Oh yes.
So you probably know, it's 55 minutes for 80 multiple choice, a break, and then you're going 2 hr 10 minutes for the whole haul.
That's 15 minutes for reading the DBQ, 45 minutes recommended for writing it, 35 and 35 each for the two essays.
Now I can't believe I made it. But I did.
Here's a few.
With the multiple choice... time went a lot faster with the SAT. Or rather, I went a lot slower because the questions were harder. OR I had the experience gained from the SAT and knew that the best thing was actually to NOT read word for word and use a "multiple choice" test taking approach -- that is, know how to FLY read. Read very fast.
Bottom line. Chances are, you have time to check over your answers. For me, I guess I knew my stuff (hey... :)), and I managed to check about 3/5 the way through before the proctor announced time stop.
But of course, keep a time on the watch. Mark, and do all that stuff you were told to do by the review books. Mark, go back, skip, blah blah. You know the drill.
I remember I went "WHAT?" with the prompt.
With the DBQ, you're going to expect something weird. Usually. I know I probably shouldn't be acting like an APUSH veteran (well... I am :D) just because I took one APUSH exam. But the documents are there to help you. They jog your memory. So DBQ pretty much is taken care of :D.
Though... read over documents quite carefully, but not too carefully. Literally this happened for me during the test:
[me thinking to myself... wait. Do we ever think to anyone other than ourselves? o=]
"Doc A... OK.... wait. I'm not registering"
"OK, I'll read it again"
"Wait... I see text, but I'm not absorbing their meaning"
"It's not sinking in!"
"OMG if I don't do good on the DBQ..."
"OK, now's not the time! One last time"
"I DON'T GET IT! What???"
"OK, you know what??! This is the ABSOLUTE last time! Or else you're NOT using this document!!"
"Ok! Ok! I think I get it. But wait... can I have one more try?"
"No."
[And no, I'm not weird. I bet you do it too]
I ended up wasting about 2 minutes...and not really using the document. Oh wait I did, but you could tell it was ... very ambiguously referred to. Something you should avoid :)
The FRQ... that will take some luck. But you can do it. The thing with the DBQ is, I wanted to add in one last thing in so I went 5 minutes into my essay time. Remember, this time accumulates. That just means not only do you have to finish on time for the essays, you have to finish 5 minutes early.
Lesson learned? You never stop writing in an APUSH exam!
It may get a bit panicky. You're searching for that term, but you just can't seem to get it. For me, I usually list out all the terms I can list associated with the question, even if I know that it isn't directly related (you can always talk about the history of some theme too), and then use these terms to guide you.
Of course, one of the biggest questions I find myself getting marks off is that you have to answer the question. This may sound obvious, and you may even heard of the statement "answer the question asked", or maybe even heard of "answer the question asked. This may sound obvious".
Bottom line, answer the question for real. Sometimes you feel like you aren't answering the question. When you get that feeling, you're probably right. USE the words in the actual prompt! Use word for word!
Even when in meaning, you aren't answering the question... if you use the words in your answer, even if it doesn't answer the actual question ... you sound relevant, and that may be the factor that gives you the extra few marks needed.
So, good luck, APUSHers of 2010 and beyond! I hope I've left behind something.
Showing posts with label APUSH Personal Experiences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label APUSH Personal Experiences. Show all posts
Right after the APUSH Exam!
Labels:
APUSH Personal Experiences
How was it?
WELL.
I can't discuss anything, just like the SAT Subject Test.
BUT I must say that the multiple choice is EASY. (Then again, I took a LOT of practice exams and even for those that I thought were "easy" ... well, those I got 19 wrong. Unfortunately, that translates to a 55... which isn't so good).
Point is, if you can get 65 on the multiple choice, an "average" on the essays, that is, a 5 on all of them (they are all out of 9)... then you're on a way to the 5.
So what practice exams are good?
Well I've had my separate reviews for each.
Basically, the practice exams are the same as the ones I used for the SAT Subject Test:
1 Practice Exam from AMSCO and the Quizzes after each chapter
These have their own unique "style" in the way that there is a LOT of emphasis on identification of who, what, when, in my opinion-- however, some of the concept questions are useful. There are some things that you shouldn't bother wanting to learn about, some people that you would "never" have to know for US history. I give this a 5/10 -- however, their final practice exam at the book was very accurate. Perhaps that boosts the score to a 6.5/10.
There is an answer key that can be purchased from them -- fortunately, my AP teacher gave the entire class the answer key so this proved especially useful.
