#apush help

[that-was-awkward]

Not sure how helpful this will be, but for those of you worried about not having enough time to properly plan and write the DBQ today, this is an outline my teacher suggested we use, as well as some starters for the HIPP statements to shave off a few minutes and make putting the argument together a little easier. Good luck to everyone taking exams, I’m rooting for you! ❤️

[studynwrite]

My Exam Score: 5

Let me preface all of this by saying that my perspective on this course is coming from someone who is very much a humanities person and who had already taken an AP History (World) before taking this course. That said, let’s begin.

So, unlike AP World, APUSH requires you to know a lot of very specific details about history; among the things that you might need to know, for example, are the year the cotton gin was invented, and by whom, (1791; Eli Whitney), what president and party passed the Alien & Sedition Acts (Adams; Federalist), what caused a split between suffragettes and abolitionists (the 15th Amendment), so on and so forth. This was definitely the part of this course that was the hardest for me. I already had experience with the historical thinking skills thanks to World and I feel I’m pretty good at thinking in the big picture of the themes of APUSH (again, similar to World, though APUSH has many more themes than World did), but learning all of the very specific details was difficult.

All of that said, my biggest tip for anyone in APUSH is, as my teacher would lovingly yell at us during class, know your content. If you don’t take the time to learn the facts of history (like those mentioned previously), you will struggle through connecting historical periods or historical themes, and that is truly the crux of APUSH (and AP history in general). 

Aside from just memorizing facts, though, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for the exam is to practice reading and analyzing historical sources (for APUSH these won’t be any older than the 15th century, but a bulk of what you see will be post-revolution). Understanding historical documents is necessary for the multiple choice, the short answer questions, and the DBQ (especially the DBQ). The best way to practice would be to either find a quizlet or something with a list of documents and their meanings or through the official College Board scoring guidelines for the exams--every year there is a detailed breakdown of every document from the year’s DBQ, thought I don’t think this will hold true for the 2020 exams.

Further, I will always preach that reading the Chief Reader Reports from exams will do wonders for your score; in the report there is a breakdown of knowledge gaps for nearly every period featured on the exam. With this, I recommend reading the breakdown of each FRQ and the example FRQs given. All of this can be found on the AP Central website.

I would also recommend using Fiveable, a platform made for AP studying; Quizlet (just search for APUSH and a multitude of options for studying will come up); Khan Academy; and Albert.io, which is a paid program that I used for World (Not, APUSH) that is definitely worth it if you can afford it (or maybe ask your teacher/school about getting it for the school--that’s how I used it for World!).

Really, APUSH comes down to your memory, your ability to connect ideas together, and your ability to articulate both of those skills in writing. A good practice would be to take major events/people/ideas from the course and sort them into the various themes that are presented in APUSH, and maybe even try to connect them using historical thinking skills as well. 

That’s all I have to say! If you have any questions about APUSH/AP History/AP Classes & Exams in general feel free to ask me! 

(Though I will be making similar posts for English Language & Composition and Biology so)

Much love & Good Luck in APUSH!

Colby <3

Resources:

APUSH AP Central Page

APUSH Course & Exam Description

APUSH 2019 Scoring Guidelines

APUSH 2019 Chief Reader Report

Heimler’s History DBQ Guide

Jocz Productions (Really Good APUSH Review Videos!)

Fiveable

Albert

Quizlet

[ireallyneedaintrestinglife]

Any review tips

Anyone have any last minute tips to study or things to know for the APUSH test....

[spooky-cay-blog]

APUSH resources

Disclaimer: None of these are mine, these are just all the documents that I have found that should help me for this class, because it’s probably going to be one of the most challenging ones. 

Powerpoint of student advice:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17QVjJZPTuY-H_QFW1EIXsG_DaVX84mdRjFFNqe104Xw/edit?hl=en#slide=id.gc74758bd_0365

AP History Rubrics:

https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/rubrics-ap-histories-historical-thinking-skills.pdf

Exam Info:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/2089.html

[bashfullynerdy]

AP US History (APUSH) Advice and More AP on My Blog

Link to more help here!: http://www.bashfullynerdy.tumblr.com/study-help

Here is a bunch of information that I have collected, from experience, for the AP US History Exam (as well as things to help for the class).

