Slide 1

How to read an AP Textbook (or any for that matter) 1)Textbooks are NOT pleasure reading. Textbooks dont read like a novel, so its more difficult to get through. They are designed for fast reading and organization. Our AP Euro book is DIFFICULT. 2)With this in mind, tackle your reading assignments. Look for any headings, usually in bold or different colors than the rest of the book, and make sure to spend time on these small sections. They usually give key information. 3)Read the assignments twice. The first time is when you do the homework and it will help give you some background for when you take class notes. The second time is to refresh your memory before the test. 4)Do the second reading the night before the test. This is an great way to help you study. 5)If you are having trouble understanding the material, after reading the textbook the second time, try summarizing each section of the book in your own words. That will help your mind grasp the material. 6)Actually READ the book! Students from past years have said in great numbers that this truly helps!!! If you want to do well in this class, you MUST read! This will be for your homework too! 7)These tips work for college too! How to read an AP textbook Slide 2 The AP Test 1)The test is May 6th, afternoon session. 2)Cost is $91 (this might change, but Ill let you know if it does). 3)Youll most likely take the test in the gym. 4)The test is new this year for AP Euro! This year, there are 55 multiple choice questions, and youll have 55 minutes to do them. 5)There will be 4 short answer questions (SAQs) on the test and youll have 50 minutes to complete them. 6)There is one DBQ (document based question) with only one prompt (question). You will be given 6-7 documents and you must write the essay in 55 minutes. Dont worry well practice these a lot! 7)There is one long essay, formally known as the FRQ. You will have two prompts to choose from and youll have 35 minutes to write the essay. 8)The multiple choice portion is worth 40% and the written portion is worth 60%. Specifically, the SAQs are worth 20%, the DBQ 25%, and the long essay 15%. 9)You may earn the following scores on the test: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 3 and up is passing. Generally speaking, most colleges only accept a 4 or 5 to receive college credit. Some colleges do accept a score of 3. 10) Colleges frown not only on taking an AP class and not taking the test, but also on failing the AP test! So keep that in mind! The AP Test Slide 3 Notebooks for AP Euro 1)These are seriously your life. EVERYTHING in this class will go into these two notebooks. 2)They both must be a 5 subject, college ruled, spiral notebook. The ones with pockets are preferable. You may NOT use a three-ring binder. The bigger (more paper) the better as we will use these the entire year. Slide 4 3)On the front, put CLEARLY and in BIG LETTERS: a)Your name. b)Your period. c)Label it either AP Euro NOTES or AP Euro Class Work AP Euro NOTES Joe Schmo Period 1 AP Euro Class Work Joe Schmo Period 1 Slide 5 4)In both notebooks, use some sort of sticky tab to separate your chapters. Notebooks will be collected on the day of the unit test and I must be able to EASILY find the unit Im grading and see the separations. Choose sticky tabs that you can write on so you can clearly label each chapter. You will put a sticky tab and label for the BEGINNING of each chapter Slide 6 5)You will use the tabs for BOTH notebooks. 6)If you lose your notebook, it is up to you to replace everything that was lost. You will turn in your notebooks at the end of first semester, and again after the AP test. You will receive an overall completion grade for both of them. So if you lose it, your grade will suffer if you dont work hard to replace everything. 7)Also remember, NOTHING else should be in these notebooks. Theyre exclusively for AP Euro. So your notes shouldnt have math in it and your class work notebook shouldnt have honors chem stuff in there. They are ONLY for AP Euro. Slide 7 How to do Homework and Take Notes in AP Euro There is a very specific way to take notes in AP Euro. Your homework notes are your lifeline. You are allowed to use them on quizzes and theyll provide a foundation for the notes we take in class. Ultimately, the whole point is to see the information twice in a short period of time and then, hopefully, remember it better. **Remember the better notes you take as homework, the better youll do on quizzes AND youll have an excellent set of notes for when you start studying for the AP test. Take good notes now and youll thank yourself later. Slide 8 There are specific steps you must follow to receive credit: 1)You will start your homework/notes on a new page for every chapter and for every nights homework. 2)On the upper right hand corner of the start of that nights notes, you need to put the following: chapter number for the notes, which part of the notes it is, AND the page numbers assigned. Dont just put it the first time. Put it on every single page. Make it clear and big. Example to follow. 