4 Practice Exams from Kaplan for SAT II
These were ... relatively easy. Easier to just the level of the SAT II, but leaning on the way of easy. However, my scores were still averaging at about 19 wrong per 90, in this case. With the SAT II, you should know that there are a lot of questions dealing w/ graph, chart, and cartoon analysis, and this doesn't appear to be stressed in the practice exams above. Given that, its usually the graph, chart, cartoon analysis that empowers you to answer it because the answer is staring at you right in the face.
Even with it being relatively easy, the concepts that it emphasizes here is quite useful. 6/10.
8 Practice Exams from Barron's for SAT II
Barron's is well known for its... difficulty. And there are definitely MANY questions that you can almost expect to not appear on the SAT II. I mean, things with "where do impeachment charges begin in Congress"? Well, the House. But we don't need to know that.
Having said that, Barron's takes a ... well, unique approach as well as a more difficult approach that "hits" on the style and difficulty of SAT II all the other times -- meaning that it IS a good balance to the "easiness" of all the other practice exams.
If you have time, definitely get the practice and experience you'll learn from the 8 practice exams.
1 Practice Test from the "official source" CB
Unfortunately I only got hold of one of these... and I took this. AAAND I got a higher score on this than on any of the other tests! This may be a good sign...
It should be noted that I did take this "last" as a "final measure" of how I did. The packet also provides a "raw score to scale conversion", and it seems like anything below a raw score of 79 (which is about 8 wrong if you answer all) starts getting deducted from 800.
Well. Scratch that. I took a bit more after the SAT Subject Test for APUSH
3 Practice Tests from Peterson's
Amazingly, I did not feel that these were hard -- BUT I got one of the lowest scores on these quizzes. It turns out that some of the answers on the answer key I actually disagree with because the some of the questions and options for answers are very vaguely worded! This doesn't apply to a majority of the questions -- however, I still learned a lot from these :). Practice makes perfect, even if that practice is a bit flawed. Of course, these aren't first options.
2 Practice Tests from AP Barron's
I heard a lot of people say that "Barron's is hard". But amazingly it's not true for AP US History. Or maybe because AP US History multiple choice is easier than SAT US History, and because of that I assumed that Barron's AP US History would be the same difficulty as the Barron's for SAT US History. Either way:
Easier than I expected. Relatively easy, and "up to level". Perhaps just the right level. I got relatively high scores on these, perhaps one of the highest scores I got on any other practice tests. Anyways, these were a good ego boost... these were the last I took going into the test and I felt that while the style on the actual APUSH multiple choice was different, the difficulty and areas of concern are the same. Worth doing -- unfortunately there's only 2 practice exams from AP Barron's! Aww, they are known for more practice exams, c'mon AP Barron's for US History!
Well that concludes it.
I can't believe a year of my first AP ever is over. I can't believe it. I'll be getting that ... X 4 or X 5 next year. I don't know yet.
Again, important -- ONLY TAKE APUSH if you really like US history. That's why I'm not taking AP Euro :). Sorry monarchs, I don't care.
WELL.
I can't discuss anything, just like the SAT Subject Test.
BUT I must say that the multiple choice is EASY. (Then again, I took a LOT of practice exams and even for those that I thought were "easy" ... well, those I got 19 wrong. Unfortunately, that translates to a 55... which isn't so good).
Point is, if you can get 65 on the multiple choice, an "average" on the essays, that is, a 5 on all of them (they are all out of 9)... then you're on a way to the 5.
So what practice exams are good?
Well I've had my separate reviews for each.
Basically, the practice exams are the same as the ones I used for the SAT Subject Test:
1 Practice Exam from AMSCO and the Quizzes after each chapter
These have their own unique "style" in the way that there is a LOT of emphasis on identification of who, what, when, in my opinion-- however, some of the concept questions are useful. There are some things that you shouldn't bother wanting to learn about, some people that you would "never" have to know for US history. I give this a 5/10 -- however, their final practice exam at the book was very accurate. Perhaps that boosts the score to a 6.5/10.
There is an answer key that can be purchased from them -- fortunately, my AP teacher gave the entire class the answer key so this proved especially useful.
4 Practice Exams from Kaplan for SAT II
These were ... relatively easy. Easier to just the level of the SAT II, but leaning on the way of easy. However, my scores were still averaging at about 19 wrong per 90, in this case. With the SAT II, you should know that there are a lot of questions dealing w/ graph, chart, and cartoon analysis, and this doesn't appear to be stressed in the practice exams above. Given that, its usually the graph, chart, cartoon analysis that empowers you to answer it because the answer is staring at you right in the face.
