Tips for My First AP Class?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Hi guys! I'm a rising sophomore, and I go to a school with very rigorous and difficult coursework. Taking one AP, let alone two, is considered a suicide attempt 'round these parts. I will be taking AP Spanish Language and AP World History. My other classes are English 10 honors, chemistry honors, advanced orchestra, human body systems, sports medicine 1, and trigonometry/precalculus honors. This is the toughest schedule any sophomore has at my school. Honors courses are more than just challenging. They mean serious business here.</p>

<p>Since the upcoming school year will be my first time taking an AP course, I was hoping for some tips and advice from you all. I would really appreciate it; you have no idea.</p>

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<p>My advice for AP World History is to pay attention to the lectures, and do the readings. If you’re not good at retaining information, take notes on the readings. You’ll probably get quizzed a lot, and doing bad on only one or two can affect your grade pretty drastically, so make sure you know the material. For the actual exam, make sure to manage your time well. 70 MC in 55 minutes is VERY doable, but you need to stay focused, and not let your mind wander during the exam. Memorize the essay rubrics as soon as you can. Essays in APWH are very, very different from essays in classes like English, so make sure you know how to write them to maximize points (they aren’t graded holistically)/minimize time spent!</p>

<p>Overall, it’s an enjoyable class that can be really boring at times (unless you love history lol). If you’re naturally good at humanities, or a history buff, then it shouldn’t be bad. Make sure you start reviewing for the exam a few weeks ahead (early May at the VERY LATEST).</p>

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<p>Here’s my advice for future AP World students: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15965505-post2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15965505-post2.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Read the book word for word, cover to cover! Trust me, the time you spend doing it is time well invested.</p>

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<p>AP Spanish : Practice
AP World: Memorize
Profit</p>

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<p>Have fun with it. </p>

<p>You don’t have to be serious about your work all the time.</p>

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<p>Buy the guidebooks like 5 steps to a five, Kaplan, and Princeton review. Practice, practice multiple choice questions. Makes a huge difference. For my kids, lecture notes and textbook were not enough. And they scored 4s and 5s on world hist, us hist, state/local govt, micro and macro ecoc, AB and BC calc , etc.</p>

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<p>My tip for you is do all the work for your AP class, don’t get lazy and blow it off. Also really read the book and pay attention to lectures. In my AP classes I find that the grades I get on tests usually match my AP score, so really pay attention to how you’re doing on exams.</p>