3)You will put any key terms assigned BEFORE the homework notes. Clearly number and underline the term, and then explain in a brief sentence or two (no more) what it was, making sure to include overall importance. If there are no key terms, you MUST STATE THAT. a)Remember the more you put into this class, the more youll get out of it. So actually take your time and define the words and DONT BE LAZY. Slide 9 4)You must READ the book to take these notes. They will not be effective if you cheat and copy them from someone or somewhere else. If you are concentrating and focusing, they should not take you that long and theyll help you in the long run. 5)You MUST do your homework notes in pen. There is not a specific color requirement but they all must be the same color throughout the homework. 6)You may take your notes however youd like. BUT, to receive credit and a stamp, you must have at least 1 page front and back and AT MOST 2 pages front and back. Thats it. The minimum starts AFTER the key terms. Meaning, you need a full page front and back from where the key terms end. Key terms dont count for the length requirement. You may NOT take more notes than that per night. The idea is that you learn how to summarize the information and write down the important stuff. 7)Dont worry if you miss anything, youll get it in class. Well get to that in a minute. Slide 10 8)While taking your notes for homework, leave room somewhere, somehow. This all depends on your style. You may want to use Cornell style, or skip lines, or whatever. You have to leave room though because the other half of your homework grade comes from the class notes. 9)So to summarize the homework: a)Chapter number, which part of the chapter it is, and page numbers on the upper right hand corner of every page. b)Start a new chapter and a new nights homework on a new page. c)Make sure to clearly label the key terms. d)Homework must be done all in one color pen. No pencil and no multiple colors. e)Homework must be at least 1 page front and back and at most 2 pages front and back. Slide 11 11)So to get credit, you come to me BEFORE class starts and show me your work. If youve done enough and not too much, youll get a stamp. 12)Tardy students dont get a stamp without an excused pass! 13)Youll take your notebook back and take the class notes. 14)Youll have me stamp it every time you have a reading/notes assignment. 15)Both notebooks, notes and class work, will be turned in on the test day. Theyll be graded right then and handed back by the end of the period. 16)Now for the class notes. Using a DIFFERENT pen color from the one you used for homework, youll take notes. No pencils. You may only take class notes within the space you have used for homework. You cant write more and go onto another page. Slide 12 17)This is where its critical that you plan out your homework well. You have to fit it onto the required space but also leave space for class notes. 18)You have to show that youre adding to your homework notes. The different color of pen will do that so fill in information, underline, circle, whatever. When you turn in your notebooks, all of your notes should be completely filled with two different colors. Slide 13 A few things to remember: 1)You may use the back of the paper in your notebook. 2)The back of a paper can count as a new page if you want to start there. 3)Nothing else should be in your notebooks. Your homework/notes notebook should only have AP Euro notes in there. Nothing else. Period. 4)You need to use one color pen for the homework notes and a different color for the notes in class. No pencils. Any color works (even pink!) Slide 14 Chapter 1 Part 1 Pages 2-14 Key terms: Key term #1: explanation Key term #2: explanation II. Peopling the Americas There is controversial evidence that the earliest Americans arrived here up to 35,000 years ago, using the frozen oceans to travel by land and by boat (stuff you would add from class notes) About 10,000 years ago when the Ice Age ended, the land bridge was swallowed up and pretty much no more humans came to the Americas until thousands of years later, leaving the humans here isolated for the most part (stuff you would add from class notes) By the time the Europeans came to America, it is suggested that 54 million people inhabited the land, but this number is debated The Incas in Peru, the Mayans in Central America and the Aztecs in Mexico developed very sophisticated civilizations (more stuff from class notes) Lots of stuff from class notes Slide 15 II. Peopling the Americas There is controversial evidence that the earliest Americans arrived here up to 35,000 years ago, using the frozen oceans to travel by land and by boat (stuff you would add from class notes) About 10,000 years ago when the Ice Age ended, the land bridge was swallowed up and pretty much no more humans came to the Americas until thousands of years later, leaving the humans here isolated for the most part (stuff you would add from class notes) By the time the Europeans came to America, it is suggested that 54 million people inhabited the land, but this number is debated The Incas in Peru, the Mayans in Central America and the Aztecs in Mexico developed very sophisticated civilizations (more stuff from class notes) Lots of stuff from class notes More homework notes more homework notesMore homework notes more homework notes more class notes, more class notes