How to Improve Your APUSH
Test Scores
• “Always bear in mind that your own
resolution to succeed is more important
than any one thing.”
Abraham Lincoln
• “Before anything else, preparation is the
key to success.”
Alexander Graham Bell
• “There are no secrets to success. It is the
result of preparation, hard work, and
learning from failure.”
Colin Powell
• Success on an APUSH exam begins long
before you take the test.
Get the most out of your textbook
• Look at the headings, maps, pictures, etc.
• Complete the questions at the end of the
chapter
• Go to Moodle and check out “How to Read
a Textbook”
• bedfordstmartins.com/roarkcompact
Understand what you read
• Can you explain the material you just read?
• Can you put the material into words you
understand?
• Do you understand how it all fits together?
Compare/contrast
• Can you connect the events? Cause/effect
• Do you understand the big picture?
• History is change over time . . . Can you tell the
story?
Get the most out of class time
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Be on time and have good attendance
Pay attention
Take notes
Ask questions
Be inquisitive
BE PREPARED! Class will make more
sense if you have read your textbook
Getting ready for the test starts the
first day of the unit
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Read some everyday
Take notes
Review often
Use a variety of methods to study – flash
cards, outlines, peer review
• Do your own work – in your own way
Develop a study plan for the test
• Increase your review time as the test date
draws near
• Don’t wait until the night before to study
• Don’t stay up all night
• Form a productive study group or get a
study partner
• Talk to your friends to get ideas about
studying but in the end, develop a strategy
that fits your style – no one size fits all!
Complete the Study Guide
• Ahead of time! Not the night before!
• Anne Hutchinson: got kicked out of Mass. Bay
OR
• Anne Hutchinson: got kicked out of Mass. Bay
for preaching the covenant of grace (faith was all
you needed); officials preached the covenant of
works; also in trouble for being an outspoken
woman and holding Bible study in her home;
went to Rhode Island then NY; killed by Native
Am.
• Details! Details! Details!
Utilize the Internet
• Excellent website for multiple choice AP
tests:
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http://www6.district125.k12.il.us/~sarm
stro/Test%20and%20Writing%20Help/Mult
-Choice_Skills.pdf
Utilize the Internet
• Develop a strategy for taking a multiple
choice test
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http://www.how-to-study.com/studyskills/en/taking-tests/44/multiple-choicetests/
Utilize the Internet
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Control your test anxiety
http://www.how-to-study.com/studyskills/en/taking-tests/47/test-anxiety/