Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the AP World History

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
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if you read the book front to back like i did, there is no way in hell that you won't get a five. My suggestions is to come up with a reading schedule starting during spring break and read it all the way until the exam. Good luck and use this book!

To be quite honest, AP World History is, in general, a bad course. The scope of material is too wide, there isn't nearly enough time to get through the ungodly amount of history, and frankly, the name of the class, itself, is false advertisement. I think that AP World History should really be called 'The History of Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa Through the Perspective of the White Protestant Male,' because that's really what this class is, in essence. Basically, the course description tries to cover all of this material from the perspectives of the entire "world," but fails. In our class, for example, we spent FORTY MINUTES talking about World War I. There is NO WAY that a high school student (or any student, for that matter) can get a feel of World War I in a rushed 40-minute lecture. Granted, this *was* the first year that our school offered APWH, which made us the "guinea pig" class. Perhaps our teacher should have given us a summer supplement, but frankly, even with an entire summer of studying the material that this class tries to cover, a student will NEVER learn the history of the entire world outside of the USA. That brings me to another point: I think it's very interesting how, at our US high school, all students are required to take an entire year of US history, a relatively new country with about 300 years of history, while the school expects us to learn about the ENTIRE OUTSIDE WORLD in the same length of time.

Because of the time crunch we were in (a time predicament that ANY APWH would face in order to adequately prepare for the exam), our classes turned into mundane, lifeless lectures about dates, names, and places, rather than the "cause and effect" aspects to history. As a result, history was never brought to life, and I can honestly say, if I hadn't used this book, there is no way that I would have done well on this exam.

After spacing out during every lecture, I finally caved in and bought the Barron's book, which I studied from cover to cover during the exam PREPARATION. The Barron's book isn't designed to bring history to life--it's merely designed to give the student the necessary information needed to do well on the AP. I consider my score to be something that I earned on my own, and honestly, I do not credit the school for it. The practice tests are much like the ones you will see on the AP, although, the sample essays written by the author are unrealistically long. Still, the actually essay QUESTIONS are much like the ones that will appear on the test.

This book was, really, the sole reason that I scored a 4 on my exam. Our time predicament prevented us from taking a practice exam and from having adequate practice on the essays. Our class, in the end, had to rush through modern history (WWI, WWII, and the Cold War); the history that was supposed to be the most interesting of all was crunched into dates and facts. It was actually quite disappointing.

The AP exam, itself, was also unbalanced. I was expecting the test to be about a quarter Euro, a quarter Asian, a quarter South America, and a quarter Africa, since that's basically the extent of what we learned (or, rather, the extent of the material we were given). However, upon receiving the test, I discovered that, the test was about 80% ancient Asian history.
Again, ETS's attempt to be politically correct leads to false advertising.

If given the choice between World History and European History, TAKE AP EURO, I cannot stress that enough. If the school gives you some sort of speech that APWH will make you more "well-rounded" of a scholar of history, they feeding you a horrendous lie. But, if, like me, you were stuck with APWH, this book is the best exam preparation you can get.

Contrary to some reviewers, my APWH teacher did not make a good effort in teaching our class, so this book was the only reference that i could go by. The text review in the front of the book was very helpful and i still use it for history competitions and whatnot. However, the mosst helpful thing was the sample essays that they wrote for their own practice tests. Those helped me learn the format of an acceptable essay and how test graders think. During the actual ap test, i was sure that i would get a 5. That's how well this book prepared me.

I used this APWH study guide with my students for 2 years and while it's an "OK" test prep manual, I've found factual errors about the APWH course and overly complicated sample answers to the essay questions. Until the Princeton Review "Cracking the APWH Exam" came out 2/2004, it was about the best you could find.

I got the book in April, during spring break, but I didn't start reading it until the beginning of May, last year. I was very nervous. The book has thorough summaries about each civilization and explains what is happening in each civilization as time goes on. The book provided sample DBQs, Change Over Time, and Compare and Contrast essays. There was one example compare and contrast essay about women in the book. Come May, the Change Over Time essay was about women! Even with that frantic last minute studying, I received a 4 on my test!

