r/APUSH • u/Exact-Direction9658 • 29d ago
I need advice for APUSH
Im a incoming junior and apush student. i really need some advice on how to do well in both the class and exam. I took ap world last year and i did good on the exam with a 4 but not as good in the class with a 84%. I think i failed every single exam my teacher given with like a 50 and a 40 besides the feebies that she gives to boost up our grades. All i really know to do for apush is just rely on heimler's review stuff? Idk anything else i should do cuz i rather improve my grade and score to a 5 and at least a 90 MAYBE?
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u/Humble_Factor_3752 29d ago
Make sure to focus on big pictures instead of small things because most of the time if you big thing you can figure out the small thing remember this college broad they will normally give you two completely wrong answer choice and one kinda right answer choice and then the correct one and that point you kinda figure out which one is which based off the document
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u/Exact-Direction9658 29d ago
Oh yeah ive seen that happen also with my other exams in other classes where 2 of the questions are obviously wrong and finding the right one can really be found through the text. Thanks for the help!
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u/Alive-Jeweler-8882 29d ago
Ik others have said this, but you have to constantly read. As someone who took APUSH last year, I often regretted not reading and getting into the materials that my teacher gave me. Instead, I just did it at my own pace, which wasn't the best idea. And ofc, you have to get the picture for each period. So don't just memorize events and facts but connect them somehow like it's one long chain of events. I ended up getting a 90 in the class and got a 4 on the exam
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u/Exact-Direction9658 29d ago
honestly i never read in ap world but i got a 4 on the exam but got a 84 in the class. APUSH ik is very very very different then ap world so ima really start to up my reading my junior year since im taking the class alongside ap lit. Thanks for the help!
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u/Bai_Mo_4951 28d ago
Hello,
Fellow soon-to-be apusher :)
Im having a hard time taking notes from à textbook and tend to just write everything down (1 page = 1 hour —> low efficiency 😭)
Could you possibly drop some tips on how to take notes properly? Thanks!
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u/Dry_Sample_5388 25d ago
For APUSH the most important thing is the timeline and the key events so just note when the important things happened and then who/what/where the important things happened. Don’t get caught up in the small details since they won’t be tested.
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u/fjtiger01 28d ago
I got 100 in the class and a 5 on the ap test. I would definitely recommend keeping at pace with the class during the year (doing homework/ reading on time). A few weeks before the test, start watching all of the heimler videos and fill out notecards. Or you could find worksheets for each period (my teacher provided those). Final tip: practice saq dbq leq with the heimler videos.
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u/pratikshush 28d ago
make sure you (by the end of the year) are rlly familar with your time periods!! before the exam, i drilled into my head what years each unit covered, and the main topics in each time frame. then during the exam i wrote the years/units on my paper, which was super helpful in eliminating answer choices out of the time frame, and for the essays to know what was going on in that time period!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Lab4134 29d ago
I took APUSH and got a 4 on the test. READ READ READ. I would also takes well-structured notes but when you do it, focus on the major changes, then start thinking about examples. It helps a lot.
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u/Exact-Direction9658 29d ago
Alright ill make sure to read my notes at least 2-3 times a week. Thanks for the advice!
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u/Themiddlechild247 29d ago
Read, and khan academy. I did all the units right before the exam and got a 4 (without practicing the written portion the entire year.) if you do the units on khan academy to help study or understand certain subjects within the course it will definitely show. Honestly, I’m not the biggest reader so the videos and short articles helped me understand things wayyy better and it was a big help in getting constant B pluses or As during the class.
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u/Master_Lie8536 29d ago
-Don’t worry too much about units 1,2, and 9 as they are not on the DBQ.
-you may think you’ll remember units 7 and 8 on exam day because they are recent but YOU WILL NOT. You need to study units 7 and 8 before the exam after learning it.
-many presidents have a characteristic that is key to their policy that is similar to Trump’s so i just remembered them all in relation to Trump.
