<p>Are there any AP U.S. History or AP English 3 books out there that teach you pretty much everything you need to know to score a 5 on the AP exam? thanks!</p>
<p>For AP U.S:
While I have heard wonderful reviews from many sorts of people about the American Pagant textbook, I highly reccommend Garraty’s The American Nation. The book splits every major period of American History nicely into distinct chapters, which are mostly Political/Economic and Social/Cultural. I thought the book did a wonderful job, and unlike many textbooks, was decidedly objective in covering the nations history (Watch out for the liberal bias when the book covers Reagan though!). Princeton Review was very helpful in helping me to prepare for the exam. When I took the 2001 and 1996 practice tests, I scored a 5 both times.
For AP English LANGUAGE.
I’m assuming that your school, like mine, has AP English 3 as the AP Language course, and has AP English 4 as the AP Lit course? (If that is incorrect, please tell me). The language course is a tricky course to prepare for, because the mc portion tests one’s reading skills, but includes only a few questions on rhetorical elements like Synechdote and Metonymy and Anadiplosis. (Those are helpful to know for the free-response part though!) The BEST Way to prepare for the exam is to simply prepare for the free-response questions by doing past exam questions which are available online. I strongly believe that the MC portion is decidedly more difficult to prepare for, and therefore a less efficient use of a test-takers study time. If you want to feel more confident about it though, here are a few non-fiction, prose works that I reccommend all students should read:</p>
<p>Slouching Toward Bethlehem, by Joan Didion</p>
<p>The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion -( An A+ work of nonfiction prose imbued with rhetorical elements)</p>
<p>and one of the below works:
The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B Du Bois
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
The Age of Jackson, by Arthur M. Schlesinger
Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell</p>