APUSH self-study?

[MamaSprout]

I'm sure this has been covered, but the search feature seems more quirky than usual today. Dd16 is my STEM and poli-sci nerd. Somehow we haven't actually covered US History since early middle school. Next year is probably her last year of high school.

I'm wondering how hard it would be to self study for APUSH?

I've considered CLEP, but I know one of dd's target colleges won't take it. I'm pretty sure she can get a seat in a local high school to take the APUSH exam since it's such a common test. She definitely doesn't want a year-long class. She's already taken AP Lang (with Blue Tent), so she understands the basics of preparing for an AP exam.

She's reading the K12 American Odyssey on her own time. Would it be enough to add a test prep course like this: https://www.ultimatereviewpacket.com/courses/apush and then do some practice exams? She already has Government and Politics and Comparative World Religions scheduled for next year, although those are already sort of in progress.

The university where she does DE has an online 8-week "intensive semester" US History 2 course that is known to be light output, but in the spring semester it can be hard to get a spot. I won't know if she can get a spot in the DE course until after registration for AP exams has closed.

She's considering international relations second major (with some sort of engineering), so it would be nice if she could go in with at least one history credit done and be able to start with higher level stuff. And she probably should study US History although she doesn't actually need any more social studies credits.

Thoughts?

Edited June 10, 2021 by MamaSprout

[Kassia]

Ds self-studied and did well on the exam.  He likes history, so it wasn't difficult for him.  I think he just used the AP prep books to get him ready for the exam.  He ended up getting a 4 or 5 on the test and it counted towards two history core classes in college, so he was really happy.  

 

[JennyD]

We are doing APUSH at home next year -- I'm currently working on the syllabus and will apply for Course Audit to get the designation.  It seems very doable as an at-home course and I think there's room to do some really interesting stuff with it.

However, I have no idea how the exam lines up with K12 American Odyssey.  Here's the list of example textbooks for the course -- I'd be inclined to have her use one of these instead if the plan is to just read and then self-study for the exam.

 

[Farrar]

It's not terribly hard for a kid who can self-study in general and who tests and writes pretty well. Seconding that you could get it approved.

[Roadrunner]

I wouldn’t write my own syllabus. Just use theirs. The wealth of prep material is tremendous now from videos to reviews to MCQs…. It makes self study a very doable task, I think. 

We are also planning on self studying (probably not next year though). 

[JennyD]

15 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I wouldn’t write my own syllabus. Just use theirs. The wealth of prep material is tremendous now from videos to reviews to MCQs…. It makes self study a very doable task, I think. 

Yeah, for the course audit I'm just going to use theirs.  But I am writing my own syllabus for what we're actually going to do.  

I have been amazed by the sheer amount of resources available for the AP tests generally and on the AP site specifically.  Even beyond test prep, there's just a lot there.

[stripe]

I’d make sure she does plenty of essay preparation for the AP exam itself.

[daijobu]

Check out youtube for more resources and lectures and prep.  

[domesticidyll]

DS found the APUSH to be pretty self-study friendly. He hasn't gotten results back, but felt good about the exam itself. He was coming out of a mom-class using American Yawp with lots of additional reading/writing, so he felt comfortable with the history. and had taken AP lit and AP Latin the year before so he was familiar with timed essay pacing.

We took about a week to review the (highly specific) essay rubric and for him to look over facts and dates from the early periods. DS just needed a 3 -- he was taking it for UC a-g requirements -- and I would allow substantially more than that to get the format and timing perfect if he had been gunning for a higher score. And do make sure to look carefully over what the essay wants -- it's very targeted in what the intro should contain, and how the documents should be addressed. 

 

Heather

[kokotg]

I've had 3 kids do APUSH at home now--my oldest mostly did it on his own using Pandia Press's US History (which they're not publishing anymore, although I think you can still buy a printed copy?) With my two current high schoolers, I was somewhat more involved; they read Jill Lepore's These Truths and then did Khan Academy stuff, plus we did a lot of primary source stuff. They want a particular kind of skillset for the exam--both for the multiple choice and the FRQs....just knowing the history will only get you so far; all of the multiple choice are "stimulus based" --so they give them a primary source passage or a picture or graph and ask a series of questions about it. And the essays have a specific rubric that they should be very familiar with. So all of that to say make sure there's plenty of test prep and practice essays. But my oldest got a 4 by pretty much studying on his own with a non-AP specific curriculum and adding in some test prep, mostly toward the end of the year. There's SO MUCH material out there for review, so that's nice (if a bit overwhelming).

[MamaSprout]

Thanks all!

This has been helpful. I might look at other easier to self-prepare-for AP exams. However...

I just suddenly realized that target school number 1 doesn't actually accept APUSH for anything other than elective credit. Target school #2 will take it for credit, but it will also take CLEP, so I can punt this to next spring. Dd will probably read the K12 book regardless (and it does line up pretty will the table of contents for one of the suggested AP texts).

We do have an in-state university that requires 2 semesters of high school US History, but that might be enough to bump it off the list for this year. 

Edited June 11, 2021 by MamaSprout

[MamaSprout]

What about AP HUG and AP Macro? Dd is wrapping up econ right now and has read a couple of human geography texts for fun. Target school takes these credits for the second major that she's interested in. I don't want to displace another course, though. Could a strong student who is familiar with the material (who has already done FRQs for another subject) prep and take these exams with say 20 hours prep each?

ETA- Now that I read that, that sound crazy-town given how much time she spent prepping for Calc BC and AP Lang. I'll leave it though since this is material she's familiar with and test formats that she's familiar with (thank you Blue Tent).

Edited June 12, 2021 by MamaSprout