Even with it being relatively easy, the concepts that it emphasizes here is quite useful. 6/10.
8 Practice Exams from Barron's for SAT II
Barron's is well known for its... difficulty. And there are definitely MANY questions that you can almost expect to not appear on the SAT II. I mean, things with "where do impeachment charges begin in Congress"? Well, the House. But we don't need to know that.
Having said that, Barron's takes a ... well, unique approach as well as a more difficult approach that "hits" on the style and difficulty of SAT II all the other times -- meaning that it IS a good balance to the "easiness" of all the other practice exams.
If you have time, definitely get the practice and experience you'll learn from the 8 practice exams.
1 Practice Test from the "official source" CB
Unfortunately I only got hold of one of these... and I took this. AAAND I got a higher score on this than on any of the other tests! This may be a good sign...
It should be noted that I did take this "last" as a "final measure" of how I did. The packet also provides a "raw score to scale conversion", and it seems like anything below a raw score of 79 (which is about 8 wrong if you answer all) starts getting deducted from 800.
Well. Scratch that. I took a bit more after the SAT Subject Test for APUSH
3 Practice Tests from Peterson's
Amazingly, I did not feel that these were hard -- BUT I got one of the lowest scores on these quizzes. It turns out that some of the answers on the answer key I actually disagree with because the some of the questions and options for answers are very vaguely worded! This doesn't apply to a majority of the questions -- however, I still learned a lot from these :). Practice makes perfect, even if that practice is a bit flawed. Of course, these aren't first options.
2 Practice Tests from AP Barron's
I heard a lot of people say that "Barron's is hard". But amazingly it's not true for AP US History. Or maybe because AP US History multiple choice is easier than SAT US History, and because of that I assumed that Barron's AP US History would be the same difficulty as the Barron's for SAT US History. Either way:
Easier than I expected. Relatively easy, and "up to level". Perhaps just the right level. I got relatively high scores on these, perhaps one of the highest scores I got on any other practice tests. Anyways, these were a good ego boost... these were the last I took going into the test and I felt that while the style on the actual APUSH multiple choice was different, the difficulty and areas of concern are the same. Worth doing -- unfortunately there's only 2 practice exams from AP Barron's! Aww, they are known for more practice exams, c'mon AP Barron's for US History!
Well that concludes it.
I can't believe a year of my first AP ever is over. I can't believe it. I'll be getting that ... X 4 or X 5 next year. I don't know yet.
Again, important -- ONLY TAKE APUSH if you really like US history. That's why I'm not taking AP Euro :). Sorry monarchs, I don't care.
Freedom... then I miss the "Oppression"
Labels:
APUSH Personal Experiences
Not "Oppression".
But AP US History is over :(.
I mean, even while I was going into the test, I was thinking "I can't believe it. This is it".
During the test -- well it was pretty OK. But I can't believe it. I'm thinking, these ... 3 hours determine my fate. Well, not really, if I don't want it to be.
But you know what it means. I paid $90 for this. C'mon.
After I came out, I celebrated with all the others -- but something didn't feel right.
I mean, don't you miss LBJ and the Alien and Sedition Acts...and all these terms! All the forced writing, despite how cruel it was at times...All the DBQ analysis, all the forced memorization...
I mean, for most of us, we were cramming the night before, only to "let it go" as soon as we came out of the exam.
But I guess I never really wanted to let go. I hope this information just doesn't go away. Good thing is that relearning will take faster, and I might just "revisit" all this knowledge when I retake the SAT Subject Test (should I get a "bad" score... depends.... there is the economic crisis right now, so it better be a lower score. Of course, I wish it's a high score. Not one of those in betweens =P).
Ahh, I just miss APUSH already. Sometimes I can't believe I'm saying this.
But if you ask me if I want to take the whole course again... well I like the challenge. Just new information would be better.
I mean, I can't believe how much I learned.
I entered the year not knowing anything about D-Day and never even hearing of a President Cleveland or Harrison...and only hearing of Carnegie Hall, but I didn't know the story behind it.
Its amazing ... how, despite us not being in the "moment" when we were learning or attempting to stay awake with each of the teacher's lectures... we are probably having one of the experiences of life that will impact us forever.
A bit cheesy, I know. But perhaps it relates to LIFE in general as well! I mean, APUSH. It's going to remain relevant (until US gets out of power anyways...but that's out of my lifetime :). I think).