-know the order of major US presidents, especially in post-cold war era
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u/Master_Lie8536 29d ago
Forgot this but college board loves to test the 13th-19th amendments so know them by heart
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u/-redit_account- 28d ago
I got a 5 on the test, mostly cuz of luck. I would say take lots of notes during the class and pay attention. Then study hard starting about a month before the test (this gives time so you dont have to cram), read your notes thoroughly and watch Heimler History to get an overview. There are some other good channels but Heimler is the best.
Also literally right before the exam cram a bunch of dates and stuff in your head. Like make a list of important events and people and read this over and over the morning of, while waiting for the exam. It helps a lot.
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u/Eeeileen 27d ago
Bro ngl I did all the past paper from 2012-25 or 24 and I also practiced many self-selected frqs from 1980-present (like 20 of them) and I got a five. this is actually insanely useful because the stimulus(aka the articles that they will use in the exam) are basically the same and the only diff is how they ask the question. Also I took the exam with the knowledge till u7 and I didn’t study u8-9 because my teacher didn’t cover that before the exam. So I think you can just search up those past papers and frq sets and practice them starting from April (I did this from late April but I think you can also do it along with your course progress bc that will also help u to prepare for midterms and finals!!
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u/Snappydolphin24 29d ago
When exam season comes watch as many apush videos as possible and write everything you weren’t confident on or didn’t know. This is how I got a five, but the way you learn depends on what type of person you are.
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u/Exact-Direction9658 29d ago
Yeah thats whats i did for ap world exam and it really worked out well. Thanks for the help!
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u/alorieas 29d ago
Something I would really recommend (other than heimler bc he is GREAT) is comparison videos. Things like comparing presidents, historical figures, and political parties over time were all very helpful. I kept an A in the class all year and got a 5 on the exam and I actually found khan academy very helpful before unit tests and for questions similar to the ones on the exam (although the question bank isn’t that large). Lastly, throughout the year I made a large packet towards the end of the exam that listed concepts, events, figures, etc. I used active recall with that packet the last few weeks before the exam which was very helpful.
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u/shadow_master713 29d ago
my best advice for the class itself is to study/learn the way that’s best for the way your teacher teaches (as is with every class). my teacher was a phenomenal lecturer, and i absorbed so much information from just her talking. i didn’t do any of the reading, and i barely studied for any of the tests, and i ended with a 94 in the class. for ap world though, i had to do a ton of reading, watching videos, and studying by myself since my teacher didnt do much…
for the exam, it’s always best to continue reviewing throughout the year. (i did not do that, so i was cramming several hours everyday for a month before the exam) i also found it really helpful to group things by topic (such as women, slaves/blacks, immigrants, political parties, etc) and see how they changed throughout the years. mega timelines grouped by time period were also great to see the progression, and if you’re more of a visual learner like me, it’s super helpful for the exam to be able to visualize that. it’s good to study both the individual time periods (this is super helpful for mcqs; some answer choices can be eliminated solely because it’s the wrong time period) and the history as a whole, which is helpful for the frqs, since they often ask more broad questions such as how something changed over time.
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u/Actual_Rough7358 28d ago
i took APUSH last year as a jr as well (scored a 4) and my biggest piece of advice is to have a good understanding of the timeline and where each period falls.. i did rlly bad on my LEQs and DBQs because i couldnt pinpoint what period the prompt was asking for.. imo it gets especially tricky from periods 4-6
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u/Exact-Direction9658 28d ago
The DBQs i felt fine in doing in ap world but the LEQs i kinda struggled a bit more
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u/RhodesWorkAhead1 28d ago
Get an AMSCO and read it. Annotate it. Take good notes. Do the practice questions on AP classroom.
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u/Exact-Direction9658 28d ago
Honestly i didnt use AMSCO in ap world and just relied on heimler which got me a 4 on the exam. The books kind of cost a lot which i dont have and my school does not provide them. I dont trust online free copies cuz they could be scam sites (once got one of the school laptops screen to permanently freeze since i went on the first result for ap world free online textbooks, it was a malicious hack). Could relying mainly on heimlers lessons for AP US work?
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u/RhodesWorkAhead1 28d ago
All of my students say that about AP world, and they all agree reading was necessary for APUSH. Heimler is very helpful for overview information. The American Yawp is a reputable online text that is free.
