"To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning." ~ Herman Hesse
AP Course - What to Expect
The AP European History course is the product of several years of research into current best practices in history education. The resulting program of study contains clear learning objectives for the AP European History course and exam, emphasizing the development of thinking skills used by historians and aligning with contemporary scholarly perspectives on major issues in European history. The course is designed to encourage students to become apprentice historians who are able to use historical facts and evidence in the service of creating deeper conceptual understandings of critical developments in European history.
The course is structured around the investigation of five course themes and 19 key concepts in four different chronological periods, from approximately 1450 to the present. The key concepts support the investigation of historical developments within a chronological framework, while the course themes allow students to make crucial connections across the four historical periods and across Europe. |
Student Responsibilities
AP European History is a challenging course that is designed to be the equivalent of a freshmen college course in a high school setting. You will examine multiple aspects of European history while at the same time practice and develop historical thinking skills. Solid reading and writing skills, along with a willingness to devote considerable time to homework and study, are necessary to succeed. Emphasis will be placed on developing critical thinking skills, essay writing, and interpretation of primary source documents. As part of the course requirements, you will take the AP exam in May. The course is designed to cover all topics that will be tested on the AP exam and a review as we near the exam date. Due to the extensive amount of content that must be covered it is impossible to cover every part of the textbook in class. You will be responsible for reading and understanding the material presented in the textbook and the supplemental material that will be presented in class.
Classroom Rules
Basic Rules
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Materials
- Textbook (keep your copy at home, we have a class set)
- Three ring binder
- Note book paper
- Pens, pencils, highlighters
Grading Policy
Your grade will be based on total points for the entire semester. You will be graded on all assignments, writings and projects. We will take unit tests after every three or four chapters of study. You can check your grade with skyward, please do not ask me to look up your grade. Any questions about your grade in class must be address either before or after class, not during.
Late Work / Absence Policy
Assignments are due at the beginning of the period. If an assignment is turned in late
- 1 day – 25%
- > 1 day – 50%
- Late work accepted until day of unit test
How can I most effectively study to get a 5 on the AP Euro test by May?
By: Melissa Kwan, studied at Harker School
I’m a rising junior who took AP Euro this past year and received a 5 on the exam. This was the first year of the stimulus questions, which meant that my year had no previous tests to study from. Luckily, next year you won’t be in that position!
Anyways, here are my tips:
Throughout the year:
Studying for the exam:
Know that the curve will work in your favor. I had to guess on about 7 multiple choice because I was too slow, and I worried that that would jeopardize my score. I was wrong!
Good luck and hope this helped!
By: Melissa Kwan, studied at Harker School
I’m a rising junior who took AP Euro this past year and received a 5 on the exam. This was the first year of the stimulus questions, which meant that my year had no previous tests to study from. Luckily, next year you won’t be in that position!
Anyways, here are my tips:
Throughout the year:
- Don’t procrastinate! Take detailed notes throughout the year and keep on top of your reading. If you get too far behind, the sheer number of people, events, and details you have to remember will start to become overwhelming.
- Make connections as you go. When you read your textbook, note patterns in history repeating themselves. For example, you could make the connection between enclosure replacing the open field system in the Agricultural Revolution to computers replacing many unskilled laborers in the 20th and 21st centuries. You will thank yourself when you need a synthesis for the LEQ and DBQ essays!
- Make important terms stand out. It’s not fun to read through pages and pages of monotonous text in order to find that one key figure. Highlight/bold key terms and people so you can skim your notes more easily. I made important people blue, key terms and ideas purple, etc.
- Keep everything online and organized. I get it if your teacher doesn’t allow you to take notes on your computer or if you feel that taking notes by hand helps you retain the material. But for me, that ⌘F is just too useful to not take advantage of.
Studying for the exam:
- Remember key dates. This was my teacher’s suggestion and it worked. She recommended remembering “anchor dates” to help with chronological questions and essays with specific timeframes. Examples of anchor dates include 1555 (Peace of Augsburg), 1618–1648 (Thirty Years War), and 1815 (Congress of Vienna).
- Make charts. Charts will help tremendously with the essays, as you might have to compare and contrast developments in different countries or describe a change in political/economic trends over time. Here is a list of charts that I made:
- PERSIA (Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Intellectual, Artistic) charts for each century in Europe.
- Art movements and their founders, their key ideas, their key people and works, etc. Here are the art movements I studied: The Renaissance, Baroque and French Classicism, the Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Modernism (which includes several sub-movements like Cubism, Futurism, etc.), and Post-war and Abstract Expressionism.
- “Life” charts. This is where you would review entertainment over the years, social equality or inequality, and trends and popular beliefs. Examples of what would go in this: Religious festivals, blood sports, the illegitimacy explosion.
- Early statebuilding in each country (how did England’s constitutionalism differ from France’s absolutism and, say, the Ottomans’ still different system of sultans? How did they have similar goals?)
- Conflicting political ideologies of the 19th century and their influence (Nationalism, liberalism, socialism, etc.)
- Enlightenment thinkers. It was so hard to keep these straight!
- Europe’s interactions with “the world” for each century. I didn’t do this, but it would have helped me on the test. “Europe and the World” was one AP Euro theme that I didn’t study enough.
- Take practice tests. Time pressure, no study materials, just you and your pencil. My teacher had us do the College Board released practice test in class over several days.
- Know the rubrics. The essays and short answers have very specific requirements. Make sure you know how to get those points.
- Annotate and actively engage with your resources. Personally, I printed out the charts I made and wrote down notes in the margins with connections and summaries of ideas. I also annotated the sections of the review book that I read. You can also jot down reactions to historical events, which will tie you to the material emotionally and help you remember it better.
- And the most important tip… Do it yourself! Trust me, if you just mooch review materials off a friend you won’t feel prepared. Same goes for review books, don’t ever just rely on those without actively creating study guides yourself.
Know that the curve will work in your favor. I had to guess on about 7 multiple choice because I was too slow, and I worried that that would jeopardize my score. I was wrong!
Good luck and hope this helped!