Hey guys, I’ll join you guys. I’m thinking of buying the review books now and look over a bit. I’m always used to the Princeton Review book and found it very helpful for the AP World History Exam.</p>
I’m taking the class next year as well. I’m pretty excited about it. I took AP World last year and I can honestly say that I enjoyed the class and the material. So I’m looking forward to more history lol.</p>
In terms of difficulty, I’ve heard some people say it’s excruciating while others pass it off as just rote memorization. APUSH is definitely more fact orientated in comparison to World because of the relatively short time span that the course and test cover. However, I’ve heard that the FR section is very strictly graded, with an average of 3/9 (9 being the maximum number of points alotted for each essay) for each essay and that the DBQ requires a lot more outside information that Euro/World. </p>
And I also read somewhere that people close to CB having called APUSH the hardest AP test, although I’m not too sure if I believe that lol.</p>
^^ APUSH. The essays are grade more harshly at least compared to APWH. And the teachers are harsh, they might make you read the first 30 chapters in the American Pageant in 1st semester and 2nd semester the last 12 and a ton of essay work.</p>
Also, I wish I took APUSH, I took APWH but in my school I took the entrance exam for APUSH but I didn’t get in. And I’m better than most of the students in my former APWH class so that’s really screwed up.</p>
@HollaAtMeSon: I’ve heard Euro as being more fact based than all the history tests (sans Art History lol), but APUSH’s FR section is harder/graded harshly. You also don’t have as many choices for which essay to write. For APUSH after the DBQ, the time period is split in half and there are two prompts for each time period, where you select one and write. For Euro the time period is also split in half, but you are given a selection of three prompts for each one.</p>
But in terms of difficulty, I’d say the history you dislike most will be the hardest lol. But Euro history is fascinating, so I can’t wait to take it senior year (this coming from a science nerd).</p>
Yeah, self-studying probably isn’t that bad. One of my friends is taking regular US history (a “bonehead” course, as he says) but also self-studying for the APUSH exam. He says he’ll probably get a 4, but since he’s better than I am (and I’m taking the AP class!) at history, I’m guessing that he’ll probably get a 5.</p>
I thought APEUro was boring as cluck… but later in the year I started to enjoy it. Particularly when I decided to read the textbook (a lot of my class slacked as well as myself until a certain point) and the review book, because I then started to score better on in class tests lol.</p>
Took APUSH this year, along with the test. We used the “America: A Narrative History” brown book. I suppose it was good; almost 2000 pages but seemed concise enough. One of the most obvious but extremely useful tips I can give is to stay on top of your reading (and notes, I assume most teachers have you take notes). I didn’t pace myself well and ended up spending many lunches in the library finished my reading notes. And get the Crash Course book! It saved my life, I read through the entire thing twice and got a 4 on the test (I probably would have failed it had I not read through this book). There was a quote in the book that appeared on the test, so I got that one right :). Also, I found it useful to read the Crash Course book and highlight all of the terms I could possibly use in my essays (people, events, etc.) This helped tremendously with my DBQ. I had at least 7 outside sources to use. Your teacher will most likely have you do practice MC tests along with practice essays, which will help you feel extremely prepared. Good luck to all of you taking APUSH in the years to come!</p>
@Shimbo, never took it, only took APWH exam and SAT II world history. I don’t want to self-study it, maybe I’ll think about it. In my school the students aren’t like the people here in CC. I know a few people who wanted to quit the APUSH class after getting the summer assignment, I doubt they have. And none of the students even thought about taking the SAT II world history, I told the teacher to inform the students about it back at May but he was ignorant and told the students after the late signup deadline. And some students signing up for APUSH are taking it as their first AP, boy I wonder how that will go. </p>
I thought about emailing the principal or counselor to let me in, but I doubt that will work…</p>