And my future is probably in the states. Very relevant.
Just hope I don't forget it.
But AP US History is over :(.
I mean, even while I was going into the test, I was thinking "I can't believe it. This is it".
During the test -- well it was pretty OK. But I can't believe it. I'm thinking, these ... 3 hours determine my fate. Well, not really, if I don't want it to be.
But you know what it means. I paid $90 for this. C'mon.
After I came out, I celebrated with all the others -- but something didn't feel right.
I mean, don't you miss LBJ and the Alien and Sedition Acts...and all these terms! All the forced writing, despite how cruel it was at times...All the DBQ analysis, all the forced memorization...
I mean, for most of us, we were cramming the night before, only to "let it go" as soon as we came out of the exam.
But I guess I never really wanted to let go. I hope this information just doesn't go away. Good thing is that relearning will take faster, and I might just "revisit" all this knowledge when I retake the SAT Subject Test (should I get a "bad" score... depends.... there is the economic crisis right now, so it better be a lower score. Of course, I wish it's a high score. Not one of those in betweens =P).
Ahh, I just miss APUSH already. Sometimes I can't believe I'm saying this.
But if you ask me if I want to take the whole course again... well I like the challenge. Just new information would be better.
I mean, I can't believe how much I learned.
I entered the year not knowing anything about D-Day and never even hearing of a President Cleveland or Harrison...and only hearing of Carnegie Hall, but I didn't know the story behind it.
Its amazing ... how, despite us not being in the "moment" when we were learning or attempting to stay awake with each of the teacher's lectures... we are probably having one of the experiences of life that will impact us forever.
A bit cheesy, I know. But perhaps it relates to LIFE in general as well! I mean, APUSH. It's going to remain relevant (until US gets out of power anyways...but that's out of my lifetime :). I think).
And my future is probably in the states. Very relevant.
Just hope I don't forget it.
#3 -- FINALLY getting the hang of APUSH
Labels:
APUSH Personal Experiences
Yea.
Well kind of.
It's still a very challenging course. I've got to say that A- is, well, the second to the best that anyone can hope for. With the new semester, greater expectations (always welcome), but also my own experiences with essay writing and efficiency in this course, I'll take a shot at that A.
So far going great.
However, with the latest. ... performances outside of school, I must say that this catch-up work is not what I need right now.
Hopefully I can do well on the upcoming essay!
Anyways, as I was catching up on my reading and notetaking I've discovered that my notes were strangely shorter than previous chapters, when the chapters were roughly of equal length. But then, my grades weren't falling.
Wow.
It seems like that in APUSH, you want to develop an effective filter. What do I mean by that? Well in The American Pageant for example, it is a college level textbook. The author is going to be directing the focus on college undergrads.
What does this mean? This means a jumble of metaphors, allusions that high schoolers seldom understand, vocabulary, as well as too much information. Then of course, you'll realize that there are just too many details that it's impossible to account for the unimportant ones. You'll need focus.
That's right. You'll want a filter that filters out all the above. Previously I wanted to know everything and felt really bad when I couldn't take a certain detail down. You'll want to be able to distinguish the important details from the unimportant ones ... unless of course, you are a super brainiac.
Before, I did attempt to account for all the details. But then reality pretty much socked me in the eye. It really was a better grade in APUSH and getting the larger concepts at hand, or an impaired understanding of the great themes and knowing small details that doesn't have a part in the big picture.
Big picture -- that's what you want to focus on. The themes.
If you see my notes, you can definitely see that they've changed much. They've decreased in length. The minor details that probably would only appear in trivia (darn, but I'm in the quiz team!) doesn't obscure/impede the person from realizing the big picture.
Now my notes are much more concise!
I love this. It did take me quite some time to get it so it's vital for all to understand it at first. Of course they did tell us to do that when we took our first APUSH class.
I didn't really get what they meant until now.
This is great! That's another obstacle removed :).
Well kind of.
It's still a very challenging course. I've got to say that A- is, well, the second to the best that anyone can hope for. With the new semester, greater expectations (always welcome), but also my own experiences with essay writing and efficiency in this course, I'll take a shot at that A.
So far going great.
However, with the latest. ... performances outside of school, I must say that this catch-up work is not what I need right now.
Hopefully I can do well on the upcoming essay!
Anyways, as I was catching up on my reading and notetaking I've discovered that my notes were strangely shorter than previous chapters, when the chapters were roughly of equal length. But then, my grades weren't falling.
Wow.
