- Ragsdale High School
- AP Courses
-
Thinking about APUSH? Here are some FAQs:
What is APUSH?
- Advanced Placement United States History is a year-long course that can earn you 2 college credits depending on your score on the AP exam in addition to the American History graduation credit.
- The Fall semester is called Honors American Humanites and earns the honors quality point in your gpa. The Spring semester is called AP US History and earns the AP quality point in your gpa. There is no other difference between the courses. You must take both.
- Like American History, APUSH covers pre-columbian civilizations through the early 21st century with a focus on social and political history.
How much work is it?
- There are nightly readings, usually 2 sections in the online text. You must take handwritten reading notes for a grade. There are daily reading quizzes which are open-notes. Reading notes and quizzes (combined) are 20% of your grade.
- You also have a set of 100 IDs to complete for each unit. IDs are on notecards and count 30% of your grade.
- There are no fluff, filler, freebie, buffer, or extra credit assignments. Every single thing we do will prepare you for the AP exam by either building content knowledge or skills.
How do you teach?
- Class is almost exclusively lecture with a ppt outline and images. I can teach you how to take lecture notes if you do not already know how.
- There are also writing workshops, primary source practice, online maps, and practice questions but all are supplements to help grow skills and content knowledge.
What about the tests?
- Each test has 2 parts: 55 multiple-choice questions and a writing component. I will teach you exactly how to write the essay, and you will be allowed to rewrite the parts you do not score well on. As the course progresses, the writing parts will change. We start with the most difficult so we can practice it longer.
So how hard is this class?
- With so few grades, everything is weighed heavily so if you know you are not going to read and take notes, this is not the course for you.
- Students who engage and focus on growth are successful in the class and on the exam. Students who do not read are not as successful in the class (they may pass the class but not with an A or B) and are not as successful on the exam.
If you have additional questions, I encourage you to stop by room A114.