AP Human Geography Summer Assignment

Welcome to AP Human Geography!

AP Human Geography is a college level course which encourages the development of critical thinking skills through the understanding, application, and mastery of the fundamental concepts of geography.  Academic expectations are high.  You are expected to read and process large volumes of material.  Many of the in-class writing assignments are timed so you will become accustomed to the constraints imposed by the AP examination.  This summer assignment is designed to be a review of foundational geography skills that you have learned in previous year combined with important skills you will use throughout the course of the year.  Much of the information should be familiar to you already.  The expectation is that you complete each of the following parts of the Summer Assignment INDEPENDENTLY as instructed below, you MAY NOT work with a friend on this particular assignment.  

Summer assignments should be handwritten. Should you lose your packet, all items can be printed from this website, or you may use your own paper. If you use your own paper, be sure to clearly label each response with the corresponding question. 

 If you have questions about the summer assignment please contact Mrs. Schoettlin at Kelly.Schoettlin@vbschools.com or Mrs. Windley at Chelsea.Windley@vbschools.com. 

1. Gather the following class supplies: Sturdy 3-ring binder (2+ inch), 12 binder dividers, plenty of loose leaf paper, highlighters, 24 colored pencils, pens, pencils, and at least 200 notecards size 3x5inches only.

2. Organize your course binder: AP Human Geography is an interesting course which is globally relevant.  In APHG, we will examine many of the issues, theories, and facts included in the topics below.  Neatly label your dividers with the following course topics and organize your binder.  Bring your organized binder on the first day of class. This will be checked!

• Regional Maps

• Thinking Geographically

• Population

• Migration

• Culture

• Politics

• Industry & Development

• Agriculture

• Urbanization

• Resources

• Exam Review

3. Complete the “Basic Geography Skills” Questions: As you would expect in a geography course, an important element of this class is maps!!  Analyzing maps requires an understanding of some basic geography skills.  Fortunately, in your time as student you have already learned most of these skills and the questions found in this section of the summer assignment should mostly contain information you already know.  Questions coincide with the PDF slideshow on this google site.  Please follow along with the slides and answer the questions as you go.

4. Complete the AP Human Summer Tic Tac Toe Activity: Students are asked to choose 3 activities to complete that make a "tic tac toe" on our board. This activity is meant to introduce you to the types of topics we will be discussing in AP Human Geography. It will also help you practice your FRQ writing skills by focusing on answering the prompts in accordance to the task verbs found in it. 

Suggested pacing: 25-40 minutes per activity choice (1.5-2 hrs total for tic-tac-toe)