Books That Help:

Crash Course AP US History: This book is great for short review sessions and can be found practically anywhere. However, I found a link, which is below.

5 Steps To A 5: great for review

Princeton Review AP US History: This is the book that I primarily used and it was great! This book is great for reviewing a lot of material, since you must know tons for the exam.

Barron’s AP US History Flashcards: I got these pretty late, but these flashcards are great for reviewing and practicing quick recall. These are kind of expensive, so if you can’t buy them, ask around from people who had the class before or even the teacher (I know my APUSH teacher had tons of flashcards, so your teacher might too!)

Tips:

Review often for this exam, since it is heavy on knowing material such as dates and events. By reviewing notes, books, etc, it will help you remember things and be able to recall them faster during the exam.

Actually read the textbook! I know, it might suck, but it will help you in the long run.

Practice pre-released questions, or even questions in the books above! I suggest Princeton Review, since it had questions that were similar to the exam.

Multiple Choice: For MC section, it’s SUPER important to know your stuff, so having material to review/reviewing them often will help (this might sound repetitive, but for APUSH, it is one of those classes that you need to know specific details)

FRQ: The FRQ section is where you need to show what you know! When given the question, it is not important to have amazing sentences to make it “sound good”. AP Graders really care about if you know it or not, so skip the fluff and write the material. Plus, try to add material that will support the answer; it’s not just write everything you know, it actually has to pertain to the question!

APUSH is one of those classes that you need to know your material on specific dates and events, so stressing and procrastinating might not help for recall.

Overall, (with any AP Classes), DON’T STRESS! You know the material :)

Links:

1. List of all AP Books! (APUSH is in there, but there are also other books if needed!) https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Byxoof4V9z7lM28xUmlXSWsyanc&usp=sharing

2. The Crash Course Book (suggested) https://www.killeenisd.org/teacherDocs/c2/e24908/documents/APCrashCourseBook-125870.pdf

3. Crash Course Videos! Great review material, and fun to watch (well, as much fun as US History can get) https://youtu.be/6E9WU9TGrec?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s

4. AP Study Notes: great for review https://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/

5. Course Notes: TONS of material (not only for APUSH). Plus, if you click the notes section, it will take you to a list of Textbooks. Click your textbook and it will have notes for every chapter. If your textbook is not listed, I recommend using “American Pageant 11th Edition” (this is the one I used and it was super helpful!)

http://www.course-notes.org/US_History

6. Great Tumblr page by “apbymichelle” with tons of APUSH material (as well as other AP classes!) http://apbymichelle.tumblr.com/apush

[studiousattent]

APUSH Help

I need a good AP US History (or any U.S History) studyblr to follow, or a studyblr with great APUSH resources/tags!

Thanks all! :)

[gracefullydisgracing]

Any others out there taking APUSH?

[mimstudies]

apush tips

throughout the year

remember that apush is more detail oriented than other ap histories

take really good notes

try to recognize common themes and major turning points

practice writing essays/dbqs/short answers a lot (your teacher should take care of this in class hopefully)

crash course it out

review

start studying two-ish months before the exam (if your class is on track, you should start studying when the teacher starts reviewing)

review in reverse so that you can better understand historical causality and the last thing you study will be what you learned in august/september

buy a box of flashcards (barron or 5 steps) 

do lots of practice tests, at least one of which should be done in a realistic setting (at a desk, in the morning, timed, all parts of the test)

i really love the ap us history crash course book by larry krieger to read the last couple days before the exam because it’s got the simplified information and lots of helpful hints

don’t study the night before the exam -- relax

general

know your periods (reconstruction, great depression, gilded age, etc)

change and continuity over time!!! (slavery >> civil rights // republican motherhood >> 1970s women’s lib)

don’t memorize every battle of every war just know really important ones/turning points

please please please use synthesis when writing essays it’s one sentence worth a full point seriously even if you think it’s a terrible synthesis WRITE IT DOWN

while on the topic of writing, learn how to write an apush-specific thesis it is the foundation for your entire essay/dbq

don’t get too scared of dbqs they literally do half the work for you all you have to do is line up the documents and add a bit of background information/a few examples

you can do this. study, do the work, and breathe. it’s all going to turn out fine.