<p>Hi there! I received a 4 on the exam this year. I used the Princeton review book, AP World History Express, and the Barron’s flash cards. I am one of those people who need to do a lot of studying far in advance, but that didn’t happen this time lol. I started studying a little under a month before the test. I did a grand total of a half of a practice test, and wrote 0 essays (though I did write essays during the class, which for me was from August-January). However during the month when I did study, I studied every second I wasn’t doing homework/in class. I studied before school, during homeroom, during lunch. After homework in the afternoons and before I went to bed in the evenings. It took up all of my free time- I’d go through all of the flash cards I read chapter in my prep books at least twice. I would also watch a few of the Crash Course World History videos before I went to bed.
If I had started studying earlier, done practice tests and essays, I know I could’ve achieved a 5. My recommendation for studying is: know how much you need to study before tests and then go a bit beyond that.
If you’re one of those people who can do really well after only skimming through a prep book the night before a test, then skim through the books for two days before the test.
I also recommend watching the Crash Course videos. I’m a huge fan of John Green, and I found them highly entertaining. It also helped me out a lot in remembering the information.
I also highly recommend AP World Express (published by Kaplan’s I believe?). It isn’t enough information for the test but it goes over the basics of what you need to know and you can get through it pretty quickly. I also recommend the PR book- it tells you what you need to know for the test and as a history nerd I found it extremely interesting.
I don’t recommend the flash cards, however. I didn’t feel like they were helping me remember the material. If you want flash cards, make some of your own. You’ll save money, and writing the information out will help it stick in your brain. That’s what I’ll be doing for the APUSH test next year.
This year’s MC was fairly easy. I took the test during the late testing date so I can’t really talk about what was on the essays because they don’t get released, but one of them was weird. I looked over the essays for the regular testing date, and they seemed fine- all subjects I was interested in so I knew a lot about. Know the rubrics so that you can write an adequate essay.
FINALLY, PLEASE take notes, pay attention in class, and read the textbook. This will give you a much better score. The highest score out of my friends who never read the textbook was a 3. That’s probably the most important studying tip.
If you have any questions about studying (can’t really answer any about the test itself because my test wasn’t released by the College Board) just ask! Good luck to all! :)</p>
<p>I got a 4 on the exam only because I bombed one of the FRQs. The exam was pretty easy. Princeton Review was amazing, and 5STA5 was a good summary. I used that when I got tired and only wanted to read a little bit. I recommend both.</p>
<p>I guess I’m posting on here because a bunch of other people who took the test last year are posting and telling their tips so here are mine (Got a 5; I’m not going to lie, I’m a huge social studies person and love things like history and politics, so the class did come easily to me.)</p>
<p>So my first tip for the class itself, read the textbook, and I mean really read it. Don’t skim it, read it. Most teachers (inc mine) gave Guided Readings to do. The majority of my classmates just skimmed the book to find the answers. Don’t do that. Yeah sure, the questions in the GR are the main things that you should get out of the passage, but if you’re skimming, you’re missing out on the supporting details that tie in everything together, which helps you retain the info in the long run. </p>
<p>Take good organized notes–>easier to skim through the night before the test (I’ll admit I stopped taking notes during 4th quarter, but in my defense, my first year teacher was rushing through the chapters and got (stole from some random teacher in Georgia) really small and bad powerpoints which gave mostly info I already knew about WWI and WWII, before he had detailed heavy pps based off the textbook and were really nice to review for his detail heavy tests—the exam is more on trends, not detail heavy)</p>
<p>Now for Prepbooks. Right before school started, I bought both Barrons and PR for the exam. I bought it before school because I thought I could use it to help review for my chapter tests. Just reading through the textbook and a light review of my notes was enough for me. (If you already have a specific prepbook in mind, then I’d buy it before school just in case + you don’t have to worry about it being out of stock during exam prep season)</p>
