Any luck studying for AP US History on your own?

[MommyThrice]

My son really wants to take the US History AP exam this spring. We've hit history hard in our schooling all along, so the material is not foreign to him. We also focus a great deal on writing and he is very comfortable with limited-prep writing assignments. So, have any of your children had success studying for this one on their own over just one semester? Is that doable? And if so, what did you use to prep?

 

Ds is thinking about studying the College Board book and listening to our Great Courses History of the US (we've never made it past the third lecture) and, of course, practice writing assignments. Will that be enough?

 

He prepped on his own for the PSAT and made an excellent score. Last year, he took a year-long AP Engl Lang & Comp class but only scored a "3", so he's hesitant to invest in another year-long class.

[momofkhm]

You know that you couldn't put it on his transcript as an AP class unless you go through the approval process, right? My dd is doing AP US HIstory through Patrick Henry Prep this year and it is hard. It's the hardest she has ever worked for a B! We haven't taken the test yet, obviously.

 

We have a friend whose son took an outside class of some science. I can't remember which one, then used an AP study guided, studied like crazy and scored a 5. So it can be done. But again, although that family can put his score on his transcript, the class doesn't count as an AP class.

[MommyThrice]

He doesn't need the AP class on his transcript, just a score of 4 or 5. Ds took the AP Lang & Comp at PHC. It took 2-3 hours/day for a B. I kinda expected to hear from moms telling me their kids did US History on their own.

[FaithManor]

Our kids are studying completely on their own for all of their AP's. We don't have any other options in our area. DD took the chem and physics and scored 5's. Ds is studying for US history now.

 

The AP designation to coursework doesn't matter much if the student sits the exam and gets a good grade. There are plenty of kids in our area who have taken AP classes and then chose not to take the test or scored poorly. This does not get them kudos from college admission departments. There aren't any "points" for having an AP class and opting out of testing or getting a low score.

 

I listed dd's courses on her transcript as "Chemistry I and II, AP exam score sent" and the same for physics. Her exams scores were sent to each uni she applied to and there was never even the slightest protest. As long as I did not say "AP Chem" or "AP Physics" in the course title, this was fine.

 

Faith

[MommyThrice]

Faith, what are you using to study for US History?

[sdreeves]

DD #1 took US History 2 years ago and got a 3. She self studied, and was pretty distracted by music auditions so I think she would say she could have done better. We used one of the recommended texts and used one or two AP study guides. Our girls did several AP's, and none of them were an approved syllabus, so we only put an AP designation on the classes where they actually took the AP test. We figured that was more honest that the local HS students getting AP designation on their transcript with no test.