AP World History--A few final things before the AP exam…

When to be here:

  • I will be here with breakfast at 7:00. MEET ME AT THE OUTDOOR CLASSROOM IN THE BACK PARKING LOT!! I will have muffins, other baked goods,some fruit, etc. as well as orange juice and apple juice. If you want coffee, milk, water, etc. with breakfast, bring your own
  • If you are having breakfast at home (do NOT turn down a real breakfast for muffins!!)—BE HERE BY 7:15. You can swing by the outdoor classroom for a little something before you go to the gym.
  • You all should be checking in at the gym at 7:30

What to bring:

  • A PICTURE ID
  • #2 pencils—the old fashioned wooden kind. No mechanical pencils
  • Blue or Black pens—bring a few. You never know when your pen will run out of ink, and you are writing THREE essays!
  • Dress in layers! You want to be able to be as comfortable as possible as you test.
  • Bring a snack for the break—perhaps something with a little nutritional value I’ll have some small bottles of water for you to take down there.
  • YOU MAY NOT HAVE YOUR CELL PHONE WITH YOU. LEAVE IT AT HOME, IN YOUR CAR, IN YOUR LOCKER, OR LEAVE IT WITH ME (I will lock them in my cabinet and you can pick them up after the exam).
  • There is usually a lot of food left over after breakfast—you can stop by after the exam is over to pick up your phone or anything else you left in my room. First come, first served on the food!

Get a good night’s sleep!! This is NOT the night to stay up for hours cramming! Target a few areas for review and go to bed at a decent hour! You all have done quite well on the multiple choice, and just know that I am tough on the grading of the essays—tougher than the grading usually is at the reading! Here are a few key essay pointers:

  • Make sure your thesis—no matter what essay you are writing—addresses and answers the question with a degree of specificity. The answer needs to be clear—it needs to be CLEAR what the similarities are versus the differences. It needs to be clear what the changes are versus the continuities! For the DBQ it should be clear what your answers are to the question!
  • Remember the basic organization of the body paragraphs for the comparison and CCOT essays:

State your point (ID a sim, diff, change, cont) and make sure it is clearly tied to the question

PROVE your point with EVIDENCE—accurate, relevant, and specific (as specific as possible) evidence

EXPLAIN why—why sim? Why diff? why a change? Why a continuity? If your explanation brings in historical information, that counts as evidence too!

Don’t forget the rule of three—a minimum of three s/d or c/c in your essay. If you can only come up with one or two, just DO THE BEST JOB YOU CAN ON THOSE!! You will still score points!!

Don’t forget to bring in world historical context on the CCOT

  • On the DBQ:

Again—state your point clearly in the topic sentence of each paragraph—this should be one of the answers to the question

Introduce documents with attribution using the key aspect(s) of the source info (you do NOT need to restate the entire source line!!) then PARAPHRASE the part of the doc that helps prove your answer (JUST that part—don’t paraphrase the entire doc) and follow that with (doc. #). REMEMBER—you need evidence analysis explaining how that info from the doc proves your answer. In some cases you can introduce two documents as evidence and then follow that with evidence analysis for both (BUT ALWAYS INTRODUCE THE DOCS SEPARATELY—you should NEVER have (docs # and #). Each doc has to be used separately as evidence!

Do not just give up on POV and the extra document. Usually 2 pov will get the point (sometimes only 1!) It’s best to try three so that you have a better chance of getting the point. Always EXPLAIN HOW the extra doc would aid in analyzing the question.

ON ALL ESSAYS—ATQ! ATQ!! ATQ!!! ATQ!!!! ATQ!!!! Plan more—higher score