<p>Hi. I'm a junior and I try to figure out THE APUSH plan without AMSCO as a study guide (I guess that's the only fault). My prep consists of careful notetaking, listening in class TO ADD EVEN MORE NOTES while discussing+ participating actively in class discussions.</p>
<p>Now here comes the testprep books I use/plan to use:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>American pageant (* yeah, I know it's a textbook, but it pretty much keeps me focused because of its readable style: I use it for quizzes + tests) I also use Internet notes when I need to get the big picture of sth.</p></li>
<li><p>REA APUSH guide: I use it for the finals and study it as a review as we go through the course, if I don't have time to study the American Pageant.</p></li>
<li><p>PR guide for APUSH: I plan to use it for last minute prep (2 weeks before), and try to complete the guide without any help from American Pageant as if it was a test. Although I heard its review tends to be lacking, I suppose it has more accurate practice tests than REA, since PR is known for making accurate practice tests.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I hope this plan helps other APUSH students. I am also enthusiastically expecting comments/inputs from other CCers who already took the test. Their advice on this plan is greatly needed!
BTW, my plan also fits my kind of intense junior schedule: that's why I can't incorporate AMSCO into this plan because it's such a long book.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for reading. Watson&Crick.</p>
<p>Oh, and I almost forgot. I wanted to ask which book (REA/PR/American Pageant) is best to study social history for the AP test. THe main reason is that the AP test tend to emphasize social history (1/3 of the test), which I find more boring/hard to study than political or economic history.</p>
<p>i remember that PR had a lot of good stuff about social history. i also really liked the list of important terms at the end. i also used barrons flash cards. i would recommend those.</p>
<p>what i did to study was take some of the REA tests. they were pretty good. i dont know if i ever sat down and read the entire REA book. i mostly read bits and pieces of it during the year to help me with class. i read the entire american pageant and did the entire guidebook (do you have that? i really liked it.) and i read pr in one sitting about a week before the test and made sure i knew all those terms in the back. i read through the barrons flash cards numerous times.</p>
<p>i probably took like ten or twelve practice tests. my ap teacher had all the official released tests and all the prep books and i stayed after school and did a bunch of those. i got a five.</p>
<p>also, just as a side note, if you are planning on taking the us subject test, i recommend doing it in june. i was getting 800s on practice tests in june, but i had already signed up for the reasoning test and i didnt want to pay the fee to change it to subject tests. i waited until this november to take it and only got a 680. moral of the story: take the subject test when you still remember everything.</p>
<p>Get Amsco instead of REA. Its way better.</p>
<p>Yeah, but would Amsco review be too long though? (I have 4 APs+ 2 science honors so I can't really afford to spend 10 hrs reading a single review before the AP in may) I also heard that Amsco looks more like a summary of the american pageant. If I needed a summary of the American pageant, wouldn't the Internet outlines/notes be similar to Amsco then?
REA provides enough practice, so I would buy amsco only for the review part. </p>
<p>Also, what do you think about REA's social history review? Social history is probably my greatest weakness, since it's not so interesting and it's not emphasized by The American Pageant.</p>
<p>What's good about the AMSCO is that it's extremely thorough yet also concise. You can be sure that anything they ask you on the exam will be discussed in the book. It's concise in that it tells you everything you may need to know, but nothing more. It seems like a big book, but a lot of it just quizzes/the practice test or discussing strategies. If you're looking for something that you can use to review in a week or two, then it probably isn't the best choice, but if you use it as a supplement with your class and read it throughout the year, reviewing before the test, you'll be pretty likely to get a 5.</p>
<p>that's basically exactly what i did. except I just bought the REA book, didn't use. I just kept reading the pageant. and i also used the barron's apush flashcards, loved those! i studied all of the time that way.</p>
<p>Does Amsco provides ALL the social/cultural history needed for the AP test? If so, I guess I'll use Amsco instead of PR. After all, I'm aiming for the "5"</p>
<p>Hey im a junior as well and i bought the amsco book (because my teacher was offering that as extra credit if we had it) and havent really studied from it. is amsco good for reviewing throughout the year or better for last min prep? furthermore, what books are the best for preppin throughout the year and last min studyin for final/ap exam. watson and crick, since you have so many of these prep books what do you think? haha thanks :)</p>
<p>Actually, I'm as clueless as you are. I haven't taken the AP test yet, just suggesting some approaches that may be useful (and have proven to be useful in other courses).</p>
<p>There seems to have been a consensus that PR is crap if you want a 5 (why the hell did I waste 13$ on that damn book??), that REA tests are pretty good, and that Amsco is by far the best book to review for APUSH. </p>
<p>Though, I still need counseling on whether Amsco is also the best book for social/cultural history review. Anyone knows about that?</p>
<p>actually i really liked pr. i got a five.</p>
<p>Sorry andrea, though many people said that PR was too flimsy, and could not help you for the MC questions. But many, the PR book is still worth keeping :) obviously, your empirical evidence with a "5" trumps everything else.</p>
<p>However, I also wanted to know if Amsco also prepares adequately for the SAT II US HIstory test. Anyone knows?</p>
<p>AMSCO goes into all the social aspects you need to know. It's not geared for the SAT II test, but I'm sure you could still do reasonably well studying with it. Not certain, though</p>