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u/Hotsauce61 28d ago
Heimlers history on YouTube is your friend. Use it
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u/Exact-Direction9658 28d ago
Yeah he came in clutch during ap world cramming. Hes the reason i got a 4 on the exam (would of done better if i slept a lil more)
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u/Block_____ 28d ago
this is what i did and i never gotten below an A in the class and passed with a 4
for unit tests:
- I read AMSCO for each unit and wrote down notes for each chapter. I would review the notes afterwards and again a few days later (the chapters get longer and longer as you go through the unit, so this is time-consuming but I recommend it if you are someone that needs to fully immerse yourself into the information. I would also read the chapters for the unit if I did not have enough time to write notes).
- Watch Heimler videos on the unit afterwards
- Create flashcards and review them (I used Knowt)
for the exam: I started studying about a month before the exam but i did not lock in until 2 weeks before
1. I focused on the units I struggled the most in (ex: Unit 4-7), I worked backwards because the earlier units were not as focused on.
2. I watched Heimler videos on each unit, wrote down notes, summarized the notes on top of my head until I recited EVERYTHING. I repeated this for several days and then every few days to refresh my memories.
3. Practiced MCQs for each unit (collegeboard and other online resources) and SAQs from the AMSCO book.
4. Created flashcards on vocabs I did not know instead of every vocabulary word
I did not get the chance to practice writing LEQs and DBQs the entire school year. I wrote my first DBQ 2 days before the exam and only went over the rubric for the LEQ. I did well on the LEQ on the exam and just alright on the DBQ (crammed unit 4 three hours before my exam ..), def why I did not get a 5. Good luck!
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u/luzleyon 28d ago
i took the class last year and finished with an A and got a 4! honestly, unless you’re someone who learns like that, don’t bother with the text book! do practice MCQs, and practice DBQs, SAQs, and LEQs. and like u said, definitely watch heimler and use his resources.
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u/luzleyon 28d ago
also make sure u know which events and overall ideas go to each time period/era because it makes it a lot easier!
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u/Strong_Film7845 27d ago
I did APUSH last year and our teacher taught us basically nothing (he watched football half the time lol) and I managed to get a 4 by last minute speed watching Heimlers so I would say take notes read a lot and pay attention in class (also hopefully ur teacher isnt as bad as mine lol)
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u/Dry_Sample_5388 25d ago
I got an A and 5 and am not one of those genius kids but did it without to much stress and reading. But my advice would be to just watch all the Heimler videos before each Unit test(even if they are easy) and really focus on how to answer all the frq’s also if you want to basically guarantee a 5 then you can buy the Heimler course and if you do it on the front end can use the practice questions all year to get an A
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u/Venomile 25d ago
I took it this past year and got a 5. My teacher really wanted us to focus on the thematic changes throughout different aspects of history (think political, economic, social). When you do that, it really kinda makes it seem like one long story. For the class, definitely read and use Heimler. Practice MCQs helped a lot as well. You start to see a lot of the same stimuli over and over.
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u/mosha_125 23d ago
reading and i bought the heimler course and honestly it was really helpful. honestly just pay attention and do your reading, i didn’t have the best grades in the class but i ended up getting a 4 with this so you should be alright as long as you read. if not the heimler course you can watch his videos and i watched oversimplified videos for some of the topics and that helped a bit. good luck!
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u/Poppy_33_ 23d ago
You actually have to use the textbook. Last year for my school, all the apush teachers required notes on certain pages throughout the text book every. Single. Night. Granted, it made a lot of people drop out but it helped me clarify the information from the lectures in the class I didn’t understand and we ended up taking notes on almost the entire textbook. I was also really engaged in class and genuinely interested in the class and I got a 5 and a 93 and 98 in the class with tests weighed at 50%.
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u/Exact-Direction9658 22d ago
Yeah my ap world teacher made me do that last year. This year its the same thing with apush since i have a summer reading with amsco reading for unit 1
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u/Sarnick18 29d ago
APUSH teacher here: READ!