<p>Do I recommend the 2 books? You shouldn’t be asking me, I mostly just used them during the 3 before the exam weekends(let it be known that 2 weekends of review=1 weekend of actual review; I get distracted really easily) to review first semester stuff and to go over stuff that he didn’t cover (he left out like a good 4 chapters based off the cold war and communist revs in china and SE Asia, which were sorta big in the MC). I liked reading Barrons because it is detail heavy and satisfied my own curiosity. PR was more concise (both a good and bad thing, sometimes left out a sorta important detail). Barron’s is will help more during the year itself, while PR will help with the rev for the exam itself (it also has some really nice charts that compare woman/minority rights and stuff which the exam people like to test on). </p>
<p>Yeah sure, some of those textbooks skimmers/bad note takers got good grades on the chapter test like me (though I was usually one of the highest) or a 5 on the exam but I reviewed for the test in a fraction of the time </p>
<p>(You read all that? No? I don’t blame you, it’s a long post full of random sidenotes smacked in the middle. Either way, whatever you did read, I hope that helped.)</p>
<p>I got a 5 without any review books or studying and had a teacher who was teaching AP World for the first time -_-</p>
<p>My class workload was minimal (notes and notecards every week) and a quiz and test every week as well. In my experience the curve for the test is EXTREMELY generous, with the multiple choice section being rather “easy” if you can think logically and remember some information from the class. The essays are probably the hardest part of the AP test, so I would focus on getting 4-5’s on those essays to get a easy 5.</p>
<p>Princeton’s Review is great for getting the “big picture”. I self-studied using PR and SAT II Barron’s and got a 5.</p>
<p>Let me tell you noobs about the world history exam.</p>
<p>It is a culmination of the greatest subject in the world. In order to get a five on the exam, you must learn, eat, sleep, breathe, think, BE history. You must understand and feel the pain and suffering of the Chinese as the Europeans brutally exploited them. You must learn the great unifying Islamic empires and how they made some of the greatest advancements of history. You must understand the power of the 1848 revolutions, the revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment, the daring feats of the founding fathers of America, the significance of the Sepoy rebellion. History isn’t just a laundry list of facts. History is WHY things happen. History is WHY people act, is WHY nations fall, is WHY people rebel, is WHY regions are exploited. </p>
<p>Sure people will tell you go get a book. You don’t need a book. Just soak in the awe of history and you will learn automatically.</p>
<p>Let me tell you this. I didn’t have a book. I studied 2 hours before the exam. I got a 5. </p>
<p>History is magical. </p>
<p>So school for us has already marked 9 weeks and I’m entirely confused about the WHAP essays. We’ve gone over the Compare/Contrast and the DBQ (I know there’s a CCOT or something like that too), but it seems like there’s a lot of technical things you need to do in order to get full points. Last year, I took HuG and the FRQ’s were completely different, as long as you answered the question and provided some warrants, then you were good to go.</p>
<p>But I keep losing points on the WHAP essays because I’m not phrasing my sentences in a “direct-comparison format” for the C/C.</p>
<p>(ex : “China’s confucian values united China and allowed it to create a comprehensive bureaucracy, whereas India’s diverse language and topography made political unity difficult.” She would take off DTC points for splitting this into 2 sentences with more detail and taking out the “whereas”. Is this a valid critique for the AP exam?) There are other instances, but I’m just not sure about how technical this exam wants you to be. I don’t imagine it will be that picky, but my teacher has been teaching this for years and her former students say that she’s okay. </p>
<p>I’ve never struggled in a class before, but I’m constantly overwhelmed with WHAP. And even with other AP/honor classes, this class has consumed more time than all the rest combined. Hopefully it gets better but our quarterly report card grades are going up and I’m not very pleased…</p>
<p>@bunnymonster The test graders will only judge you on the rubric, not how well your writing skills are.</p>
<p>I learned how to do the essays a week right before the exam (so obviously never bothered to learn to get technical that way) and I got a 5 on the exam. All I did was study the frq rubrics (official released ones that are specific to that years frq) to see what exactly the CB is grading on.</p>
<p>IS There anyone out there right now studying for the midterm for this class? I am freaking out right now so much information.</p>
<p>I’m done this class, but I need to do a loooot of review in order to do well on the exam…The good thing is that I’m taken AP Euro now, so I should be pretty good with European History by the time the exam comes around (which is awesome because Asian/Latin American history is my strength). Has anyone already got a review book?</p>
