AP EUROPEAN HISTORY:- HOW TO “SLAY THE

BEAST!!!”

Meet “THE BEAST”(aka: AP Euro. History Exam)

*Section 1: 80 Multiple Choice Questions ((A-E) - 55 minutes = 50% of the exam grade)

*Section 2:

DBQ ESSAY (~45 minutes

= 22.5% of the

grade)

FRQ #1 (1 response from 3

topics; ~35 min.= 13.75%)

FRQ #2 (1 response from 3

topics; ~35 min.= 13.75%)

SELF-DOUBT / OVERCONFIDENCE

“WEAPONS” AGAINST “THE BEAST”

Background knowledge/Experience Focus during the exam

Resilience Time management

Historic Thinking

Skills

Primary Source Support from fellow

Analysis students & the teacher

Essay writing Note-Taking / Studying

Mastering Specific “Weapons”Note-Taking:

• Come up with a method that works for you!• My preferred note-taking style – POWER THINKING NOTES

(PTN)• PTN Method – Organizes information into important ideas,

details of those important ideas, details of the details of those important ideas, etc.

• PTN Method requires ACTIVE THINKING (stopping consistently while reading the textbook and figuring out what to record)

• While executing PTN, DO NOT use complete sentences (unless you are writing a definition). Instead, use abbreviations, symbols, acronyms, etc.

• PTN works best if you do not procrastinate!!! (5-8 pages / night)

Power 1 = Main Idea Power 2 = Supporting Details for Power 1

Power 3 = Supporting Details for Power 2

Example: (see p.338)Ch.12: Recovery and Rebirth…

P1: Meaning and Characteristics of the Italian Renaissance (R)

P2: R=rebirth (Italy)P3: interest in Greco-Roman cultureP3: !!! Individuality and secularism

P4: …P2: R.Italy = urban

P3: mid-14th cen. – independent citiesP4: wealthy centers

P2: main idea of the next paragraph!!!P3: details of the main idea…

Mastering Specific “Weapons” (cont.)

Primary Source Analysis

LINK TO PPT:

HOW to ANALYZE PRIMARY SOURCES

Example:

Source: Henry Knighton, Augustinian Monk.

Essay Writing in AP Euro. Class:DBQs

document based questions

• 1 topic - 10-16 docs. (12 docs. on the exam lately!)

• Basic core vs. Expanded core points (exam vs. my class – see grading rubrics)

• Critical skills: *Primary source analysis *Thesis construction *”Chunk” paragraph skills adjusted to the DBQ format!

FRQs:free response questions

• Two subgroups – 3 topics in each – One response per subgroup.

• Grading rubric – varies depending on the topic (will be provided in my class!)

• Critical skills: *Thesis construction*Mastery of content (specific evidence)

*”Chunk” paragraph skills

DBQ Writing Handout (coming up in class!)

• Explanation of grading rubrics

• Step by step instructions

• Practice with individual primary sources

• DBQ on the Black Death (practice in class)

FRQ Writing Handout (coming up in class)

• Explanation of the grading rubric

• Step by step instructions

• Practice with content related topics

Other Historical Thinking Skills

The list includes, but is not limited to:

• Chronological reasoning (causation, periodization, continuity/change-patterns over time!)

• Comparison and contextualization (+ connection to larger historic processes)

Example: Fascism, the more it considers and observes the

future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy…...Fascism denies, in democracy, the absur[d] conventional untruth of political equality dressed out in the garb of collective irresponsibility, and the myth of "happiness" and indefinite progress....

Benito Mussolini, What is Fascism, 1932.