Next year I am signed up for APUSH and AP English III. As you can tell from my name…I hate B’s. I want an A in both of these classes, a B will not suffice. From what I’ve heard, an A in APUSH is close to impossible (I got a B in AP Human Geography this past year, but I don’t want that to happen again in APUSH). What can I do to get an A? By the way, an A in my district is 90% and above, there is no plus/minus system.
Study lol.
Well if you want some insight I could say that APUSH will require lots and lots of time. As for AP English if you’re a strong writer then the class should come easy to you. AP English doesn’t require as much time as APUSH but you do have the occasional essay or reading assignment as well as projects so keep all of those in mind.
AP English grading is wholly dependent on your teacher, At some schools it’s considered a ‘joke’ while at others it’s not - talk to your upper years. There’s really no other way to do well in APUSH other than by buckling down and reading.
If you could, visit the APUSH or AP Lang teacher at your school to give you an overview of the course and what you will expect. Better yet, talk to those who have taken those classes at your school to show you how they handled and see what it really takes to get that A. Just saying, it all comes down to the teacher.
As for me, I took both classes this year and got an A in APUSH both semesters and it was a lot of outlining, memorization, and essay writing (DBQs). As for AP Lang, I got a B+ in one semester and an A in the other but that’s just because English isn’t really my thing. Like I said, it all depends on your teacher.
“From what I’ve heard, an A in APUSH is close to impossible”
No. That is never true.
^Actually, depends on your school. Same with my school (and also with our AP Lit course).
Apush depends on your teacher as well as lang. There was 2 teachers who taught push at my school. In one class only about 5 or 6 kids per class got A’s while in the other class pretty much all of them got A’s. Best option is get a review book and study…HARD. While a normal class is hard it isn’t impossible at all in fact it’s very possible
For apush this year, I used Adam Norris videos on YouTube rather than reading the actual textbook as that’s what my teacher recommended because for the AP exam, you don’t need to know every single detail from a textbook. Apush has also been redesigned and from my experience, the new exam has a much larger dependence on critical thinking rather than just facts. Granted, you will still have to study before tests and make sure you know a good amount of information but when compared with AP World History, I found the redesigned APUSH to be a walk in the park and an easy A. If you’ve taken AP World, then the essays will be easy in APUSH but if not you should still be able to catch on fairly easily. For the class I strongly recommend crash course videos as some of the questions on the ap exam mirrored what came on the tests in class and the ap exam.
AP English III(languge and compostiton I’m assuming?) require a great deal of natural talent. Though your writing will improve, much of it depends on where you stand already. It also depends on your teacher. I had an AMAZING teacher this year and everyone’s writing improved drastically but once again, it all depends. The best thing you can do in AP english 3 is practice practice practice! Get a review book (I used princeton) and do the multiple choice practice tests. Read sample essays from the collegeboard website before you have timed writings. Though not the easiest, English took the least amount of work and you should be able to make an A. Good luck!
If you hate Bs then why don’t you get Cs
Haha “If you hate Bs then why don’t you get Cs” - What I meant to say was “a B or lower will not suffice”.
The thing is, I’m really bad at reading comprehension but really good at writing. I’m on the school newspaper staff and have a 99 average, but I got an 89 in Honors English II last semester. (My English class was considered easy to everyone else, it seemed like I was the only one that got a B in English). But I had a solid A in English from 6th-9th grade. For instance, I scored only better than 55% on the Reading PSAT but close to 90% on the writing.
For AP English Lang, I’ve heard that the class has very few “reading comprehension” tests and that the class is primarily writing. That’s why I’m going with AP, because Honors is mainly reading comprehension.
For APUSH, I just hope I can figure out a way of acing those tests that are supposed to be extremely hard from what I’ve heard. I know there is a summer assignment that is worth a major grade, so I need to absolutely do EXCELLENT on that.
I’m in the same boat as you man! Although, I’ve heard APUSH is actually EASIER than WHAP (w/o taking the AP test) but maybe what I’ve been hearing is wrong. I absolutely hate B’s as well and I cant afford anymore if I want to get a GPA above 3.5. I’ve heard AP Lang. is a lot of writing too and my PSAT scores were a lot like yours.
My suggestion is to practice over the summer with Barron’s or Princeton books (at least that’s what I’m doing) and DON’T procrastinate for a second when it come’s time to study after each lesson. You seem pretty prepared for Lang. after your high PSAT score so I wouldn’t sweat to much and try to get a seat in the front. If I’m wrong about U.S. history, I wish both you and me good luck!
The thing is, a B is supposed to be “above average” yet it looks so bad on our transcripts. I think of an A as an A and a B or anything lower as an F. It just sucks when we get B’s, I still feel guilty for getting B’s from last semester every day.
I’m a rising junior and my schedule will have four AP’s next year. I also have AP Statistics and AP Environmental Science, but I am very good at math and science and think I should do well in those classes. I also have Pre-Calculus and Physics. All my classes are honors or AP.
I don’t think any of us can answer your question without knowing about the teachers at your particular school. At my school, I had an easy APUSH teacher (got a 97) and a crazy difficult AP English teacher (most likely will get a 92/93). So it really all depends.
My advice for APUSH though is to actually read the book. I knew so many people who relied on wikinotes only, and they were the ones who got Bs. If you want an A, read & take notes on the book itself-- trust me, it isn’t difficult at all!
Good luck!
This is exactly opposite from my school haha, AP English is weeder class, it (literally) separates the smart kids from the “okay” kids. (The teacher puts the best writers at the back, worst at the front). APUSH is a joke at my school.