Preparing Students for the AP European History Exam
Two weeks to go until the AP European History Exam. You're in "panic
mode." Or maybe you're calmly trying to survey what you have taught,
what you still have to teach, and what the students can still teach
themselves... which can put you in a panic if you aren't already in one!
Where do you start? How can you use your time most effectively? How
can you help your students use their time most effectively -- especially if
this is their first AP Exam?
Reviewing the Content
Here are some suggestions to help you prepare yourself and your students
for this challenging period.
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REVIEW: This is the time to focus on reviewing what your students
have already learned. It's not a time to give volumes of new information
for your class to memorize. You want to build students' confidence by
reassuring them they do have the tools to do well on the exam.
ORGANIZE: Distribute a calendar, listing each day's activity and
materials that should be brought to class. Do not concern yourself with
makeup material for absentees; it's more important to keep the
majority on track. Make it quite clear that there is simply no time
remaining in class to review the previous day's activity. Use each day to
focus on a specific skill or area you want to emphasize. Begin each day
with a quiz on a particular theme or century, then score the quiz and
discuss answers.
QUIZ: Put together quizzes of terms, names, ideas, documents...
anything you think they should know. Organize by type of information or
chronologically -- whatever will be more effective for your students.
(Organize differently from what you have done during the year, so
these new quizzes don't become an exercise in rote memory.) Matching
tests are fairly quick to write, especially if you draw from your course
syllabus, workbook, teacher's text guide, or something that summarizes
main ideas from your readings and/or lectures. If you don't have time
to write all the quizzes you want, divide the class into small groups, with
each group writing and scoring one quiz.
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OUTLINE: Have your students write possible free-response
questions, then outline answers and write introductions to those
questions. Instruct students to type all FRQ outlines on only one page,
with 11- or 12-point type, forcing them to select words carefully.
Outlines should be organized logically, written with phrases rather than
sentences. The introductory paragraph that follows should be limited to
2 to 4 sentences, including a detailed thesis. If you have them write and
outline FRQs all year long, your pupils will have a large file of essay
outlines, which they can also use for review.
SUMMARIZE: Collectively or individually, have students create a
timeline of key events and trends from 1450 to the present. This
timeline can be developed throughout the year, but if you haven't done
anything like that so far, now's the time to have the class go through
texts and notes, compiling a chart of key trends and movements
(philosophical, religious and political movements, socioeconomic trends,
cultural movements in art, literature, etc.). A group chart can be
compiled on butcher paper, stretching around the classroom, while
individual charts can be stored in students' binders or report files.
Alternatively, class members working in small groups can create sections
of charts, with each group focusing on one theme or on one century, and
share their results with the class.
ENCOURAGE STUDY GROUPS: The more your pupils discuss what
they have learned with one another, the more likely they are to
remember facts and link concepts. Memorizing is not as important as
understanding relationships and the sequence of events.
Understanding the AP Examination
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DISCUSS STRATEGIES: Do your students know that incorrect
responses in the multiple-choice section will mean a deduction of a
quarter-point from their score? Have they figured out whether or not
they are "good guessers"? Statistically, they are better off guessing if
they can discard at least one or two of the choices. On the freeresponse section, do they know how to time themselves effectively to
complete all three essays?
PRACTICE TIMING: Can you meet with your students after school
or on a weekend to give them a full practice exam? This is particularly
helpful for students who have never taken an AP Exam before, which
includes most sophomores. As you prepare students for the exam,
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discuss strategies for pacing themselves during during each section.
It's better for students to discover that they were unable to finish all
three essays in the practice session than to have that happen in the
actual AP Exam.
GIVE ACTUAL AP EXAMS: The College Board has recently
published the 2004 AP European History Exam, available through the
online College Board Store (see link below in "See also"). Previously
published exams include 1984, 1988, 1994, and 1999. The 1994 and 1999
exams also can be purchased through the College Board Store, while the
1984 and 1988 versions can often be obtained from other AP teachers.
You may have to modify the exam length for your own specific class
period, but you can use one of the longer ones (1984 and 1988 each took
one hour and 15 minutes) for an after-school or weekend administration.
Have students score these exams, calculating penalties for haphazard
guessing, so they understand the process. Also, have them take notes
during this practice, noting which questions they guessed on and what
other answers they considered giving. This will help them determine
whether or not it pays for them to guess.
The 1994, 1999, and 2004 exams have essay questions based on the
current Group I and Group II format. For the DBQ, either substitute a
core-scored DBQ (from 2000 on) or create core-scoring for an earlier
one.
Grading essays quickly is difficult in such a short time, but if you have
taught your students how to core-score DBQs, you can have them score
each other's on a score sheet, which will help you put a final score on
the essay more quickly. Managing to score two groups of FRQs in the
short time you have remaining before the exam is difficult, but you can
speed up the process by having your best students or teaching
assistants (if you have them) read a set of essays on one topic and try
to put them in order from best to worst. Even if you can't score all of
these essays in the review time you have, you will at least have exposed
your students to the difficulty of timing themselves to write three
essays in just under 2 hours.
Before the Exam
On the day before the AP Exam, remind your students to get a good
night's sleep and to eat selectively the next morning. Since AP European
History has an afternoon slot, discuss with your students how they should
spend that morning. If your students don't have to attend school on the
day of an AP Exam, you might meet with them at someone's house on the
morning of the exam for a final review. This last minute review has several
advantages:
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Students are not sitting home by themselves worrying.
You can discuss possible essay questions and answers.
You can review last-minute strategies and discuss concerns they
still have.
You can select previously administered multiple-choice sections of
exams and essays for students to review. Each student can look over his
or her DBQ and FRQ essays for patterns of strengths and weaknesses
as a reminder of what to do and not do when writing essays later that
day.
Prepare a checklist of possible tasks for participants to do. This
list helps them stay focused on those activities most useful to them.
You can help them RELAX! Tell some humorous stories as you eat an
early lunch.
You or the parent of the house may try to arrange for a nutritious lunch,
either with a potluck buffet or by collecting money and ordering food.
Of course, you need to figure out how to get a substitute teacher for your
other classes. Is there an AP teacher of another class who will cover your
classes that day if you do the same for him on the day of his exam? Would
your administrators give you sub coverage if you convince them that this
last review session could raise your AP grades?
Because I have sophomores who can't drive and we live in an area with
very limited public transportation, I have used the argument for getting
sub coverage that students can't easily get to school in the middle of the
day for their exam. Parents instead drop their students in the morning at
a house within walking distance of school and everyone walks to school for
the exam.
If you have stressed survival skills for each part of the exam with your
students during the year, the review will certainly go more smoothly than
if you have ignored a part of the exam. If you find that you have omitted a
valuable lesson, take whatever time you can spare to teach that point.
Keep encouraging your students to do their best. Remember that the exam
grade is not as important as the skills they have learned during the year
with you!