I took APUSH last year and I got an A in the class and a 5 on the exam so I thought I would share some tips and resources!
For me, the key to the class was learning the information from different formats. I took notes from my textbook, underlined review books, and watched online videos. It’s more interesting that way and you also get different ways of connecting the information which is helpful for essays.
5 Steps to a 5- This book will read like your textbook. You won’t need to know everything in the book and it’s dense compared to other review books but it is helpful for reviewing the information.
Crash Course REA- Many of my friends swore by this book and I can see why. It tells you only what you need to do well on the test in an outline format, so it’s really easy to read. I really liked that it had a section where it traced different themes of American history.
Barron’s- The Barron’s book is the compromise between 5 steps to a 5 and Crash Course REA. It’s written out in short paragraphs and has more information than Crash Course.
Choose your review book(s) based on how much time you have to use them. I used them whenever I was confused on a topic and right before the exam. I would underline and annotate.
Adam Norris- He covers everything, including most APUSH textbooks.
Crash Course US History with John Green- These videos are more entertaining than Adam Norris’ and less focused on the details. They are good for identifying patterns and causes for different events.
Tom Richey- Tom Richey doesn’t have that many videos compared to the other channels but the videos he does have explain things really well.
Khan Academy- I didn’t use the Khan Academy resources for APUSH as much as I probably should have. Their videos follow topics along a timeline which is good for learning the chronology of events.
I just watched these videos while I was doing other things but it could be helpful to take notes from Adam Norris, Tom Richey, or Khan Academy. (Crash Course videos are less detail oriented so it wouldn’t help as much.)
Read the rubrics for the essays.
Practice under the time constraints of the real test.This is really important. If you need an extra five minutes for each of the two essays, that could mean losing a body paragraph on one of them.
Take at least one practice test from a review book before the exam, especially if you’re not used to taking tests that last 3 hours. But don’t take any the week leading up to the exam. You’ll get freaked out if you don’t get a good score.
Practice making outlines for essays. This really tests how well you know the information. Look here and here for essay prompts. You should be able to make an outline for an LEQ in less than 5 minutes and a DBQ in less than 10 minutes.
Read the essay question three times! You don’t want to be writing the wrong essay.
For the DBQ, read the question, brainstorm, and then read the documents. It helps you think about the outside information that needs to be included in the essay.
Make sure you know a general chronology for US History and the decades in which wars and movements happened.
Listen to Hamilton! It’s motivating and helps you remember the Revolutionary Era.
Try to like US History. It’s an important class. It really puts into context the things that happen today. US History also features dancing celibates, how LBJ got bills to pass, and a CIA attempt to destroy a beard.
