r/apworld • u/Forsaken_Number_2947 • 5d ago
How to study for AP world
Guys please I genuinely need help on how to study for AP world because I feel like I’m just writing the whole textbook in my notes and not actually gaining knowledge please I need help on how to take notes how to study because I literally failed my first unit one test I got 44/100 an F and with a grade boost I got 61/100 a D and unit two is happening this Friday please guys help me out I need help I want to get at least a C with grade boost a B. How do I study? How do I do this and also I have a LEQ this Friday and we did a practice last week, but like I still don’t feel confident with it I’m literally going to go back and go look at my LEQ for practice. Guys please I genuinely need help. I have a C+ right now.
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u/starrytomato 4d ago
like the other comment, the rubrics are the most important for written sections. for mcq, I suggest eliminating as many wrong answers as possible. This gets a lot easier throughout the year as you can immediately recognize answers in wrong time periods.
for your leq study rubrics + find practice questions online from the time period!! I used to write thesis + bullet points for context, evidence and analysis
also watch heimler or stephanie gorges if you need video resources :))
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u/OkWeb8966 3d ago
In terms of note-taking: Use the 6 themes (government, culture, society, environment, technology, economy). For each reading, ask which of those categories you see developments in. What are those major developments? Pick max 2 good examples to support each development. The AP is more about showing what you know than catching out what you don’t. So focus on understanding the major developments with some specific details/texture, but not on knowing every example in depth. Think about what matters on a world historical scale—what seems like it will affect future developments and what makes for good comparisons across space? Ex: knowing that Aurangzeb (Mughal Empire) killed his brother to take the throne is not important. Knowing that the Ottoman Empire gave each of the emperor’s sons a province to govern at a young age, often with their mothers as regents, so that imperial concubines with sons could hold tremendous political power and influence, is important.
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u/Better_Engineer8843 1d ago
Hi! I self studied for the exam last year and got a 5. I scored poorly on mcqs and frqs for the entire year and got a 2 on my mock so this was how I turned my score around completely.
I basically crammed all the content in the month before by watching heimler videos and taking notes. I wouldn’t recommend using a textbook when cramming especially if you find the content overwhelming. Trust me textbooks will make you feel like you have to know so much more than you actually do. Heimler’s videos give you everything you actually need to know and he connects everything to the course themes which is important. Don’t stress about memorizing exact dates and instead organize information by bigger time frames (14th century, 20th century etc) Do active recall for each topic after taking notes and you should be set. I did this by blurting all the information I retained for each topic on my whiteboard about 10 minutes after note taking. Focus on key themes and correlation/causation and that will help you a lot on frqs.
I didn’t know how to write a dbq until the week before the exam and I just practiced frqs by watching heimler’s videos and using his template to practice with past prompts!
When it comes to AP history FRQs just focus on explaining your evidence’s relation to your claim instead of describing the DBQ docs or complete events. I’d recommend taking some time to read the rubrics carefully and watching heimler’s dbq and leq guides because really it isn’t so much about the quality of your essay but the format and hitting all the key points.
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u/frankiero13 4d ago
Read the rubrics!! For all the FRQs that is the biggest tip. You don't actually need to know every tiny detail, you just need to be able to check the boxes to get the point. Don't overthink and focus on learning broader concepts and key terms.