It seems like that in APUSH, you want to develop an effective filter. What do I mean by that? Well in The American Pageant for example, it is a college level textbook. The author is going to be directing the focus on college undergrads.
What does this mean? This means a jumble of metaphors, allusions that high schoolers seldom understand, vocabulary, as well as too much information. Then of course, you'll realize that there are just too many details that it's impossible to account for the unimportant ones. You'll need focus.
That's right. You'll want a filter that filters out all the above. Previously I wanted to know everything and felt really bad when I couldn't take a certain detail down. You'll want to be able to distinguish the important details from the unimportant ones ... unless of course, you are a super brainiac.
Before, I did attempt to account for all the details. But then reality pretty much socked me in the eye. It really was a better grade in APUSH and getting the larger concepts at hand, or an impaired understanding of the great themes and knowing small details that doesn't have a part in the big picture.
Big picture -- that's what you want to focus on. The themes.
If you see my notes, you can definitely see that they've changed much. They've decreased in length. The minor details that probably would only appear in trivia (darn, but I'm in the quiz team!) doesn't obscure/impede the person from realizing the big picture.
Now my notes are much more concise!
I love this. It did take me quite some time to get it so it's vital for all to understand it at first. Of course they did tell us to do that when we took our first APUSH class.
I didn't really get what they meant until now.
This is great! That's another obstacle removed :).
Entry #2 -- Continuing on w/ AP Socials?
Labels:
APUSH Personal Experiences
It comes the time for course requests. ...
And I signed up for AP Euro. But I'm now having doubts.
I'm analyzing the reasons why I really chose it -- 30% because it's my top AP social (though I don't think socials really reach out to me) ... 20% because I want to prepare for AP World History next year... and 10% for the challenge and the "taking an AP course for the sake of it" reason that I am now very guilty of ... perhaps 10% for the "need of a hard schedule", another reason I am ashamed of. The remaining 20% is that somewhere in there I'm hoping that I'll be able to get as much fun out of AP Euro as I did AP US.
The thing is, AP US History really appeals to me. It has an inspirational history. I knew that before I took it -- I knew that the ideals the US was found on was just something that I really wanted to know more about.
Plus, it'll be the prominent country for probably a few more decades. And it was the "gateway" AP, our first real taste of APs.
But I don't know. AP Euro -- European monarchs...countries I really have no connection to? I... don't feel the connection.
So I know I probably won't take AP Euro next year, or ever at all.
AP Econ? I would like to manage my money.
AP Comparative Government? Well let'see it's description...(this is from the CollegeBoard -- please don't talk about how I violated the copyright! Please please)
"The AP course in Comparative Government and Politics introduces students to fundamental concepts used by political scientists to study the processes and outcomes of politics in a variety of country settings. The course aims to illustrate the rich diversity of political life, to show available institutional alternatives, to explain differences in processes and policy outcomes, and to communicate to students the importance of global political and economic changes. Comparison assists both in identifying problems and in analyzing policymaking." ...
Hmm... it doesn't really jump out to me. But then again, I never even read the course description for APUSH. What was it again? Well it just says US history.
I don't know. It's time to assess my real interests. What am I currently taking? Well, I have AP Lang because blogging is great, and books such as The Grapes of Wrath is just inspirational.
(Sorry btw, this is completely NOT related to APUSH besides saying how great it is -- but I mean, even "all men are created equal" -- inspirational. Then again, I'm easily inspired. OBAMA! :D)
AP Bio because what is life without science?! AP Calculus because I definitely want to examine curvatures...from what I heard :).
Then comes the requirement for the AP Social. I guess I could take AP Economics in senior year, because now I see it as one of my top choices.
Blah!! I wish there are further courses just like APUSH.
Maybe it's my teacher. He's great. He's awesome awesome, the best history I've had so far.
Maybe if it's plain old history, I wouldn't have liked it as much? I don't know...
... well if I had to play the elimination game (and completely be pessimist in my view of the world), I would eliminate ... UGH. I can't decide!
I wish there was an APUSH v. 02, only it wasn't US History but something just as interesting, with a just as interesting teacher. I gotta say, I love The American Pageant the textbook too. It has the greatest voice -- it almost has a personality =P.
And I signed up for AP Euro. But I'm now having doubts.
