How long did you study per day for your AP World Test?</p>
Which resources did you use?</p>
If you feel comfortable, please share your score!</p>
Thanks in advance!</p>
I need to know as well. Will be in AP World next year. I have a question though. On my school course catalogue it says PreAP World instead of AP. Yet they still take the exam at the end of the year?</p>
I self studied with a regular course in world history (only the second half though). I used Barrons to prep and got a five, but we did practice writing the DBQ in our regular class. It’s really not too difficult. All you need to do is starting around February (earlier if you’re ambitious) is start reading the prepbook and really concentrate when doing so, so that you absorb it. I find that taking notes for Barrons is not helpful. Read each section, look back at the section “menu”/key points box at the start of each chapter, and see if you remember each of the points with a couple of details per point. </p>
Do that until the day before/week before AP test. During that last week, read Barrons once again and cram it all in so that you can beast the MC/ frqs. Also, I recommend cram sheets from the Internet and MAYBE the PR for general trends so that you can do the essays better.</p>
I barely studied during the school year, and when I did, I used the online resources to review for each chapter quiz/test. My class used Stearns World Civilizations 3rd ed. It’s not the most pleasant reading, but it addresses all topics on the AP. Here are the online resources: <a href=“Site Retired”>Site Retired. They offer a brief chapter summary with an accompanying MC and T/F for each. Even if you’re not using Stearns, it’s still a fairly succinct companion study guide. </p>
Make sure you’re familiar with all the essay formats. Know how to write an acceptable thesis, body paragraphs, etc.</p>
Cramming is an option. The night before the test, I cracked open Barron’s and read until 3 AM (I fell asleep around page 220). I ended up getting a 5, and so did lots of other kids in my class, including a guy with a 79 average.</p>
ehh I barely studied. Starting at around a week and a half before the exam, I opened the Kaplan book and read it while on the two buses I take at 6:00 in the morning to get to school and while taking those same two buses back home at…whenever the hell I felt like going home lol. And the day before the test was junior ring day, so it was a half a day, where I “crammed” with two friends until like 4ish. But I used the word crammed lightly, because all I did was fool around lol.</p>
I got a 5 though so…I guess it really depends on how much you understand and retain the material. Also, despite some of my classmates not being very good at the MC portion, the essay formats were so drilled into our heads that we beasted through them. Of course some people didn’t have enough factual knowledge or analysis of the pertinent facts, but then again, AP classes are all about mastering the art of BSing roflmao.</p>
A lot of people are saying they got a 5, even with cramming.</p>
The MAJORITY of my friends failed. Don’t think this is an easy test. </p>
My advice would be to read your textbook, all of it, BEFORE April. Go over the major themes with a review book. Utilize online resources. Make sure you know the essay formats and rubrics. ESPECIALLY the DBQ. </p>
If you know your stuff, you’ll be fine.</p>
Well, because I had APWH as a class, I had to take notes for each chapter from the Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History for homework. I took four hours to do the notes for each chapter, but these notes were scrupulous and well-detailed. Since tests were usually on Friday, I reread the chapters on Thursday. Reading each chapter in the book took me about 1 hour. So, on average 10 hours per week when I had the class. When the class was over (my school goes on a block schedule, so I had APWH for two terms, which was 18 weeks total), I did not study much for the AP Exam. I just reread the first 15 chapters and tried to read Princeton Review, which is a horrible study guide in my perspective. However, I received a 5 on the APWH exam because of 2009’s essay prompts.</p>
I had a crappy teacher, we didn’t do anything, didn’t study at all and got a 5. For me, the AP was not very detailed you just had to think the questions through. I thought it was a lot of common sense. However the subject test was more specific and therefore more difficult for me.</p>
I completely agree, start as early as possible.
People seem to make this test out to be a joke, but don’t. I have an 85 average in my class and got a 2 because I didn’t study until later in the year. I have a friend that has had a 95 average and got a 2 as well. It’s not for the faint at heart.
