1. Thinking about taking APUSH? This is what you should know...

2. The class is a college-level course with a difficult textbook. Textbook: The American Pageant: A History of the Republic, Twelfth Edition by David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey

3. The summer assignment includes reading five chapters. For each chapter, the prospective APUSH student must complete four hand-written pages of notes and complete an on-line quiz. The summer assignment will be handed in the first day of class. A exam over the five chapters will be given during the first two weeks of the fall semester.

4. During the school year, there is at least one chapter to read per week; there are no vacations – reading is assigned over every vacation throughout the year. Book notes and the online quiz must be completed for each of forty-one chapters assigned in the book.

5. For every hour spent in class, a corresponding hour should be spent at home reading and studying.

6. The quizzes and exams are extremely difficult. The course includes writing of two different types of essays, the Free Response Question (FRQ) and the Document-Based Question (DBQ.) Both are timed writing and will be graded according to the College Board rubric for APUSH.

7. If you are signing up because you love military history, you should know that military history is a minimal part of the course. Political history, economic history and social history are the focal points of the course.

8. The College Board AP exam given in the spring is a four hour exam that consists of 80 multiple choice questions, two FRQs and one DBQ.

9. A successful APUSH student is committed to reading and studying. Reading comprehension is key, as is being an articulate writer and a critical thinker. And yes, there is a lot of memorization of names, dates, and events that go into the study of US History!

10. Questions? Contact Ms. Hartley at chartley@powayusd.com Or Ms. Michelena at smichelena@powayusd.com