***Official AP World History 13-14 Thread***

Test Preparation AP History & Social Sciences
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I’m not exactly sure if this is too early, but I’m wondering who else is going to be taking this class next year. I’m excited!</p>

2

<p>Couple tips from someone who’s taking it this year:</p>

<p>-Don’t procrastinate about studying for the exam, it’s not something you can study overnight for. I made the mistake of reviewing 4 days prior, I should’ve started at least several weeks before.</p>

<p>-Be able to write DBQ, CCOT, and comparative essays well! We wrote them at least once a month, and it really helped. I started out getting 3’s, and worked my way up to a 7, 6, and 6 as my highest scores for them, respectively.</p>

<p>-READ THE TEXTBOOK! I hate that thing, but it is helpful, just really dry. Made the mistake of not reading enough of it. </p>

<p>-If your teacher isn’t making you read Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel…get it…I really hated that book, like so much that it pains me to tell you to read it, but it will be helpful to you. I think most teachers make their kids read it anyhow, but I know a few who don’t.</p>

<p>-Do practice tests to know what the questions will be like. AP World is different from APUSH because there aren’t details, it’s all about themes…the only time you need to know years is to know the general events that happened, so when they ask “Write about China’s economic role in the world between 1450-1750”, you know what happened during that time period, but you don’t need to know the exact year the fall of the Roman Empire occurred. </p>

<p>Best of luck. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.</p>

3

<p>I started studying 2 weeks before the exam this year. I had learned virtually nothing from my teacher. That being said, heres my advice:</p>

<p>You need 3 weeks of studying before the exam to guarantee yourself a 5. You might even need more time if you have a bad memory. I had to really cram to prepare myself in 2 weeks, and I had to learn how to write the essays the day before the exam since we never practiced them in class. 3 weeks should be ample.</p>

<p>Use getafive.com and take notes like mad during the lectures. Sometimes they would say “Oh and by the way, remember ______________” and then the exact thing was on the real test, so it’s a valuable course. Use the code ‘maldonado’ now to get it for free before the promo code expires.</p>

<p>Also, I can’t be specific, but on the multiple choice the actual test is MUCH more of a time crunch than any of the released exams or third party practice tests. Let’s just say, you better be prepared to do some efficient and constant reading comprehension.</p>

<p>I think I’ll probably get a 5, but only because I got lucky on the essays. The CCOT and Compare essays happened to be on topics I knew all about.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

4

<p>I am self-studying this class next year. Any tips from last years self-studiers?</p>

5

<p>Anyone know the difference between
100 years war, 30 years war, and the 7 years war?</p>

6

<p>Did you try Google?</p>

7

<p>For self-studiers, the most important tip that I could give is to focus on the big picture. I can’t stress how important that is.
Don’t try to memorize every single fact every time you read the material. Get very familiar with the big picture first and then gradually add in the details. Also don’t be lazy when you learn; avoid passive learning methods like just reading and watching videos. Get your brain thinking!</p>

<p>These are some of the things that I wish I did :(</p>

<p>In fact for the APWH you don’t even need to know that many details. If you analyze well and are able to make connections you will easily get a good score.</p>

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<p>Honestly if you’re a good essay writer you’ll do fine because the essays are the reason most students don’t get 5’s. I took the test this year and thought the hardest part of the test were the MC because there were so many reading comprehension questions. Essays were pretty easy in my opinion because they were very broad topics. However, I’m going to be humble and say it was pretty challenging so I don’t jinx myself when I get the scores hahaha</p>

9

<p>What textbook is best or what textbook did you use to self study for this exam?</p>

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<p>I used the Princeton Review. You don’t need any other prep books because PR actually goes very in depth and their practice tests are actually harder than the released college board tests. Like on the PR, for the multiple choice I would only get around 38 right, but on the college board test, I got around 55 right.</p>

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<p>I also used Princeton Review as my main source of review for the AP Exam this year, but Barron’s is also really helpful… that is, if you START EARLY. I cannot stress to you guys how much easier life is if you study for AP World early xD I literally learned nothing from my WHAP class, and so I started to study 4 days before the test using Princeton Review.
Yeah… NOT a good idea. A lot of the review books are long (how else can you fit thousands of years of world history in one book??), so I would suggest getting a headstart on reading.</p>

<p>Other advice:
-Read your textbook daily, if possible!
-Take as many practice tests as you can!
-Practice FRQ’s found on the CollegeBoard Site</p>

<p>By the way, there were a lottttt of passage-based questions this year, so you might be rushed! Analyzing>factual recall… in AP World!</p>