Personal advice, don’t rely on a PR book or any other source book, your text book should be your best friend. I used PR and I found mistakes in it, as well as bad practice tests, I would suggest using Barron’s flash cards, and McGraw Hill’s book.</p>
I kept up with the readings and notes that my teacher assigned and that was about it until April.</p>
To review, I re-read some of the earlier chapters in the textbook and read over the Princeton Review two or three times. I did some MC practice questions online. I personally did not do much essay practice, but you probably should. You need to at least know the formats/rubrics for the essays.</p>
Don’t be worried if you have a bad teacher, the material is easy enough to self-study. My teacher knew nothing about history and I got a 5. The test is easy enough if you learn the material throughout the year and then take the time to review in April/May.</p>
I took the test in 2008, in my freshman year. I had come from a laughably easy middle school so the AP class was a total shock to me. For the first month I came home, studied every night, sometimes cried from being completely overwhelmed, and found multiple ways to get rid of migraines. It took some time for me to get used to, but I pulled it out with an A and a 5. </p>
The class and material are definitely do-able. If your teacher isn’t up to standard, you can essentially self study it all and be able to pull through. My teacher was excellent so I really lucked out in that category. For all of the people here that say that they crammed review books in the night before and snagged a 5, you shouldn’t really pay that much attention to them. They’re either lying or in the tiny category of ridiculously smart people that give out their advice to relatively smart people to trip them up when it comes to exam dates. Haha </p>
Anyway, depending on how much you know, how much time you have, and how good you are at retaining information (adjust my suggestions to your own specifics), I’d suggest that you start doing a very broad review of the material two months beforehand or so. I’d been trying to memorize details all year, so this step really helped me to pull together all of the themes over time - globalization, connections between other societies, what lead to what, etc. With maybe three weeks to go I bought my Kaplan (I think it was? Maybe Barrons) reviewbook and read it once and then read it twice, when I highlited all pertinent information that I had forgotten. At that point I had a pretty solid base to go on. The last two weeks or so were spent in a few of my teacher’s review sessions and reading the highlited material two times or so. On the day before the test I slept well, and on the day of the test I nervously skimmed over my review book one last time but gave up on it with an hour to go and decided to let it be. </p>
The test seemed pretty basic to me because I had a great concept of what to write for the essays, how to get a score even when you’re not sure of what is happening, and a wonderful basis of knowledge to go on. I put a lot of time into it and I probably could have pulled it off with a lot less dedication and worrying, but that’s just my style. I was able to get away with it because I only had one other AP test that year (Human Geo). Next year I’ve got 6, so I really have to change my method of prep to be able to do this, haha. </p>
Well, good luck! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or comments.</p>
As soon as possible. If possible, consider reading the Barron’s this summer once and then come December, reread it again. I tried reading it the first time in February, finished it, and got a 2.</p>
No offense, but carpdime’s link is outdated. Here is a better link:
[World</a> Civilizations, AP* Edition](<a href=“Site Retired”>Site Retired)</p>
Also, if you want a ebook for a APWH history book PM me.</p>
Anyway, in order to get a 5 you’ll need to know how to write the essays. Lots of people say they get a 5, but many others still get 3 or 4.</p>
If you took the US History AP Test, the World History test is considerably easier than that, to put it in perspective.</p>
<p>I don’t know why people aren’t mentioning the Crash Course world History Prep book. I wouldn’t have survived without it. It organizes things very precisely and thematically. It’s 100x better the Princeton review book, in terms of seeing the big picture. It’s also really helpful in seeing continuities and changes. I also recommend Shmoop’s crash course. It also organizes things thematically and by period and it summaries each period in really funny ways. Then it gives you practice questions and it has 4 practice tests at the end with clear explanations. I love it. Another thing-just write and write and write. I think before the test I wrote an essay for every previously given essay by college board. Some of them, especially with the CCOT’s, I had no idea how to write, so I would research them and do it untimed and then that really taught me the material and embedded it into my brain.</p>