AP Euro
Okay, here’s how I did very well in AP Euro with Mr. Whelan and the AP.
Studying for the AP
Uh, I’m just gonna tell you what I did, which was probably overboard, but whatever.
“Buyer Beware”/Randoms
- READ THE TEXTBOOK. Yeah, skipping the textbook reading and just using the already filtered through History Sage or my chapter outlines might get you through the year, but come AP time, you will not have developed any speed reading or critical reading skills. Time is crucial on the AP. Trudging through the textbook (McKay! <3) is completely worth it, even if at first it takes you literally 4 hours for 10 pages. The learning curve is steep, but it makes you a better reader and is definitely one of the reasons my critical reading score on the SAT jumped so much this year (like a little over 100 points)
- Reading chapters 30 and 31 is a waste of time, because History Sage is much better organized for those.
- FILL OUT THESE OUTLINES: http://college.cengage.com/history/west/mckay/western_society/8e/prepare/outlines/ch01.html
- TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES. Again, you should use my chapter outlines and History Sage for clarification or if you’re in a pinch, but taking your own notes will teach you how to organize information and to understand what is and isn’t important. The more time and effort you spend on doing something, the more you’ll remember it.
- OUTLINE ALL THE ESSAYS. If you’ve got the time (I know some of you nerds are taking like 3 APs already), put the work in for all the essays, even if you know it’s likely you’ll only get half of them. This will help you vomit information and is a good review for whatever test you’ve got coming up.
- QUESTION BANK QUESTION BANK QUESTION BANK. The links are posted below. I’ve seen some of the questions pop right up on his exams, but some of the questions are bad. But the more you practice with dumb wording, the easier it gets. You might want to time yourself with the questions if you have a problem with time management on tests.
http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/faculty/bnewmark/EUROQuizzes.html
http://www.historyteacher.net/APEuroCourse/EHAPQuizMainPage.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/ap/reviewques.html - Over spring break, read chapter 29 in advance and take notes. Don’t bother reading the textbook for 30 and 31. Just use History Sage. It’s better organized.
- TESTS. Uh, I just did the reading when I was supposed to, took good notes, reviewed flash cards and did the bulk of studying for tests the night before :b but I was only taking one AP in school and was not taking science research lawl, so you gotta plan out your time.
Studying for the AP
Uh, I’m just gonna tell you what I did, which was probably overboard, but whatever.
- I started 6 weeks in advance, covering about three chapters a week.
- I printed out all of my chapter outlines, read through them and took notes on my notes.
- I furiously read through all of History Sage and took notes on that too.
- Under AP Specific Review, you’ll see a document called AP Euro Essay Questions. I found 100 or so essay questions and practiced vomiting information at them by outlining them. I did them as I reviewed their respective chapters, so it was just additional reinforcement.
- I did not use any review books, but you can ask around other upperclassmen what review books they liked. Instead, I used History Sage for clarification :b
- I did take a day off to study for AP Euro, but it wasn’t worth it. Haha, I had nothing left to study so I was just mad bored at home lawl.
- Take a good look at the essay rubrics.
- so that means you need to have three point of views for the DBQ and such
“Buyer Beware”/Randoms
- My chapter outlines, especially the early chapters, are too detailed. You really don’t need to know all of the bolded terms or even most of the details. :b
- I never actually studied from the notes posted above. I extracted the most important information and studied those.
- History Sage also gets too detailed sometimes, but I forgot which chapters in particular were really just too much. I remember Renaissance was artist overload, but it was good when you needed to memorize a few artists in case of an essay.
- History Sage is better organized for chapters 30 and 31 though.
- The vocabulary flashcards you can find at Quizlet under twilightauroramist are also overboard. You should probably make your own with the most important people and really memorize those over the year.