Official AP Euro '11 Thread

Test Preparation AP History & Social Sciences
441

For those who didn’t self study, how did your teacher prepare you?
Every test for us was in the form of an AP Exam. Our midterms and finals were old finals and exams. Regular tests were watered down exams.</p>

442

Ours was “in the form of it”. Our tests take 3 days: MC, FRQ, DBQ, but we only ever took one practice test, at all. We weren’t aptly prepared.</p>

443

  1. Notecards - about 40 or 50 per units; 9 units </p>

  2. Unit test: taken in a 90 minute section - about 60 to 80 questions with a essay (FRQs, no DBQs) . </p>

A list of 10-12 possible FRQs are given before hand. We are required to plan out the FRQs - every 2 or 3 people in our class work together and writes an outline for a FRQ. This made the essays so much easier - I just skimmed the outlines the night before or at lunch. I aced each and every essay this year because of this :p. Along with the actual AP essays :D. </p>

  1. Quizzes every other time the class meets with loads of extra credit - if you get every question right, you get a 24 out of 20 :D.</p>

  2. Engaging lectures</p>

  3. Jeopardy games </p>

  4. Provided students with previous College Board exams - 3 in total </p>

  5. Loaned students Princeton Review books (2006-2007 edition) and gave out free Barron’s review books. That’s not as good as it sounds. </p>

I used my own PR book (2009-2010) and I’m contemplating the burning the Barron’s book in my backyard - the Barron’s book was a worthless POS - factual errors; irrelevant questions, etc. </p>

</p>

444

lol, I didn’t do any of those things. I self-studied and feel extremely confident. To review, all I did was practice tests - 5 released exams and every exam in the back of the Barrons, PR, Kaplan, and Cliffs books. These are the best reviews because you can really learn just from the answer explanations. For the last three weeks, I think that is the best way to prep</p>

445

Can you guys not wait until July?</p>

446

I’m a senior who’s been accepted to my top school, so it doesn’t make a difference. I actually just have to hang on to my National Merit Scholar title. I think I did.</p>

447

Wow. Yale… Wow.</p>

448

I’m taking the class next year in school as a Junior… Any small tips about how to prepare for the class or how to generally succeed in/survive the class?</p>

449

Keep up with the textbook readings. </p>

I slacked a little bit midway through the year and I paid the price - I was good to go in every department except for the 18th and 19th century stuff, according to the Sparknotes diagnostic exam. </p>

</p>

450

Thanks! 10char</p>

451

For those taking AP Euro next year, remember that the class is not really teacher based. Teachers try to teach to an exam they can’t see. That’s the beauty of APs. It takes self motivation to succeed in AP classes.</p>

452

What do you mean it’s not teacher based? My teacher was a great asset this year and I quoted him in my essay - prompt #7 (western European unification) - “an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all NATO members.” </p>

Self-motivation is great, and it does take that to go the extra mile and get that 5 - as most teachers do seem to be satisfied with a 3 or a 4 - my World teacher simply wanted us to pass and my Euro teacher wanted us all to get 4s. </p>

As far as the exam goes, there have been several Euro exams trickled out during the years. Almost all of the questions are indeed recycled, and acquiring the right book will help you tremendously with the M/C section. Ahem, Crash Course, amen. </p>

For the essays, there’s no easy way out though, unless your plain lucky. You need to keep up with the readings and retain a good majority of the information. </p>

</p>

453

how is this in comparison to ap ush?</p>

454

^More countries, more issues, more rulers’ names. However, I found Euro to be more interesting and diverse, because APUSH was just tariffs, slaves, and Indians for about the first 250 years. :P</p>

455

I wonder how studying for APUSH works. Do you recommending starting from the beginning and go to the end, or hitting the major periods - since the colonial stuff only makes up 1/6th of the exam. </p>

APUSH isn’t as evenly weighted as say Euro, which is 50/50 - 50% of the M/C questions come from 1450 to 1789 (French Revolution). The other half comes from 1789-present.</p>

456

</p>

This.</p>

I just read the Direct Hits book the week before the AP exam/Subject Test and I turned out fine (780 and probably a 5).</p>

457

What’s the difference between Crash Course and Direct Hits. </p>

Both are by the same author, but I have already ordered Crash Course - it was phenomenal for AP Euro - so I assumed it would be great for APUSH as well.</p>

</p>

458

when do the grades come out?</p>

459

</p>

You can call for your scores starting on July 1 for $8. If you want to wait for your free paper report in the mail, it can come anywhere between really early July and mid/late-July (depending on where you live in the US).</p>

</p>

They’re written by the same guy, Larry Krieger. However, I found DH to be much more useful. Crash Course doesn’t quite give enough information to guarantee a 5, so it needs to be supplemented with another book (including DH), while DH by itself can pretty solidly nail a 5.</p>

Direct Hits: [Amazon.com:</a> Direct Hits US History in a Flash: for the AP and SAT II (9781936551040): Larry Krieger, Ted Griffith: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Hits-US-History-Flash/dp/1936551047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306807119&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Hits-US-History-Flash/dp/1936551047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306807119&sr=8-1)</p>

Crash Course: [Amazon.com:</a> AP U.S. History Crash Course (REA: The Test Prep AP Teachers Recommend) (9780738608136): Larry Krieger: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/U-S-History-Crash-Course-REA/dp/0738608130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306807131&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/U-S-History-Crash-Course-REA/dp/0738608130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306807131&sr=8-1)</p>

460

I had just ordered Crash Course and it just arrived :(. </p>

In that case, I’ll just order Direct Hits later on next year, when I actually start taking APUSH. I just wanted to get a head start, and given my positive experiences with Crash Course, AP Euro edition, I immediately ordered Crash Course for APUSH. </p>

I’ll make sure to supplement Crash Course with my American Pageant book and old school REA book (6 tests!). Crash Course should provide me a sense of what I need to know and what I can ignore in the huge American Pageant book. </p>

Thanks for the explanation though :)! </p>

</p>