I'm in AP European History right now, and the class is almost over (in one week... we're on a block schedule.) Anyway, this is my first AP class (I'm only a sophomore), and I was wondering if anybody had any good prep advice. In the past week we've been going over basic stuff, and I bought the prep book from princetonreview, but I'd also appreciate any advice from anybody who's taken the test. Or, any AP exam for that matter, but specifically European History. I'd like to get at least a 4 on the exam - the colleges I've been looking into want a 4 or 5 for credit, and if I can get all my basic classes out of the way through APs (I'm taking AP Gov, Calc, and Chem next year, hopefully AP Bio, Lit, Spanish Lang, and Stats senior year), it'll be great. We did a practice test together in class yesterday, and it was actually alot easier than I thought. Definately alot easier than the tests we had been taking in class. I actually wasn't sure if I wanted to take the AP exam or not, but my teacher said a few months ago when he asked who of us planned to take it "I'm going to MAKE a certain few of you take the exam". I have the highest grade in the class and am sort of a novelty - only sophomore in a sea of seniors. I have a feeling he'll be writing some of my college recs. Another question - would you reccomend taking AP exams for classes you haven't taken? I know they let you, but I was wondering if it was recommended. I'm taking Physics I and Physics II this year, and we have no AP physics classes, so I thought of maybe taking the exam.
My little brother took quite a few AP exams without taking the classes. Like Calc BC, Physics, Bio, and Chem. The only thing is, I THINK, that if you don't take the classes, you have to pay to take the tests. I took AP American History, Chemistry, Calc AB, and English in high school. But that was many moons ago! Is the European Hist. exam going to be an essay? That's what I recall the Am. Hist. exam to be. I did badly on it. But, I did get credit for the other three. You seem to be a very proactive student so I don't doubt that you will have any problems!
The test is 80 multiple choice, one document based essay, and two regular essays. I'm not too worried about the regular essays, it's the document based one. It's worth the most and we haven't done anything with original documents in class. Well, except that there are many in our textbook, but we read over them and don't do much else. I'm not too worried about the exam though. Even if I get a 3 or something it'll be okay. I mean, I didn't actually sign up for the class so I could get college credit, that's just a plus. I wanted to take it because I loved history, and plus for college prep. Not to slam public schooling or anything, but our school's so-called "college prep" curriculum isn't college prep to the extent that it should be. It's fine for most students, but not for the upperend of the class. It's been such a great experience, anyway. Being with all the kids who are at the top of this years graduating class. The atmosphere is so much different than all my other classes. To think that, in one week's time, I'll be sitting in a speech class with a bunch of obnoxious sophomores! I think I'll probably talk with my counselor about taking the AP Physics exam. And probably my Physics teacher, too.
