Test - 4 Weeks

HOW TO STUDY FOR THE AP EXAM AT TEST-4 WEEKS

1. We will be having reviews; you will be responsible for knowing material when we do things – like putting events in order, connecting related ideas, peoples, societies, etc. I will be giving you some sheets – people to know, societies to know, events/dates to know and terms to know. Divide and conquer with your friends on these, I hope to post them on sporcle or quizlet or on a wiki-type site.

2. Make sure you know your basic eras - look at the big picture notes for each of our units, Strayer and Stearns have some nice overviews to their units in their books as well. Also the era review sheets. Basic understanding of chronology is key!

3. Study your regions - you have the regions map. Also take time to familiarize yourself with the major cities (on one of the map handouts) and to skim over the maps across times.

4. Know your basic belief systems. Think of rules, similarities and differences

5. Looking at the art PowerPoints (on EdLine) would be very useful for this endeavor. You will not need to identify works by name, but rather by civilization/society/belief system.

WHAT IF I STILL CAN’T FINISH AN ESSAY?

  • You need to do practice essays. Lots of them! Really practice makes perfect, or at least faster.
  • Do the potential Comparative and CCOT essays on my website. Keep doing them until you can complete the task in less than 40 minutes, ideally 30 (you will want more time on the DBQ).
  • I have several DBQs I can hand out (you also have DBQs that we did not write full DBQs for in the paste. Do them. Again if you want to give yourself more than 50 minutes to start with, that is fine, but get to the point that you are completing them in 50 minutes (if you have more time super).

WHAT IF I CAN’T WRITE ESSAYS?

  • I will be having some after school sessions in April and early May per request on Tuesdays for those needing help in essays. If you can’t make it on a Tuesday, let me know in advance an alternative day that would work for you so I can make child care arrangements.
  • If you are unclear about how to do certain essays first go back over the handouts you have received. (If you have lost them go to EdLine, they are on there.) Read them carefully and email or write me the questions that you have on them. I need specific areas that are giving you concern, not simply ‘I don’t get it.’ I will not allow you to come to the sessions until we get specific questions/concern from you.

WHAT ELSE?

  • If we have time we will also be doing PowerPoint reviews of certain themes, feel free to request some, I can post them on EdLine too.
  • Stay healthy and well-rested!

TO REMEMBER DURING THE EXAM (try during the next Practice Test)

1. Have a watch and keep track of the time.

2. Don’t talk during the instruction period or during the exam, they can and will give you a ‘0’ or kick you out from the exam! And you will not be able to do anything about it.

3. While doing the multiple-choice section, go through it quickly first and see which ones you can answer without hesitating. Then go through and take a little longer. If you can, go through it a third time and address the questions that were giving you problems. You need to make the call on which ones to guess and which ones to leave blank (but guess during the practice).

4. Make sure you have an excellent eraser Staedler or Pentel – Hi-Polymer or the ones that look like clear plastic almost.

5. While doing your essays, read all three and decide which one you would like to do first and hit that one first (it does not necessarily have to be the DBQ first and is generally best to leave that one for last).

6. Try to finish the CCOT and C&C within 30 minutes each, you want more than 40 minutes than to do the DBQ.

7. Make sure you leave some space between essays and number/letter them as directed. This way if you need to you can go back at the end and write more if you still have time.

8. They will only suggest that you move onto your next essay, they have no real way to enforce this, but at the end of time for all three, you have to hand in the booklet.

9. Keep calm, you will do fabulously!!!