The AP History Test really isn't
all that hard.
I passed it.... keep in mind we watched all of
Roots, both seasons of
North and South, and the entire series of
Band of Brothers. Plus, we only spent about 3 days on the time from after WWII to the present.... (Ironically, almost half of the multiple choice was about the cold war, and one of the essays) Despite that, I ended up with a high 3.
The multiple choice takes forever, (but pacing yourself is reeeeeeeaally important: if you don't know it, skip it, and go back if there's time) but as soon as you hit the DBQ/essays, time flies. Literally. I had about 10 minutes left over from the multiple choice, and about 5 from the essays.
I started prepping for the test about a week before it, I know its tomorrow, but here's what I did:
1) Memorize all the presidents in order, and know vaguely what time period they where in. If you can get down what parties they were in, bonus points.
2) Read "lies my teacher told me". It's about censorship in history books. Dragging obscure info or outside knowledge from other books (I read one historical fiction book for each time period through-out the entire year, so I could link dates to daily life for that period, but it's too late for you guys...)
3) Memorize all of the Amendments. Know them by numbers.
4) Know your major court cases.
5) Know all the major bills/acts. I went through my book, and found each one, and wrote them down on notecards and used them as flashcard the night before. I think there was like 40 some in all.
And if I can pass it, then I'm sure you guys can.
I took the AP Literature today...
Don't worry; if you're planning on taking it next year, its waaaaaaaaay easier then the AP US History test. Just as long as you don't sparknote every single book, there's more then one way to side-step the hard questions.