So you’ve decided to summon up the courage and take on APUSH1 (Advanced Placement US History 1) as a sophomore? Or maybe, you can’t decide whether to take it or not? APUSH1 is usually, at least in my school here in Jersey, the first AP you can take. It may be a bit unnerving taking on your first AP class ever, but your teacher will understand that the transition from regular/honors level classes to an AP level class can be difficult and you’ll start off easy. Based off of my experience, here is what you can expect next year:
Lectures
Bid the days of partner-work au revior, because your teacher will be giving lectures instead. At first, it may be extremely annoying sitting there, head down and furiously scribbling notes across your paper as your teacher lectures almost non-stop, but as you will find out like I did, there is no need to write down every single word or detail. As the year goes on, your daily notes should shrink down to a reasonable length. I remember that I used to take five to six pages of notes daily in my APUSH1 class and it didn’t help that I have block scheduling in my school (84 minutes of each class, 4 periods a day), but towards the end I took three to four pages front and back. Pay attention and if your teacher doesn’t usually bother using the whiteboard and if he/she happens to write something on it, write it down as well because it is obviously important.
Relatively Few Grades
There are relatively few ‘easy’ grades (aka classwork/partnerwork) to boost up grades and therefore, a heavy percentage (for me it’s 75%) of your marking period average is placed on essays. There were three kinds of essays my teacher gave- DBQ’s, homework essays or in class essays. Your teacher may or may not give you the questions to DBQ’s, which are document based questions, but you will probably be able to find them on the internet or at course-notes.org. My teacher gave us 50 minutes to complete an essay, which was just enough time and the more essays you write, the faster you will be able to churn out a fabulous essay to hand in when time is up.
Emphasis on Writing
With that in mind, your ability to analyze documents and form a cohesive thesis will be tested throughout the year. AP level writing greatly differs from honors level and regular level writing because you must be able to present your thesis clearly and stick to your thesis throughout your essay while including vocabulary terms from the time period and being able to analyze the cause and effect relations that are relevant to your topic. It sounds like a lot, but it gives you excellent practice for the AP Exam you take in May of your junior year and it gives you a chance to polish your skills for the SAT essay. It, for me, was a great way to wrap up each chapter because it forced me to write about the majors themes of each topic.
An Actually Competent Teacher
Have you ever had one of those teachers that were crazily paranoid or just seemed all over the place? You know, the kind that your class reduced him/her to tears on a weekly basis? Ever had one of those teachers that you drew pictures of in your binder with a monster eating him/her? Not anymore. Your AP teacher HAS to be exceptional at his/her job if he/she is teaching a class equivalent to that of a college course. In fact, my AP history teacher is the first teacher I actually ENJOYED having. My class had thirty kids in it and we were loud, crazy and sometimes frightening. Rest assured, you’ll be getting the cream of the crop teacherwise.
All in all, I highly suggest that those of you who have been recommend to take on the challenge that is APUSH1 to take it because it is well worth your time to push yourself and your writing abilities. If you do decide to take the course, there are a few things to make your life easier:
Keep Your Notes in One Place
I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep your notes legible and in one place because not only will you need your notes for next year for reference, you will absolutely need it to review for the AP Exam so don’t throw them out! You may also be given the luxury of open notes essays in the start of the year, so it will be you your benefit to have you notes in place and in order. And no matter how boring the lecture may be, stay awake and refrain from doodling or doing work for other classes.
Try Not to Sleep
You can sleep during your art class or doze off during lunch. You can’t afford to miss a period of notes and important information. This isn’t an easy class and it won’t be easier if you sleep through it.
Get to Know Your Teacher
Class will be a lot more fun if your class has a good relationship with your AP teacher. Find out what he/she likes, crack jokes, make fun of each other (in a non-insulting way)and just get to know each other!
Keep Up On You Own
There are some benefits to taking APUSH1. For one, there isn’t much daily homework to do. No outlines, no nothing except for handouts your teacher will give you as supplement to his/her lecture. However, if you find yourself struggling with understanding a lesson or need extra material to prepare for an essay, read those handouts! It may also not be mandatory to read your textbook (The American Pageant) every night but it can be to your advantage to look it over from time to time for extra supplement. Finally, in my class, all work was due at the end of the marking period, so if someone happened to ‘forget’ his/her essay on the day it was due, they had until the end of the marking period to turn it in. If you become lazy with writing homework essays, you may suddenly find yourself backed up with multiple essays all at once.
Pre-Plan DBQ’s/Essays
If you’re given the documents to a DBQ without the essay question, go home and start Googling “[insert topic here] dbq” and search for the essay question or you can look for help at course-notes. All the DBQ’s you will get have to be past DBQ’s from the AP Exam and therefore must be floating around somewhere on the Internet. Once you’ve found out the essay question, read over the documents, open up Word, plan out your essay and memorize it. This will save you precious time in class on the day you have to write the DBQ. Anytime you’re given an opportunity to plan out an essay, take it because you can come into class prepared and increase your chances of getting a decent grade. There’s nothing worse than sitting there and listening to the sound of your classmates’ pens scrawl across their paper while you sit there with nothing to write about. For your AP exam, you will be given a DBQ to take without any prior knowledge as to what it is about, so consider this practice.
While it is a challenge on many levels, there are ways to make APUSH1 easier by reading the extra handouts, reviewing notes, and pre-planning any essays that you can. It may be difficult to adjust to lecture type teaching, but it’s great prep for college. I was really nervous to take APUSH1 because everyone told me it was difficult and that I’d have to write essays all the time but it turned out that it became my favorite class. Keep an open mind and don’t back out of the class no matter what scary stories you’re told. If you were recommended, then obviously you are able to take the challenge!