I'm analyzing the reasons why I really chose it -- 30% because it's my top AP social (though I don't think socials really reach out to me) ... 20% because I want to prepare for AP World History next year... and 10% for the challenge and the "taking an AP course for the sake of it" reason that I am now very guilty of ... perhaps 10% for the "need of a hard schedule", another reason I am ashamed of. The remaining 20% is that somewhere in there I'm hoping that I'll be able to get as much fun out of AP Euro as I did AP US.
The thing is, AP US History really appeals to me. It has an inspirational history. I knew that before I took it -- I knew that the ideals the US was found on was just something that I really wanted to know more about.
Plus, it'll be the prominent country for probably a few more decades. And it was the "gateway" AP, our first real taste of APs.
But I don't know. AP Euro -- European monarchs...countries I really have no connection to? I... don't feel the connection.
So I know I probably won't take AP Euro next year, or ever at all.
AP Econ? I would like to manage my money.
AP Comparative Government? Well let'see it's description...(this is from the CollegeBoard -- please don't talk about how I violated the copyright! Please please)
"The AP course in Comparative Government and Politics introduces students to fundamental concepts used by political scientists to study the processes and outcomes of politics in a variety of country settings. The course aims to illustrate the rich diversity of political life, to show available institutional alternatives, to explain differences in processes and policy outcomes, and to communicate to students the importance of global political and economic changes. Comparison assists both in identifying problems and in analyzing policymaking." ...
Hmm... it doesn't really jump out to me. But then again, I never even read the course description for APUSH. What was it again? Well it just says US history.
I don't know. It's time to assess my real interests. What am I currently taking? Well, I have AP Lang because blogging is great, and books such as The Grapes of Wrath is just inspirational.
(Sorry btw, this is completely NOT related to APUSH besides saying how great it is -- but I mean, even "all men are created equal" -- inspirational. Then again, I'm easily inspired. OBAMA! :D)
AP Bio because what is life without science?! AP Calculus because I definitely want to examine curvatures...from what I heard :).
Then comes the requirement for the AP Social. I guess I could take AP Economics in senior year, because now I see it as one of my top choices.
Blah!! I wish there are further courses just like APUSH.
Maybe it's my teacher. He's great. He's awesome awesome, the best history I've had so far.
Maybe if it's plain old history, I wouldn't have liked it as much? I don't know...
... well if I had to play the elimination game (and completely be pessimist in my view of the world), I would eliminate ... UGH. I can't decide!
I wish there was an APUSH v. 02, only it wasn't US History but something just as interesting, with a just as interesting teacher. I gotta say, I love The American Pageant the textbook too. It has the greatest voice -- it almost has a personality =P.
How's APUSH?
Labels:
APUSH Personal Experiences
Perspective as of End of Semester 1:
So you are considering about taking APUSH. Or ditching APUSH O=. Or you don't know anything about APUSH, and just want an AP.
For those who already do not know, APUSH = Advanced Placement United States History (my, what a mouthful). For those who don't know what the AP is, first check out what its basics in the AP Info Section
So how's life like? Well, I'm currently a sophomore taking APUSH, and it is the only AP course I am taking "officially" (I am considering self-studying some other APs) -- officially, as in "in school". Even with that however, it is quite challenging.
I remember when I was a freshman and I had no idea what an AP is, having only really heard endless lectures of its difference with the IB program. We were told that we could sign up for one AP next year, and that was APUSH (our school is a bit weird in that it offers APUSH as a "gateway AP" as opposed to the AP Bio/AP Euro that other schools offer. Quite frankly, I agree with the other schools -- why start hard?).
"It'll kill you", the upperclassmen told you. "Really consider what you're getting yourself into", teachers added, with a hint of ominousity (animosity =P). Furthermore, it was a requirement that we had an A- or above in English and History. Gulp -- I barely passed the requirement.
Well, are those warnings true?
I could frustrate everyone and deliver the classic answer of "yes and no", but I'm afraid that while others use it to achieve the former, it is really the better answer for this question.
You've got to work hard. This may sound obvious. Oh, I'll just quickly BS my way through the essay and hand it in tomorrow morning.
See, there is such a thing as taking an AP just so you can get it "over with", but APUSH is not part of the same equation. Sure you can try it out. You'll just, I don't know. Get a C? In the first day of my APUSH class, my teacher proudly claims that she is teaching "one of the hardest APs, and the hardest History/Social Science AP there is". That doesn't scare us at all.
Yet they hold some truth in this, forming the "yes" part of this answer. Be warned: getting back your first grade in APUSH may shatter your dreams of a 4.0 or a high honor roll (non-weighted). As APUSH is a college-level course, as all APs are, teachers expect a lot more, in writing style, in homework load every day, in the quality of all the work. Where's the good news? Enough of the bad stuff.