<p>Good luck! :slight_smile: Hope you get that 5!</p>

12

<p>I used 5 Steps to a 5 and didn’t think it was that great. I’d advise Barron’s or PR.</p>

13

<p>Hi all, planning to self study this, not sure how feasible it’ll be. I haven’t really taken a history course since Year 9 / Grade 8 (our school is under the IB system but I’m planning to take APs for extra credit / for fun). </p>

<p>ATM my study resources are:

<p>My school doesn’t do AP so what I’m scared of atm is that I won’t be learning ‘by the test’ as effectively as I could; I’ve got a ton of other stuff to do and study as well so I can’t spend as much time on AP as I want to. Any tips on the above^? :)</p>

14

<p>How long do you have to do for the essays? I’m a pretty good essay writer, but I take a long time to write them, usually I don’t finish them if its timed.</p>

15

<p>What summer work are you guys getting? Also, what year do most people take ap world in? At my school it’s for sophomores.</p>

16

<p>Put in a lot of effort in your classwork and homework. Even if it is incredibly time consuming, being a diligent student will allow you to make a strong first impression with your teacher and your relationship with your teacher and the time spent in that class will be much more enjoyable. Prove to your teacher that you care about the class and you want to do well on the AP Exam, and you can easily do this by presenting well done, thoughtful work. I’ve always stressed this, because especially in history classes (for whatever reason), I found that my hard work allowed me some more “wiggle room” or room for error in my grade - in APUSH and AP World, both teachers ensured me that my hard work, regardless of what I scored on tests (…and I did lousy on tests) would guarantee me at least an A if not an A+. </p>

<p>Or, if hard work isn’t your thing, then pretend to be hard working. I didn’t have the best work ethic - I procrastinated like it was an art, and I often found myself staying up all night to do vacation work that I could’ve done four days before. (I remember putting off all my Spring Break AP World work until the day before school started up again, and I stayed awake until four a.m., writing essays on the Chinese Revolution…, but I got it done, and I made it seem like I spent a lot of time on it - I was thoughtful, or as thoughtful as one can be in the wee hours of the morning…, and I got a 100/100 on the assignment, plus praise from my teacher.) If you can’t will yourself to be time efficient with your work and are prone to procrastination, then do yourself a favor, and learn the life hacks to being a perfectionist and a procrastinator at the same time. </p>

<p>…as for review, I did very little review. I just used Kaplan, skimmed through it. Probably got a 2 on the exam, but we’ll find out in July. But I got a 98 for the year and a college recc from my teacher, and at this point, that’s honestly all I care about, haha.</p>

17

<p>So, based on all these posts, Princeton Review is a better book than Barron’s? Also, is the 5 Steps to a 5 book useful?</p>

18

<p>Pretty much any Prep book is useful. My teacher recommended the Kaplan book, and he had tons of 5s and 4s come out of his class. </p>

<p>One thing to remember for APWH, generally, its your 1st AP Class for majority of students so everything is unexpected. One of the post here on college confidential explains what to do the test perfectly. </p>

<p>In a nutshell, he stated that APWH is a a broad range of topics to remember, but it is not the memorizing that is important. The most important thing is to remember what happened generally at that time. Like the 2nd FRQ this year on the Mediterranean region. I just talked about the middle ages, and i should have talked about Islam as well, but oh well. </p>

<p>The multiple use logic to your biggest advantage, and having some sort of faith aids to the knowledge of the MC. On the 2002 MC which was released the 1st question involved which of the faiths had missionaries and book or something like that. You know that Judaism didnt have missionaries, but Christians did so it would be the game answer along with Islams because of them spreading out throughout the middle east.</p>

<p>Sorry if my answer was vague, but hope it helps!
Remember to balance your other subjects as well!</p>

19

<p>I’d say for with Amsco!</p>

20

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I took the exam this year and I got a 5. I started studying with Barron’s about four weeks before the exam, but because the book was soooo long and boring and almost written like a textbook that I forgot everything I read by week 2. </p>

<p>At the same time that AP exam week was taking place, it was also finals week for me which kind of sucked. This left approximately a week for me to study. This time I used a Princeton and Kaplan review book, which are much more helpful compared to Barron’s. Both Princeton and Kaplan offer a good review of world history and comparisons of civilizations (like Rome and Han, their fall, roles of women, CCOT, etc) if you have absolutely no time to study. I basically crammed using Princeton the two days before the test (and I felt completely screwed for the exam).</p>