<p>The History and Social Sciences in my opinion are the easiest of the AP’s, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>The History and Social Sciences in my opinion are the easiest of the AP’s, but that’s just me.
^ I have to agree. I’m awful at history, but I still thought the AP WH and psych exams were a piece of cake. On the SAT II WH, I would have probably gotten a 500… even after studying for the AP exam. The AP exam was nothing like the SAT II, because it required analysis more than memorization. Psychology was easier than some of my school tests since there was barely any material to cover and most of it was self-explanatory.</p>
<p>@rfav32: yeah I noticed that. When I saw that only around 7% got fives, I was really surprised. I thought the exam was easy, so I assumed it would have at /least/ 17% of test takers get fives. I guess there was a low round like there is for psych.</p>
<p>Another problem with APWH is probably that several people take it as their first exam, and therefore do poorly on it. I know people at my school who just took it to be excused from their classes, so they didn’t study AT ALL. Also, some people may have had trouble in the way they took the exam. If they looked at the exam as a memorization test, they probably didn’t do so well.</p>
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<p>And it’s definitely possible to self-study world history.</p>
<p>It’s not that bad, but it’s not really a joke class, either.</p>
<p>My teacher left halfway through the year, plus I literally didn’t study at ALL outside of class, and I still pulled off a 4. Some general tips would be:</p>
<li>Less than 20% of the test is on Europe. Don’t neglect Africa, South America, or especially Asia.</li>
<li>Don’t focus a lot on the early stuff. History before the Dark Ages is only about 20% of the exam.</li>
<li>Practice your essays - especially the Compare/Contrast and Change over Time. A lot of teachers, I’ve noticed, make their students do a crap load of DBQs, which is weird because I found the DBQ was the easiest and most straight-forward of the three.</li>
</ul>
<p>I took APWH as a freshman and I got a 5. It’s quite an easy class, definitely easy than say, Physics E&M or something like that. Just get your textbook, get the PR book and you’re set.</p>
<p>@douglasgirl2018 and @awflapjackz did you take the sat 2 sub test for ap world?</p>
<p>I just took this class last year. It was my first ap class. I’ve always been more of a math/science person so history is my weakest subject. I blew off the class entirely, looking up the answers to homework online. I don’t think I ever read a full chapter of the textbook. The weekend before the test, I realized that I was going to fail if I didn’t study. I borrowed a review book from my teacher (for the old version of the test) and studied probably a total of 4 hours. I ended up getting a 4. </p>
<p>Obviously this is not a very difficult test if you actually try. My advice is to actually pay attention during the class, read the textbook portions your teacher assigns, get a solid review book, and don’t put off studying to the last minute. If you do that, you should definitely get a 5.</p>
<p>Over the summer I fell in love with one of the colleges I visited, and a 5 on either Euro or World would get me out of 2 core classes, so I might retake this considering I got a 3 on it sophomore year & I didn’t take Euro and don’t like self-studying</p>
<p>Also, a word of warning: Maybe I just had a bad day sophomore year, but while I didn’t pay much attention in class I had the highest grade and read the entire PR book prior to the test. I took all the PR practice tests (but didn’t grade them) and got a high 5 on the mock test our teacher gave us, but still got a 3 on the exam. It may not be as easy as everyone here is describing it to be</p>
<p>maybe cb made a mistake on your exam wynter. i took apush, got a 4. rechecked and got a 5.</p>
<p>@wantit Yes, I did.</p>
<p>By the way if you do badly on the SAT II world history don’t discourage yourself.
