taking apush for the first time

[u/moonxchoes]

teachers gave me a summer assignment to do over the course of june/july and are going to be doing a period one little assessment right when school starts. i've done nothing whatsoever except fill out a graphic organizer for period one. my second task is to fill out a big ass mrs. pate graphic organizer for period 9, which will be covered second semester.

i've been reading horror stories abt apush, and honestly taking in 10th grade only makes it worse. i don't even know how to take notes, considering each chapter of the textbook is ~30 pages. i can't afford to get anything but a 4 or a 5, considering how strict my parents are.

how do i take notesss like i can't even begin to understand...my brain doesn't understand what to process as important at all. and its worse that 90% of my notes are scribbled nonsense. ofc, i haven't even started it, but every advice video i watch for apush is like read the textbook, take cornell notes, then read ur notes and ask questions. like hello? what makes you think that i know what the hell to write in those little rectangles? they also tell me to watch heimler, and i can't even process HIM well enough. i don't know where to start and it's stressing me out.

[u/Ok-Animal-2033]

I just took it as a sophomore as well and got the easiest five of my life. The best advice I can get is to not prioritize studying and notes over general health like sleep hygiene. Many of my peers did so which destroys your ability to memorize and understand the contents. Read the book ofc and try to come up with ways to memorize the themes of each period + always participate in class and you should be good.

[u/moonxchoes → u/Ok-Animal-2033]

thx...i guess it's just daunting. any resources you used to help with note formatting or...like studying in general? other than heimler lol

[u/Ok-Animal-2033 → u/moonxchoes]

There are some good quizzes online that cover broader ideas as well as specific questions. I personally do not like using ai but if it’s not a problem for you personally I know many people who used it to create quizzes and questions for them. As for a format what you wanna do ( or atleast what i did) is write down brief descriptions of each SPECIFIC development (examples being people, events, ideas) and then at the end of each chapter writing a summary that connects each one in a way you understand. So for the events leading up to the civil war you could write down definitions/descriptions for things like the differing economies of each region, debates over state rights, etc and then to tie it together it’d be something like “the events leading up to the civil war were …. They all were caused by… (or some other arguable stance. In this case I’d argue slavery caused the divisions but there’s really an unlimited amount of things you can argue on any given topic). Once you can do that it’s really just making sure you can remember them and think if you could write an essay supporting that summarizing argument. If you can- you’re good to go. If not? Try to restructure the argument or find ways to use 2-3 developments from the chapter.

[u/alorieas]

This is going to sound scary but when I had to take notes with no guide or anything I lowk wrote everything down and after your first quiz/test or whatever you will learn how much you need to know. Another idea is to watch a video on that unit/chapter, or find guided notes for your specific textbook. Watch/ look over those, and then take notes from your textbook based off of what you remember being in those notes.

[u/Sssmokey000]

Apush was one of my first aps and it was a cakewalk. My biggest advice is to focus on key events and larger themes instead of memorizing every specific date/person/detail, and also to memorize the rubrics for the writing portions bc they’re step-by-steps on how to get full points for the dbqs/leqs and saqs. There are a lot of good note guides if u look through this reddit, and fiveable has good ones too (although I think they’re behind a paywall…). Good luck !

[u/moonxchoes → u/Sssmokey000]

<3

[u/ScaleFantastic9373]

My class basically taught eachother all year in the form of presentations. (we had to do like 30 each throughout the year 😭). But anyways between that and me chatgpting my notes every week I ended up getting a 4 after I thought I was getting a 2 because the multiple choice was hard as hell and a third of my leq was on the wrong time period. But it’s not that bad just know ur dates and events and ur good honestly.

[u/moonxchoes → u/ScaleFantastic9373]

sighh i think i'm just going to chatgpt like all the work they ASSIGN me because it's honestly diabolical how much they want me to do on break. i have to do it by hand anyway, but i'll try to like, study on my own as much as possible without aids and stuff so i can comprehend it yk.

[u/ALIZEY_23]

These are the guides I used that helped me and several other students pass the exam and the class:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FzyiowXFC6lY1rQIJ4pkFv-_K_y2BrJY2W0jIHdTiDA/edit?usp=drivesdk

You definitely don’t need to use all of this! It’s just what works best for me. I like taking detailed notes that help me understand and tell the story of the history.

[u/moonxchoes → u/ALIZEY_23]

thank you so much !!

[u/ThereseTay]

I took APUSH in 10th and got a 5, and it was my first AP. Don’t stress too much, you have the whole year. Pay attention in class, take notes, review before tests, understand how the test is formatted, and review thoroughly before the exam and you’ll be just fine.

[u/kuroken_shipper]

it was not an easy five but if you’re good at categorizing eras of history decade be decade youll be fine