Good news? Chances are, if you are considering any AP, you are somewhat, very, or extremely academically motivated. You deserve better, and with the high chances that you'll probably work your head off in APUSH anyways, you'll get better, both in personal skill, and in your future. Semester 1 is a trial, in semester 2 there's improvement. If you work hard, chances are you will not be disappointed wth your results, either short-term, long-term, or both. Yes, this may seem a bit contradictory to my previous "warnings" -- but that is just the first grade. Many of us will trip in the first few weeks, even the first quarter of school.
It's what you do to get back up, and I guess this also applies to all APs. You can get the grasp -- basically what I am saying is, APUSH is for those who work hard and I mean real hard.
Again, this sounds obvious, and what comes up will sound obvious. You must work hard and not procrastinate. You hear it from your friends, your parents, your teachers, maybe even yourself. The thing is, I have procrastinated before, and okay, I'll give you an idea of the homework (again, this varies from school to school) -- we read approximately 20 pages every night. And I don't mean the one night in between each classes, I mean 20 X 180 school days = approximately the amount of pages that the textbook American Pageant has.
I procrastinate before, and the pages caught up reaaal well. I ended up having to dedicate an entire weekend to finish approximately 100 pages of good reading. Nothing but history. The best!
Now you may be asking, well why can't I just dedicate a weekend for APUSH? It really depends on a) what you want in the course as well as b) how "skilled" you are in "cramming".
For a), if you want a B, then there's a different "workload" in a sense, that you'll have to do as opposed to getting a semester grade of A, where you will have to work ten times as hard. Again, as one that is viewing this blog entry, chances are you want that A. So in summary? Do not procrastinate because cramming is not effective. This leads to an "exception" of B.
There are some of us who can do it. We don't know how. They read the text book last night, and today they aced the test. For those of you who can do it, I do not suggest you try it; last year in 9th grade "regular" history, perhaps all of us employed this highly "useful" technique of last minute cramming. Some even went into the extreme of studying the morning of the test, or even taking their first glance at their notes right before a test.
In APUSH? Happens much less. There is the common "culture" floating around right now about how when we ask another peer "hey, did you study?", we almost expect a "oh my God I did not! I'm sooo dead". But didn't you just see them yesterday in that study group, testing each other in APUSH?
Not "cram" studying is better for you and for your grade.
You must not hate history - There will be facts. Facts facts, and more facts. There will be quotes, dates to remember. There won't be as much of the focus on battle specifics, but APUSH is "infamous" for its attention to detail.
Personally, I know my strength isn't in history but history has never bored me. It's very interesting to see how the United States today came to be that way, and we can learn why starting from its very beginning and before.
Now I know that many others do not share the same perspective. "Ugh, stupid Hamilton. Why did he have to make the stupid debt assumption scheme?" was a common phrase months ago when we were studying the early presidencies.
That's why it's not a "requirement" to "like" history, but a "requirement" not to "hate" it any more than the person above =P. Liking history would be a plus, as there will be a lot of information to know.
Note I do not say memorize, because history shouldn't be about memorizing. We should come to appreciate how each of the figures in history interacted and started a series of events which would lead to today. Is there memorizing? Yes. Buuuut it wouldn't benefit you here. You both shouldn't memorize, and can't really memorize and expect to get a good grade, especially with APUSH's emphasis on your understanding of "change over time" (in DBQs) as well as themes in essay questions.
So how's APUSH?
Not bad.
So you are considering about taking APUSH. Or ditching APUSH O=. Or you don't know anything about APUSH, and just want an AP.
For those who already do not know, APUSH = Advanced Placement United States History (my, what a mouthful). For those who don't know what the AP is, first check out what its basics in the AP Info Section
So how's life like? Well, I'm currently a sophomore taking APUSH, and it is the only AP course I am taking "officially" (I am considering self-studying some other APs) -- officially, as in "in school". Even with that however, it is quite challenging.
I remember when I was a freshman and I had no idea what an AP is, having only really heard endless lectures of its difference with the IB program. We were told that we could sign up for one AP next year, and that was APUSH (our school is a bit weird in that it offers APUSH as a "gateway AP" as opposed to the AP Bio/AP Euro that other schools offer. Quite frankly, I agree with the other schools -- why start hard?).
"It'll kill you", the upperclassmen told you. "Really consider what you're getting yourself into", teachers added, with a hint of ominousity (animosity =P). Furthermore, it was a requirement that we had an A- or above in English and History. Gulp -- I barely passed the requirement.