I got a 5 on the AP exam, but I didn’t even want to take the SAT II because I scored constant 500s on practice tests LOL. Who knows what I would have gotten on the real thing.</p>
<p>This may seem trivial to you, but I’m a rising sophomore and my guidance counselor just emailed me saying that I can no longer take AP world since it won’t fit into my schedule, and that now I have to take Accounting as an elective instead of doubling up. </p>
<p>I know this sounds nerdy, but I was REALLY looking forward to taking AP world and since I’m doing it soph year, it looks good on my transcript. Any advice? Do you think I should email my AP world teacher since I had her freshmen year, asking for advice? I want to email back my guidance counselor seeing if there was an exception, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>Email her. Don’t let your guidance counselor eff up your life.</p>
<p>Email back asking for a meeting, see if you can find some way to reconstruct your courses. (start @ nothing and plug & chug) </p>
<p>This will probably work better the larger your school is.</p>
<p>Social Science AP’s are definitely the easiest and you can self-study for World and get a 5. Just it requires effort, I thought it was a breeze but got a 4 and I expected a 5 lol anyway my point it is not a cake walk it is alright and do-able but do not u8nderestimate the test.</p>
<p>Taking this as a sophomore this coming school year; I’m looking forward to this as I enjoy history.</p>
<p>If you have a sincere interest in the subject or a great memory then it’ll be pretty easy. I took the world exam this summer for my junior year and I can confidently say it was my easiest AP yet. I didn’t prep for the exam except for one test I took after we finished the lesson, really did none of the work and got a 5 on the AP. What worked for me is that in class I listened to the lecture and I read ahead because I was interested in what happens next in this era or that region. But to each his own, I would suggest using Barron’s if you can’t do this system of slacking, keep notes if thats how you work, and pace your use of Barron’s with your class because it is made as a supplement. </p>
<p>Also, don’t look at the course as a series of facts, most of the changes in history revolve around specific themes throughout periods of time. An example being imperialism, a major mover from 1400 to late 1700s in the world and most of what you learn in that area in tied back to it. Slave trade, exploration, new trade routes, rise of ideas or systems of thought, new societal relations, all of it. </p>
<p>Document based questions are the hardest for alot of people since the rubric won’t give you anything over a 7 if you mess up on one criteria so familiarize yourself with the rubric and make sure you are always hitting every point. That way, you can be sure to at least get an 8 or 9 as you will probably go into overdrive on the AP.</p>
<p>Change over time & continuity req. you to know either about civilizaitons or geopolitically important regions. Religions and events such as important rebellions or establishment of trade routes are also reccurent topics.</p>
<p>I took AP World from 9th-10th (the first year was Honors, the second AP) and I thought it was a challenging class. Unlike most of my friends in the class (a lot of people dropped out because it tore up their avg.s), I actually read each chapter, did my notecards, thesis statements, and essays. Even though I didn’t have to study, I did because I’m just that type of person. I really think how you do does have to do with the teacher you have. My teacher pushed us all really hard, especially me because she held me to a higher standard and would grade my quizzes harder. </p>
<p>I won’t pretend like some users that it was fabulously easy and a “joke,” because it’s not. A person in the class ahead of me who had taken the class was the best in the class and got a 4. Why? We still don’t know. Many nights 12:00 would be early for me to go to bed because of the work. One thing that really helped me in the class/on the test was by reading lots of historical fiction/memoirs about places from around the world, especially about topics we really didn’t cover. This helped a lot, because I was able to contribute random (but relevant) facts about different places I learned about in class/on my essays. But, I always chose books I genuinely liked.</p>
<p>In the end, over 2 years of hard work, boring chapters, and tedious notecards, I got the highest cumulative grade in the class (1/15), scored a 99 on my regents, a 790/800 on the SAT 2, and a 5 on my AP test. Like someone said earlier, the SAT 2 is very specific and reading historical fiction/memoirs really helps because here, the random facts really help you. They will ask you questions that are about odd topics. </p>
<p>Knowing how to write a strong essay is imperative on getting a 5. If you don’t do that well on multiple choice, you can always relearn that. Writing plays a big part on the test and is so big on getting a 5. Also, you don’t need perfect 9s on essays to get a 5. For example when my class took our second practice (but real) previous World test, I misread the mission statement and wrote about another region. I got a 0 on that essay, but with my multiple choice/other essays, I still managed to get a 5.</p>
<p>TeaLove5 makes a great point. If you get around 49 to 52 out of 70 like I did, writing plays a huge part in making sure you get that 5. For a lot of the kids at my school, they didn’t write all that well and that’s what made the difference between a 4 and a 5.</p>
<p>Stearns is not the ideal textbook. It is too cumbersome to read if your goal is to self-study and glean information for AP test. If you have been assigned the textbook for your class, you should, obviously, read it for that purpose. Google for the Stearns’ texbtook’s online resources. There is a website. Reading the contents (outlines, maps) of that website might do you more good than slogging through the textbook if you are planning to self-study.</p>
<p>However, if you are planning on studying WHAP yourself, I suggest you begin by familiarizing yourself with the 6 time periods College Board has set forth as the outline for WHAP. The M/C test and FRQ’s follow these themes. Here’s CB’s Course Description:</p>
<p><a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board;
<p>I recommend the Crash Course AP World History book. I purchased a copy for my daughter and it follows CB’s course structure. It is not as fact and detail heavy as the Princeton Review or McGraw-Hill books, but, in my opinion, it is the best organized and gets you in the correct mind-set of the College Board’s approach. </p>
<p>There are College Board WHAP practice tests floating around the internet. If you find those, please post links here. </p>
<p>Just keep remembering, if your goal is a “5” on the AP test, you have to understand how the CB sees the course and the way it ought to be structured and taught. That’s not to say that your high school teacher will be 100% successful in accomplishing that goal. That’s why you need to do a bit of that work yourself.</p>
<p>hey does anyone have the princeton review prep ebook for ap world? i have the 2002 and 2007 released exams to trade. im also looking for ap human released exams if anyone wants to trade.</p>