I forgot to mention how the test works. You start off answering 80 MC questions in 55 minutes, which will really test your speed. It repeats cycles of 7-10 questions, all in chronoligical order; the cycles get more difficult as you go along. After this you have a quick break, and start the two hour essay portion. First, you have a document-based questions in which you are given around 9 documents to read through and analyze. They can be anything from a letter written by someone to a poster from the time period. You also are expected to use some outside information to support what you draw from the documents. Next, you are given two prompts for the first free-response section, and you must pick one. You are then given another set of two prompts, and must pick a second one. You need more outside information for these two because you can only use what you know to answer them. One final hint: there is almost always at least one essay prompt on slavery and/or women’s rights, so familiarize yourselves with those topics. Again, good luck to you guys! And remember, test prep begins the first day you walk into your AP US History class.</p>
I did pretty well in the course, A’s both semesters and hoping for a high score on the exam. This was my first AP and it really helped me grow, not only in history, but also my reading, writing, and study skills. Keep up on the info how ever you do (reading, notecards [APStudent.com:</a> U.S. History for AP Students](<a href=“http://www.apstudent.com/ushistory/cards.php]APStudent.com:”>APStudent.com: U.S. History for AP Students), lectures, notes, [HippoCampus</a> - Homework and Study Help - Free help with your algebra, biology, environmental science, American government, US history, physics and religion homework](<a href=“http://www.hippocampus.org%5DHippoCampus”>http://www.hippocampus.org).) I would avoid hippocampus and other review books till later though (not deep enough sometimes ) the notecard site is plenty deep though) Ask the teacher for help! I can’t stress this enough I had a great teacher for APUSH and he is the one that I owe all this growth and learning to. The AP score is not your ultimate goal (cheesy I know, but that’s how I role), but being ready for college is. If you get a 1 on the exam, but learned how to write essays and study that’s more than a score will ever be. (oh and I recommend Sparknotes Powerpack for a review guide. It comes in a box and looks ridiculous but everyone else in my class thought it was more useful and than the review books) Good luck and enjoy the ride! (this is geared more towards first time AP takers in case you didn’t notice)</p>
Good luck on the exam! I was lucky enough to get a 5, but I can honestly say that I worked for it over the year. (Apparently most people around here can study out of a prep book the month before and accomplish the same thing.) </p>
I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times, but Crash Course is a MUST, and I don’t have personal experience with AMSCO, but apparently that is too. Keep up with all the work over the year, review the month before with a prep book, read Crash Course a few times through, take a few practice tests and you should be fine. My goal was to do well enough on the MC so that my essays wouldn’t need to be top-notch.</p>
I’ve took the class and test this year. It was pretty easy (i recommend you not to cram in the night before the test or tests). The multiple choice was easy but the answer choices were a little tricky. the essay questions were easy too. Basically, just try to understand the information being taught, study, and get help as much as you can from your teacher, friends, classmates, books. </p>
Book-wise: the Amsco, Princeton review, and American Pageant all help. the amsco really helps since it puts things in their own section, like the time period and what happened in each chapter and sums things up but leaves other out. my friend had the Princeton review and said it was sort of like the Amsco. The American Pageant really helps in the sense that it has the pictures and shows the little details of what happened in history but it’s pretty long.</p>
The class isn’t that scary, it’s just challenging and you have to know how the essays will be graded. You also have to study a lot too and be able to keep up with your class/homework. I was kind of nervous taking the test since most of the information were kind of scrambled in my head but i received a 5.</p>
Hope this helps and sorry for the long reply. :)</p>
) the notecard site is plenty deep though) Ask the teacher for help! I can’t stress this enough I had a great teacher for APUSH and he is the one that I owe all this growth and learning to. The AP score is not your ultimate goal (cheesy I know, but that’s how I role), but being ready for college is. If you get a 1 on the exam, but learned how to write essays and study that’s more than a score will ever be. (oh and I recommend Sparknotes Powerpack for a review guide. It comes in a box and looks ridiculous but everyone else in my class thought it was more useful and than the review books) Good luck and enjoy the ride! (this is geared more towards first time AP takers in case you didn’t notice)</p>