Talk to me about APUSH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

I teach APUSH - how much reading (and what types) have been assigned so far?

It is OK for kids to have an area of interest that they gravitate toward (and so their APs are skewed in that direction), but kids also have to be able to tolerate and get used to a certain amount of reading, etc. for college (even in STEM). Give us a sense of how much is assigned and I can tell you whether it really is a lot or whether it is an amount that it would be good for him to get used to.

Dp. Is reading and answering questions for 2 units a typical amount of one nights homework?

I'm not sure what you mean by a unit. APUSH has only 9 units total for the year, so I'm guessing that's not what you mean. If you mean "Topics" like Topic 1.1: Contextualizing Period 1 and Topic 1.2: Native American Societies Before European Contact, then it still isn't routine to cover that much in one night. BUT, some teachers really want to get into the meat of the course and know that there won't be many questions on Pre-Columbian Native American Cultures on the exam, so may try to zoom through the early topics in order to leave more time for other things. I would still try to wait a week or two to get a sense about whether this is a continuing problem before dropping down.

I cover roughly three of the above topics in a week in order to finish before the exam, but that can stretch. How many pages of reading and was it a textbook, prep book or scholarly articles?

Why educate when you teach to the test and whitewash history?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

I teach APUSH - how much reading (and what types) have been assigned so far?

It is OK for kids to have an area of interest that they gravitate toward (and so their APs are skewed in that direction), but kids also have to be able to tolerate and get used to a certain amount of reading, etc. for college (even in STEM). Give us a sense of how much is assigned and I can tell you whether it really is a lot or whether it is an amount that it would be good for him to get used to.

Dp. Is reading and answering questions for 2 units a typical amount of one nights homework?

I'm not sure what you mean by a unit. APUSH has only 9 units total for the year, so I'm guessing that's not what you mean. If you mean "Topics" like Topic 1.1: Contextualizing Period 1 and Topic 1.2: Native American Societies Before European Contact, then it still isn't routine to cover that much in one night. BUT, some teachers really want to get into the meat of the course and know that there won't be many questions on Pre-Columbian Native American Cultures on the exam, so may try to zoom through the early topics in order to leave more time for other things. I would still try to wait a week or two to get a sense about whether this is a continuing problem before dropping down.

I cover roughly three of the above topics in a week in order to finish before the exam, but that can stretch. How many pages of reading and was it a textbook, prep book or scholarly articles?

Why educate when you teach to the test and whitewash history?

"Teach to the test" is pretty much what AP classes are all about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader -- who is much more a math kid -- is already feeling overwhelmed 4 days into the school year. He has a heavy course load and I think moving from APUSH into to Honors US History would be helpful to reduce the stress. He very much compares himself to his friends and thinks if they can do it, he should be able to as well. We're working on that mindset but it's not easy.

Anyway -- if your child switched out of APUSH to Honors or on-level US History, were they glad they did it? Or if they stayed in APUSH, how did it go?

Thanks

OP - please share your high school. The actual experience in AP/Honors/regular classes can be different from school to school because of overall different demographics and school processes for enrollment.

My suggestion though is for your DC to stick it out all year, but reframe the goal as earning a B and getting a 3 is successful. There are a lot of important studying skills that he can learn this year and 10th grade is a good time to do it. It’s also good to learn that you don’t have to be great at everything.

-parent 3 STEM kids (2 with B/3 and 1 with A/5)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did he take AP Gov last year?

APUSH is definitely harder, especially the exam, mainly because there's just a lot more material to cover. But AP Gov in 9th does provide a bit of an advantage, just because they know what to expect.

Even with AP Gov, APUSH can be a big adjustment at first because the readings are more dense. It took my kid a while to figure out what they were supposed to be getting from them. But they also had a very experienced APUSH teacher, which helped a lot.

Yes, he took AP Gov and did ok. It's the amount of reading I'm concerned about (again, math kid). It's already been a lot in a couple of days.

I teach APUSH - how much reading (and what types) have been assigned so far?

It is OK for kids to have an area of interest that they gravitate toward (and so their APs are skewed in that direction), but kids also have to be able to tolerate and get used to a certain amount of reading, etc. for college (even in STEM). Give us a sense of how much is assigned and I can tell you whether it really is a lot or whether it is an amount that it would be good for him to get used to.

Dp. Is reading and answering questions for 2 units a typical amount of one nights homework?

I'm not sure what you mean by a unit. APUSH has only 9 units total for the year, so I'm guessing that's not what you mean. If you mean "Topics" like Topic 1.1: Contextualizing Period 1 and Topic 1.2: Native American Societies Before European Contact, then it still isn't routine to cover that much in one night. BUT, some teachers really want to get into the meat of the course and know that there won't be many questions on Pre-Columbian Native American Cultures on the exam, so may try to zoom through the early topics in order to leave more time for other things. I would still try to wait a week or two to get a sense about whether this is a continuing problem before dropping down.

I cover roughly three of the above topics in a week in order to finish before the exam, but that can stretch. How many pages of reading and was it a textbook, prep book or scholarly articles?

Why educate when you teach to the test and whitewash history?

It is comical if you think APUSH whitewashes history... Read the specific units. And the course covers the content of an American history survey course. If you think that means I am only teaching to the test, I don't know what to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader -- who is much more a math kid -- is already feeling overwhelmed 4 days into the school year. He has a heavy course load and I think moving from APUSH into to Honors US History would be helpful to reduce the stress. He very much compares himself to his friends and thinks if they can do it, he should be able to as well. We're working on that mindset but it's not easy.

Anyway -- if your child switched out of APUSH to Honors or on-level US History, were they glad they did it? Or if they stayed in APUSH, how did it go?

Thanks

Do not move them. there are you tube videos that will help. it's called Heimler's History. Valuable source.

[Anonymous]

My math & science kid took APUSH and AP Stats last year as a sophmore.

Though it was more reading, he ended up doing fine in the class (A for the year). He got a 5 on stats and 4 on the APUSH exam.

[Anonymous]

OP its a learning curve. It seems overwhelming at the start of the school year and then it becomes more familiar, your kid applies themself to the workload and its suddenly ok.

My humanities kid is having the same issue in Physics this year. He was ready to quit on the first day but now he's getting it and doing ok on the quizzes, he's staying put.