I’m currently a junior in high school and I am taking AP US History and AP Spanish Language. I feel pretty confident about my Spanish test but NOT APUSH. I know I’m going to fail miserably in the written portion. Everytime I see an LEQ prompt or DBQ prompt I completely blank out. There’s about a month left before the exam and I feel like if I take it I’m going to get a 2 because I am not going to do good on the written portion. I should mention I will not even major in history since I will be entering the medical field. I just thought of taking this class to get some credits for general ed. Clearly, my options of scoring a 3 are not that great. I really struggle with the writing portion, always. My high school does not require that I take the test but I don’t know if it will still be weighted to my GPA if I don’t take the exam. Any advice?
1.) Ask your guidance counselor tomorrow if you your GPA will still be weighted if you don’t take the exam.
2.) Have you tried taking practice tests? These may help you gauge how you will do on the exam. The College Board does offer practice tests on their website.
3.) If you decide you want to take the exam, start studying now! May also help to get a study group together.
You don’t know if you can score a 3 or not unless you try. You won’t get credits for general ed on history unless you try. If you don’t get credits, it is likely you will be taking yet another history course in college, which won’t be any easier. Don’t give up! Just do your best and see what happens. You only need to get about 50% of the answers correct on the AP US History exam to get a 3 score, so go for it!
^ is correct, try to pass.
Watching videos, either CrashCourse or DVDs (I recommend America: the story of us, which is an entire series) will help you so much. It can be very boring to read textbooks, and videos will make it much easier to understand the content.
I recommend Adam Norris for review videos and lots and lots of practice!
THANK YOU to everyone for your helpful advice and tips! I ended up taking the exam after all. My scores came in: I GOT A 4 IN APUSH!!