<p>I really love using textbooks, but is it really necessary in order to confidently ACE AP exams for Art History and Music Theory? I have played competitive piano for 4 1/2 years now (currently 15 years old) so I have a fairly good music background.</p>
<p>I am really excited to self-study Art Hist and I’m sure it’ll be no problem studying for it because I am so interested in it. But once again, is a textbook necessary to CONFIDENTLY get a 5 on the AP exam?</p>
<p>Please recommend textbooks for these, if you (or someone you know) got a 5 on these AP exams! Thanks!</p>
<p>ah, I got a five on my AP Art History exam. I really recommend reading through Janson’s and Gardner’s textbooks (classes 80% of the time use one or the other). I especially recommend this if you aren’t taking an AP class and just taking the exam.</p>
<pre><code> The two weeks before my exam I visited the best art galleries I could. I also read this wonderful short overview book called 'the annotated mona lisa". If anything - get this book. If you don’t get it and refuse to read the textbooks you deserve to fail. The book is only 14 dollars or so and it reviews nearly everything. It is the most comprehensive (short) guide to studying the exam.
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<p>Thank you, FluffyFluff. By the way, have you ever heard of “Art History” by Marilyn Stokstad? Do you know if it’s good? My friend has a copy of it and I’m wondering if I should use hers or not.</p>
<p>Do visiting museums really help? I’ve gone to lots of famous museums (Louvre, KHM, etc.) before.</p>
<p>Its similar to Gardner’s, I used for it for one of my French papers. I recommend that you look at both. I think that visiting museums will really help b/c its one thing to see a painting or work in a book but its another to actually see it in reality. One can gain a new perspective from seeing it. I recommend that you use REA AP Art History + Gardner’s + Art History by Stokstad = 5. As far as music theory, I have heard that it is very hard as well. I think that if you buy a prep book, look at the breakdown of the test and go over it with your piano teacher, you’ll do fine. Just make sure to really practice.</p>
<p>Haha, ok thanks Ilovesoftball44. The only part that I don’t have to worry (or practice on) is the sight reading … compared to piano sight reading, all previous ones given on past Music Theory AP tests are soo much easier.</p>
<p>I have also heard from friends that the music theory test is impossible without a teacher, it is that hard. The test is listening to music and writing down, something that even people who have played music all their life would find hard to do.</p>
<p>I’ve never seen the REA book for Art History (Didn’t know there was one) but several ppl on CC have been bragging about it …</p>
<pre><code> Get that annotated Mona lisa. Its great. Its fantastic. You’ll find it at borders or amazon.com. I think it made the difference at least between a four and a five for me.
Stokestad is good enough. Sorry I forgot about her. My art history teacher regarded Gardner, Jansen, Stokestad as the holy trinity of art history textbooks. In fact for all of my essays I was required to cite all three. Pain in the butt but so worth it in the end. See- different authors provide different takes on artwork. In come cases it really helps to see all three. Its not cruicial though unless you are obsessed with art (lke I).
About the gallery visits, yes it helps. I have been to the louvre too… love it. I was really lucky becaue I have seen at least 70-80% of the works on the exam in person.
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<p>So I have a few more questions about the textbooks, FluffyFluff. Which one of Janson’s texts should I use: “A Basic History of Western Art, 7th ed.” OR “Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition, 7th ed.”? And which one of the Gardner texts should I use: “Gardner’s Art Through the Ages” or “Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Vol. I(&II)”?</p>
<p>You want Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, since the AP test is “supposed” to cover all art, not just that of the western tradition. They have especially been pushing this point over recent years. The book itself actually isn’t that bad a read but it will require conscious studying throughout the year. It is simply a lot of material. Not very difficult, but a lot of it.</p>
<p>I just took the AP Art History exam and think I did really well. Our class used Gardner’s. It is very comprehensive. One tip - you really don’t need to read the Non-Western Chapters. The Ancient Near East and Ancient Egypt count as Non-Western topics and worked just fine on this year’s essay question. Annotated Mona Lisa is really great from the Impressionists to the present. But it is very limited on Ancient Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages. The REA book was a big help. Chapter summaries were concise and the practice tests and answers were excellent. Visiting museums is great. Our class visited the MET twice and MOMA once.</p>
<p>I had a friend who took music theory - she plays two instruments, for seven and nine years respectively, and still had a quite difficult time with it. She found a computer program to help with the listening and said otherwise she wouldn’t have passed the class, let alone survived the exam. You’ll definitely need some sort of resource to practice your listening skills especially.</p>
<p>Glad you mentioned Annotated Architecture. According to the College Board’s Acorn Book 25 percent of the AP Exam is devoted to architecture. I have a copy and it proved to be very useful.</p>
<p>Happy to help dolcevalse. You might also consider going to the College Board store and buying a copy of the 2004 released exam. The REA book also has very good practice tests that proved to be very valuable on this year’s exam. I have a friend who took the makeup exam. He said that the REA practice tests were a huge help.</p>
<p>One more point. Since you live in New York I would recommend that you frequently visit the MET and MOMA. The MET has everything. But don’t neglect MOMA. They have a number of masterpieces that really cover 20th Century artistic styles. According to the Acorn Booklet 15 percent of the exam is devoted to the 20th Century. That seemed to be the case this year.</p>
<p>Yeah, I did hear that this year’s AP exam for Art Hist had a lot of info from the REA review book. I’m definitely getting that book. And I think I will start visiting the Met & MoMA (can you believe I haven’t already?) now. </p>
<p>How hard do you guys think that the AP Art Hist exam is? How much work is required to self-study it? I’m talking AP Calc BC and AP Chem classes and self studying AP exams for Euro & Art Hist. Although I am taking a European hist. class at school, they just don’t offer one at the AP-level.</p>
<p>Yeah, for ART History, get the Annotated Mona Lisa at the very least. It’s a reaaaally good book. It helped me on tests in teh class and most definitely on the AP test.</p>