<p>Make sure you know the rubrics to the essays well before the exam. You do not want to waste time reading the basic core requirements during the test. I bought 5 prep books last year and only used 2 of them - waste of money. Buy Princeton’s and REA Crash Course. Read Princeton’s throughout the year and esp during winter and spring break. Then, about a month before the exam read the Crash Course book. It is much smaller but incredibly dense and well-informed. Make sure you go onto the collegeboard’s website and download the course guide for World History and KNOW THE WORLD REGIONS. If they ask you about pol developments from blank to blank in Southeast Asia, and you write about China - ITS WRONG. (China’s East Asia by the way)</p>
<p>As always, dont stress youve got plenty of time to study - dont wait till the last minute. Last year I reviewed early and reduced my stress (got a 5). </p>
<p>This year I’m taking AP Euro and Psychology btw</p>
<p>Good luck,
StantonStudent</p>
<p>Who here has bought prep books already? I’m going to buy them soon for my 3 AP classes. I see the post above me recommends Princeton Review and REA Crash Course. Any other recommendations?</p>
<p>AP World is all about recognizing patterns. The great thing about AP World versus other history courses is that you can conceptually review a lot of concepts and then it’s almost like a jigsaw puzzle in which you can fill in the blanks based on information you already know. When you use Princeton Review or Barron’s to review, make sure to supplement it with deliberate practice. As you work through the practice questions, review core concepts you’re getting wrong and keep a running tally of which areas you’re struggling in. </p>
<p>Here’s a helpful list of AP World History tips covering how to tackle theses, DBQs, multiple choice, etc.:
<a href=“http://www.learnerator.com/blog/ap-world-history-tips/”>http://www.learnerator.com/blog/ap-world-history-tips/</a></p>
<p>@HastyCentaur how is the Kaplan World History book compared to Princeton and Barrons? Better or worse? Can you rank these three? </p>
<p>The reason im asking is because last year I studied the Kaplan book for Human Geography and got a 5, and personally, I would rather have too many details than a lack of details. Thats why I like the Kaplan so much, because it was really packed with many details. I just went through the whole book and read/highlighted…</p>
<p>@HastyCentaur Thanks, in my AP World class we do 4 essays a month so I know all about the different formats since I’ve practiced a lot. We also make a bunch of stuff every chapter like flashcards so I already have more than a 100 flash-cards. However, I don’t do as well on the multiple choice as I’d like to. The teacher makes the multiple choice hard like the AP test and then curves it a lot. Hopefully the prep books will help with that.</p>
<p>@ADA110 I also used Kaplan last year for AP Human Geography and it was very good and I got a 5 too, I bought it because it was the cheapest but it ended up working out well. I wonder if anyone knows about the Kaplan book…Anyone?</p>
@ADA110 I’m a bit out of touch with the review books now since it’s been a few years since high school. However, I think from my general experience with Barron’s it’s more exhaustive and geared for individuals who like to overstudy for exams. In terms of Princeton Review it’s generally for people with less time on their hands for studying and those who want to get a crash course. I tended to gravitate towards Barron’s because I found their content more challenging and more in-depth. You can’t really go wrong though.
@dsi411 Yes, multiple choice I have found is largely based on how familiar you are with the patterns of the test maker. Aside from the prep books I’d suggest online resources too. A few online practice question resources:
Around 600 practice questions from the guys who wrote those tips: http://www.learnerator.com/ap-world-history
Houghton Mifflin practice questions based on their books: http://college.cengage.com/history/world/bulliet/earth_peoples/3e/students/ace/index.html
Can anyone tell me if Princeton is a better book than Barron’s? I bought Barron’s recently, and while so far it’s been good, it seems very lengthy (and I hope not unnecessarily lengthy).
People have recommended Princeton’s to me. Should I get that book?
Has anyone used John Green’s crash course videos to review for AP world? Obviously not as the only form of reviewing, but has anyone found them helpful?
How many of you guys are reading the Bently book? Tell me all the books you guys are reading, as in the textbooks or the ones you had, My school got rid of Worlds Together Worlds Apart by tignor couple years back, there is still a few of them left over, looks boring. I finished AP World a while back and my tip, I hope Im not repeating is Crash Course best thing to happen to youtube.
Is anyone else using Barron’s? How have you found it? I’m using it and found the practice tests to be easy…I just took one and got 60/70 MC on one and like 62/70 on the other…Are the tests in Barron’s much easier than the actual exam?