<p>Okay so freshman year I was amazing, I had nothing but As. I ego tripped and decided, "you know, taking 7 classes doesn't sound impossible" how stupid I was, on the bright side in my 7th class I met this girl who is pretty much everything I've wanted, but that's beside the point. Anyways, my grades weren't that stellar, I got As and Bs (way more Bs than before) and a C first semester in AP World (teacher was flat awful, but I think I got a 5 on the ap test so he'll yeah), although I do really well in school. Next year I plan on going back to only 5 classes, I'm taking: Honors precalculus, Spanish 3, AP US History, AP Bio, and AP English Lang. Any tips on mainly apush or ap bio? Also, I took ap chem this year, and with all the time struggles I got a B both semesters, which I'm fine with because the way I managed time this year was awful, sorry if this is too long but just any tips from experience with those classes?</p>
<p>Hey dude, I wouldn’t sweat APUSH too much. However, history does come easily to me, no idea why - I’m a STEM kind of guy…
But a big thing with APUSH is your teacher. A lot of AP classes you’ll hear people say, “I had an easy teacher and I got an A, but I got a 3 on the exam” or “my teacher was so hard, I got a B/C but got a 5 on the exam” This is especially true for APUSH.
Personally, I had a tough teacher who gave some difficult quizzes and made us work but I never really felt overwhelmed in the class. I stopped reading the textbook about halfway through the first quarter and I’ve been fine. Pay attention in class and take notes. I’ve maintained an A throughout the year and it looks like I’ll finish the year that way. Also I feel very strongly that I got a 5 on the exam.
One book that will get you to do well on the exam regardless of your teacher is the AMSCO book. Here’s a link to it:
[Amazon.com:</a> United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination (9781567656602): John J. Newman, John M. Schmalbach: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/United-States-History-Preparing-Examination/dp/1567656609]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/United-States-History-Preparing-Examination/dp/1567656609)</p>
<p>How is this even remotely related to sat/act test preparation!</p>
<p>I’m guessing he was going for AP Exams and their being similar to SAT/ACT…ish. Haha, not a big deal though.</p>
<p>AP Bio was the hardest class I’ve ever taken (the exam honestly didn’t live up to the course but that’s a different story). It required a lot of homework and a lot of studying for the unit tests, but honestly it’s manageable. I started out with a D+ in the first grading period. After studying (and by studying, I mean STUDYING) my ass off for each unit test, I got an A- 1st semester and on the right track to getting an A+ this 2nd semester. So even if it may seem hard, it’s manageable.
I’m also going to be a junior and will be taking 5 AP’s (EngLang, SpanLang, USH, Psych, and Chem) and 1 Honors (PreCalc), so we’ll see how that goes. I believe any AP class is manageable after Bio.</p>
<p>Sorry about the category mishap, it was my first post and I didn’t know how it worked as well, anyway, I definitely like us history more than world so that’ll be better, as for bio, I’ll take your advice on studying heavily, it’s literally the hardest class at our school, so the better I can prepare the better, thanks guys!</p>
<p>@tomatox1, I don’t see how there was a category mishap, he posted in the AP Tests Prep thread. </p>
<p>@KC3559, I would say that the most important part of scoring a 5 on the APUSH exam is what you do the month before. I feel fairly confident that I got a 5, and I studied the 5 steps and the PR review books side by side. Then, I took a few real practice exams and I looked up EVERY question that I was not sure about (regardless of if I got the question right).</p>
<p>Your class, of course, will be important as well. Make sure you do as much reading as possible. The American Pageant, the textbook I used, really stuck in my head because it explains things well.</p>
<p>Class grades really depend on the teacher, so ask around or check out ratemyteacher.com to see if anyone has rated teachers at your school.</p>
<p>For AP USH though, the general rule I have found for most people is if you don’t read the assigned readings…you will not do well. Honestly, it really does help, it keeps your grade high for the year and also it creates less pressure studying for the AP exam in late April early May.</p>
<p>I got Barrons review, Barrons review cards, and this book [Kaplan</a> AP U.S. History Express: Kaplan: 9781607147862: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-AP-U-S-History-Express/dp/1607147866]Kaplan”>http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-AP-U-S-History-Express/dp/1607147866) … ended up getting a 4 on the exam. Kaplan Express is something many people ignore for some reason. It is actually pretty good, gives you a complete run down of the most important things to know…its very short I don’t think its more than 200 pages…nice for the last minute read and studying. Despite Kaplan being a horrible for-profit school, these express books I’ve found to be not bad. </p>
<p>Can’t help you with AP Biology though!</p>
<p>My biggest tip for APUSH is to review at the end of the year. Many people that I took the test with said they only reviewed the last week, then complained that the test was super difficult(some didn’t even write the last essay) so review for like a whole month…in your review write lots of essays(like 1 everyday is what I did) and then read you review books and read and read then write then read some more. I know it gets boring and I felt like quitting two weeks into the review but it was well worth it come test time</p>