Well, are those warnings true?
I could frustrate everyone and deliver the classic answer of "yes and no", but I'm afraid that while others use it to achieve the former, it is really the better answer for this question.
You've got to work hard. This may sound obvious. Oh, I'll just quickly BS my way through the essay and hand it in tomorrow morning.
See, there is such a thing as taking an AP just so you can get it "over with", but APUSH is not part of the same equation. Sure you can try it out. You'll just, I don't know. Get a C? In the first day of my APUSH class, my teacher proudly claims that she is teaching "one of the hardest APs, and the hardest History/Social Science AP there is". That doesn't scare us at all.
Yet they hold some truth in this, forming the "yes" part of this answer. Be warned: getting back your first grade in APUSH may shatter your dreams of a 4.0 or a high honor roll (non-weighted). As APUSH is a college-level course, as all APs are, teachers expect a lot more, in writing style, in homework load every day, in the quality of all the work. Where's the good news? Enough of the bad stuff.
Good news? Chances are, if you are considering any AP, you are somewhat, very, or extremely academically motivated. You deserve better, and with the high chances that you'll probably work your head off in APUSH anyways, you'll get better, both in personal skill, and in your future. Semester 1 is a trial, in semester 2 there's improvement. If you work hard, chances are you will not be disappointed wth your results, either short-term, long-term, or both. Yes, this may seem a bit contradictory to my previous "warnings" -- but that is just the first grade. Many of us will trip in the first few weeks, even the first quarter of school.
It's what you do to get back up, and I guess this also applies to all APs. You can get the grasp -- basically what I am saying is, APUSH is for those who work hard and I mean real hard.
Again, this sounds obvious, and what comes up will sound obvious. You must work hard and not procrastinate. You hear it from your friends, your parents, your teachers, maybe even yourself. The thing is, I have procrastinated before, and okay, I'll give you an idea of the homework (again, this varies from school to school) -- we read approximately 20 pages every night. And I don't mean the one night in between each classes, I mean 20 X 180 school days = approximately the amount of pages that the textbook American Pageant has.
I procrastinate before, and the pages caught up reaaal well. I ended up having to dedicate an entire weekend to finish approximately 100 pages of good reading. Nothing but history. The best!
Now you may be asking, well why can't I just dedicate a weekend for APUSH? It really depends on a) what you want in the course as well as b) how "skilled" you are in "cramming".
For a), if you want a B, then there's a different "workload" in a sense, that you'll have to do as opposed to getting a semester grade of A, where you will have to work ten times as hard. Again, as one that is viewing this blog entry, chances are you want that A. So in summary? Do not procrastinate because cramming is not effective. This leads to an "exception" of B.
There are some of us who can do it. We don't know how. They read the text book last night, and today they aced the test. For those of you who can do it, I do not suggest you try it; last year in 9th grade "regular" history, perhaps all of us employed this highly "useful" technique of last minute cramming. Some even went into the extreme of studying the morning of the test, or even taking their first glance at their notes right before a test.
In APUSH? Happens much less. There is the common "culture" floating around right now about how when we ask another peer "hey, did you study?", we almost expect a "oh my God I did not! I'm sooo dead". But didn't you just see them yesterday in that study group, testing each other in APUSH?
Not "cram" studying is better for you and for your grade.
You must not hate history - There will be facts. Facts facts, and more facts. There will be quotes, dates to remember. There won't be as much of the focus on battle specifics, but APUSH is "infamous" for its attention to detail.
Personally, I know my strength isn't in history but history has never bored me. It's very interesting to see how the United States today came to be that way, and we can learn why starting from its very beginning and before.
Now I know that many others do not share the same perspective. "Ugh, stupid Hamilton. Why did he have to make the stupid debt assumption scheme?" was a common phrase months ago when we were studying the early presidencies.
That's why it's not a "requirement" to "like" history, but a "requirement" not to "hate" it any more than the person above =P. Liking history would be a plus, as there will be a lot of information to know.
Note I do not say memorize, because history shouldn't be about memorizing. We should come to appreciate how each of the figures in history interacted and started a series of events which would lead to today. Is there memorizing? Yes. Buuuut it wouldn't benefit you here. You both shouldn't memorize, and can't really memorize and expect to get a good grade, especially with APUSH's emphasis on your understanding of "change over time" (in DBQs) as well as themes in essay questions.
So how's APUSH?
Not bad.
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