<p>I dont think its an easy exam let alone self study but to each his own.</p>
<p>Let’s get one thing straight, all AP exams are really hard. That’s why you only have answer 60% or 70% right to get a 5 and etc. Self-Studying isn’t easy, you really have to put a lot of time into it. World History is tons of memorization and reading.</p>
<p>Oh. It must just be me then haha. I dunno. I thought that the AP biology exam was EXTREMELY difficult because of all of the lengthy memorization, but I remember finishing the WHAP essays in ~55 minutes and not even bothering to read over my answers again because it was all common sense. The DBQ (THANK GOODNESS) isn’t difficult like the USHAP one, which requires extra outside knowledge, and I thought that most of the MC was passage/picture/map based, and the ones requiring facts were pertaining to the simple topics. I think the Princeton Review practice tests are much harder than the actual and the Barron’s are just too ridiculously detailed. The 5 Steps to a 5 questions were difficult as well, and I think I got a 50% on the Kaplan’s lol. I’m not the best history whiz. XD</p>
<p>AP World is really not too bad. If you have some general knowledge of world history, you should be beyond fine.</p>
<p>The only thing I would really suggest is that you try to keep the theme of continuities and change in the back of your head while studying. One of the free-response questions focuses on that theme, so it would be best if you actually knew it.</p>
<p>Quick Tip: Make sure you dont dwell on ancient civilizations, they are a very small portion of the test, and it would be better to focus on the things that actually matter, check the College Board website for more information on the different things that are important that you will need to know!</p>
<p>As far as preparation goes, I just used the Princeton Review AP World History book. I also used the Barrons AP World History book, but I didnt have enough time to finish it. My suggestion would be to use Barrons though. I really thought it was helpful and it gave a lot of insight into the continuities and change themes. However, the Princeton Review blurbs were also extremely helpful. So, if you are only planning on reading one book, read Barrons, if you are extra dedicated, read Princeton Review too.</p>