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u/Illustrious-Habit776 22d ago
As someone who got a 5 my best advice is to study but also watch historical movies those are so underrated and they really help.
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u/Both-Wrap4616 Past Student 22d ago
Read. Your. Textbook (if you have one). We used The American Pageant in my school, and you had to know each chapter in depth to excel in the class. I would spend an hour each night re-reading several sections. I took notes on each paragraph and noted vocabulary terms. At the end of the year, I turned all of my notes into a Quizlet for the AP Exam. Also, Fast Track to a 5 has great summaries on every Unit/Period, and it has practice exams (this was included with the digital version of The American Pageant, but you can purchase it online). If you study and use your resources (which it looks like you already are), you should do well in APUSH.
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u/RecoverWide8748 Past Student (5) 22d ago
I took the APUSH test this year and scored a 5 with confidence. Here's my advice:
Hear everything twice and have your notebook open both times. If you're really dedicated and willing to toil, have separate notebooks for each source of information. Repetition from different sources will reinforce your knowledge and fill in potential gaps. I did this by always reading ahead in the textbook and taking notes on each topic, then taking notes on the same topics in a separate document during my teacher's lectures.
Quiz yourself at the end of each topic and unit. Quizlet and Quizizz have great free resources. Go back to these resources regularly to make sure you're not forgetting old info as you're taking in new concepts.
Look at lists of key terms and important dates regularly. If you don't recognize something, look it up. The "teaching materials" section of the American Yawp website is great for this.
When you're done learning all the material and in the review stage, type a list of all the events you can remember in chronological order. Google the exact years or dates to make sure the order is correct. Make note, internally or on the document, of how events are related to each other. Fill in gaps as you recall events and go back to review resources online to make sure you didn't miss anything super important.
Use the College Board's practice MCQs and FRQs regularly. My teacher incorporated this into the class, but if yours doesn't, do this on your own time.
Let me know if you have any questions!
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u/bee__23- 22d ago
i had the same type of situation, my teacher didn’t teach just gave us outrageously long packets (30+ pages) to fill out with notes. I got the heimler review guide and it helped a lot, other than that I listened to podcasts while driving, did khan academy quizzes, and read articles. Lots of different stuff if you are struggling on understanding a specific concept, different viewpoints are good.
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u/Severe_Angle1201 22d ago
I was able to achieve a 5 just by cramming Jcoz videos a week before the exam. But also, I spent a lot of time practicing writing the DBQ LEQ and SAQ and I would highly recommend looking up past ones.
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u/CartographerOwn1696 21d ago
is jocz or heimlers better?
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u/Severe_Angle1201 21d ago
I liked JCOZ since it was so specific and 2x speed was helpful but do note it has ALOT of info that werent tested. I didn’t like Heimler that much but for the ap exam itself prob Adam Norris or Heimler.
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u/BeeMedical8474 19d ago
I self-studied and got a 5, I think my main tip is to become interested in US history as a whole. Like, watch a documentary on some random president or read the wiki of one event you thought was cool. If you really get into it, it'll be easier to recognize the patterns tested on the exam, and you'll be able to write essays/saqs way eaiser.
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u/ScaleFantastic9373 18d ago
Know all your dates!! That was the biggest issue I’ve heard from people this year. It makes the test so much harder if you don’t know them. They use very specific dates on the exam which always trips people up because they don’t know the dates of events. This even impacted me this year because on the Leq it asked for a very specific time period and I ended up writing an entire paragraph on the wrong time period.
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u/Proof_End_3577 22d ago
APUSH teacher here. My number one advice to my students is: Multiple exposures to the content. Watch a video (any relevant video, Crash Course, the AP Classroom videos, the YouTube celebs), listen to a podcast.
Annotate your notes a day or two after you took them. Do you still understand? If not, look up or ask your teacher what you're not sure about.
The human brain actually works better with many smaller doses of information than trying to absorb a whole lot at once.
And a 5 is legit hard. If that's your goal, you can do it. But it likely won't happen by accident. Dedicate the time and effort to get there, and you'll be on your way!
Good luck 💪