General Review Tips

General Review Tips• Prioritize - Focus on topics/areas of weakness first

• Avoid trying to memorize too much - Review “big picture” concepts first, specific terms/name/events later

• Look at old materials - Review in-class and reading notes, past essays & tests, study materials from Fall final

• Try different approaches - There is no “best” way to review (alone/group, on-line/book/flash cards, practice tests/packets – it depends on your learning style – try mixing it up).

• Find a “middle ground” - Some review better than no review. Too much review is counterproductive.

• Be positive – You have learned a lot this year & the AP exam is graded on a major curve.

AP Exam Multiple Choice Information

• 55 minutes for 80 questions• Each question has 5 possible answers• Multiple Choice counts for ½ of total score• No points lost for wrong or skipped questions.• Questions get progressively more challenging.• BIG curve on multiple choice - Score over 40 likely earns a

3 (passing score) – over 50 likely earns a 4 and over 60 a 5.

• Chronology of Questions: – 16 (20%) pre 1790; 36 (45%) 1790-1914; 28 (35%) 1915 – 1990

• Topic of Questions:– 28 (35%) Politics; 28 (35%) Social/Cultural; 12 (15%) Foreign Policy;

8 (10%) Economics; 4 (5%) Cultural/Intellectual

AP Exam Essay Information• There is 1 DBQ essay you must write on and 4 FRQ prompts of

which you must write on 2. You will be required to write one FRQ on a topic prior to 1880 and one FRQ on a topic after that date.

• 130 minutes (15 min reading period; 45 min. suggested for DBQ; 70 minutes for other 2 FRQs)

• The 5 total essay prompts will range in their topics chronologically and thematically.

AP Essay Writing Tips• READ prompts multiple times• Brainstorm & make a quick “plan of attack”• Introduction needs some brief background on “big picture”

followed by an on-topic thesis• Body paragraphs need to BLEND details with analysis. (Facts

& explanations).• Grading is “holistic” – no points “taken away”, just earned. If in

doubt, make a guess.

A few AP US Exam review websites:

Time lines:http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/timeline/timelineO.cfmhttp://chaos1.hypermart.net/fullsize/US1750fs.gifhttp://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0902416.html

Terms grouped by “era”http://www.mredmoody.com/ush-ap-preperation.htmlhttp://www.salemwitchtrials.com/history/index.htm

General review websites:http://highschoolsurvivalguide.com/APUSH.htmlhttp://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/AHAPCourseMainPage.htm

Brainstorm significant people, events, themes, trends and/or

ideas from 1877-1920

Key concepts to consider• Successes/Failures of Reconstruction• Why/how America industrialized during the late 19th

century; how westward expansion tied into that (frontier thesis, land, Native Americans, wealth, technology, labor unions/issues, etc.)

• Causes/consequences of immigration & urbanization• How/why political change and progressive reforms gain

momentum (regional/urban vs rural, muckrakers, reformers/presidents)

• How/why the US foreign policy changes from 1898-1919

• Compare and contrast the US foreign policy after the first world war and after the second world war. Consider the periods 1919-1928 and 1945-1950.

To what extent did the United States achieve the objectivesthat led it to enter the First World War?

• Historians have argued that Progressive reform lost momentum in the 1920s. Evaluate this statement with respect to TWO of the following:

– Regulation of business– Labor– Immigrants

• Compare and contrast the programs and policies designed by reformers of the Progressive era to those designed by reformers of the New Deal period. Confine your answer to programs and policies that addressed the needs of those living in poverty.

Analyze the roles that women played in Progressive Era reforms from the 1880s through 1920. Focus your essay on TWO of the following:PoliticsSocial conditionsLabor/working conditions

To what extent did the role of the federal government change under President Theodore Roosevelt in regards to TWO of the following:

LaborTrustsConservationWorld Affairs

• Compare and contrast the ways that many Americans expressed their opposition to immigrants in the 1840s-1850s with the ways that many Americans expressed their opposition to immigrants in the 1910s-1920s.

Analyze the extent to which the Spanish-American War was a turning point in American foreign policy.

Analyze the impacts of TWO of the following on the American

industrial worker between 1865 & 1900.

Government ActionsImmigration

Labor UnionsTechnological Changes

• Compare and contrast the attitudes of TWO of the following toward the wealth that was created in the U.S. during the late 19th century.

• Andrew Carnegie• Eugene Debs• Booker T. Washington• Ida Tarbell

• How were the lives of the Plains Indians in the second half of the 19th century affected by technological developments and government actions?

• From whom and to what extent was the American West a land of opportunity from 1865 to 1890?

• Following Reconstruction, many southern leaders promoted the ideas of a “New South.” To what extent was this “New South” a reality by the time of the First World War? In your answer be sure to address TWO of the following:

• Economic Development• Politics• Race Relations

• Evaluate the impact of the Civil War on political and economic developments in TWO of the following regions:

• The South• The North• The West

Focus your answers on the period between 1865 and 1900.

• Describe the patterns of immigration in TWO of the periods listed below. Compare and contrast the responses of Americans to immigrants in these periods.

• 1820-1860• 1880-1924• 1965-2000