The AP Program in US History is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in US history.  Students should learn to assess historical materials and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship.  Although there is little to be gained by rote memorization of names and dates in an encyclopedic manner, a student must be able to draw upon a reservoir of systematic factual knowledge  in order to exercise analytic skills intelligently. 

     The students in the class will be taking part in this national exam, the Advanced Placement United States History Exam.  The examination is 3 hours and 5 minutes in length and consists of two sections: a 55-minute multiple-choice section and a 130-minute free-response.

     The 80 questions in the multiple-choice section of the AP exam are designed to test students’ factual knowledge, breadth of preparation, and knowledge-based analytical skills.  The difficulty of the multiple-choice section of the examination is set deliberately as such a level that a candidate has to answer about 60 percent of the questions correctly to receive a grade of 3, in addition to doing acceptable work on the essays.

As you prepare for history objective tests…

Some tips to consider:

1.    As you begin reading a chapter, consider using some of the strategies discussed in class. i.e. skimming the chapter, web diagram, three-column chart: Know, Questions, Learned

2.    Keep up on your textbook reading by reading every night rather than large amounts of reading on a single occasion.

3.    You may chose to take brief notes from your reading sessions.

4.    Use the practice objectives tests after you have read the chapters. Do not rely solely on these tests.

5.    Use the study guides to quiz yourself as your read and after you read a chapter.  You may chose to write responses on the study guides.

6.    Use the series of essay questions to help you identify big themes evident throughout the chapters.

7.    Take notes during class.  Use these notes to review the day’s lesson and also for test preparation.

8.    Keep your course syllabus available to refer to as you budget your time.