World History is the newest AP subject and teachers have very few practice tests and questions to teach from. This book was awesome. It divides history into time periods identical to those used on the test in essays, etc. Within each period, it gives a good overview of the social, political, cultural, religious, etc. background of each major region of the world. The first chapter is an overview of geography and prehistory. There are 2 full-length practice tests with tough multiple choice questions and example essays with answers. Each individual section also has practice questions. This book helped me get a 5 on my exam.

I took AP World History (or as my fellow classmates and I affectionately called it, WAP) last year (sophomore). Well, seeing as I'm no fan of history, I essentially zoned out everyday and during the lectures. I seldom read the actual textook, yet still managed to scrape a B in the class each quarter. My 2 friends and I decided to start our own review sessions in about March (looking back, I would say start reviewing sooner!!), and so we each bought a copy of this book to help us along. Our first few review sessions went OK, but eventually they were no longer review sessions, rather chit chat time. I ended up only reading about the first 9 or so chapters. I found the review quizzes after each chapter pretty helpful, especially since they were relatively painless (only 10 questions). However, I failed to take the full-length practice exams, or read over the sample essays/essay questions. If I had actually used this book, I would probably have earned a much higher score than I did (I choose to withhold this so as not to dishearten any of you, because my low score was an exception, everyone I talked to earned at least 3, most got 4's, and some even got 5's...oops, I guess that gives away my score...). the point is, for the litte of this book that I actually did use, it was helpful, and easy to understand. I would recommend using it. But don't expect to use it as a last-minute resource, becasue trust me, it won't work. Keep up with the reading during the year (taking notes helps you coprehend it more), pay attention in class (take notes if it helps you listen better). I know that most of my other classmates bought this book (you could always identify a WAP student on a test day or before the actualy exam by their Barron's book kept by them all day). One of my friends even used it to help her review before Unit Exams throughout the year and found that it helped. It puts pages and pages worth into 1-5 paragraphs, making remembering the information much easier. In addition to this book, USE YOUR TEACHER (if they are good)! My teacher was available after school almost every day of the year, and gave special help sessions for essay writing, and even worked with students individually on thesis writing (something I would also recommend perfecting, trust me, it helps!!!). When the test was about 3 weeks away, he held review sessions where we would take the tests we had takne throuhout the year, then review each answer. Talk to your teacher about help with review and essay writing, and make a small study group. However, study somewhere that is not distracting (i.e. a library, because the librarians will usually get mad @ you for laughing excessively). DO NOT, i repeat, DO NOT go to a Starbuck's or somewhere simialr, because TRUST ME, you will get NOTHING done!! Get plenty of sleep the night before, and don't freak out about it. Be calm, and have faith in yourself. DO NOT try to answer every multiple choice question, even if you're like me and hate leaving ones blank - they DO count agaisnt you. That said, GOOD LUCK on the test!!!

I was having an extremly hard time with my AP World History class. In November, I finally pulled this book out of my locker (where it had been sitting since my mom bought it in early September)and looked through it. It is an excellent book, and my whole class has bought it. I can't imagine taking this class with out it. I went from failing to passing and I think I'll be ready when the exam rolls around in April. It is a great book!

This test-prep book was paramount in my scoring a '5' on the AP World History examination; however, it does have its flaws. Firstly, it is an immense book, and it will do you absolutely no good trying to read it all the night before the AP exam. There also exists a lot of information I thought was useless, so I highlighted concepts that I thought were most important. Basically, this book was the sole reason I scored a 5. I had an abysmal WH teacher (yea, you Ms. S---e M----n!) who taught us absolutely nothing, so I was screwed until my other AP prep teacher (thanks Mr. R!!!) found this book for our class. The multiple choice questions in the book are at par with the AP exam questions, and the essay we had to write this May for the exam was actually one of the practice essays (w/the answer) found in the beginning of the book.

This book is definitely a must have for any AP World History class. I hate my normal text, but can easily understand concepts and events with the Barron's Guide. It is straight to the point and delivers most of the essential information in a few paragraphs or pages. Great for finding info on a specific topic and very thorough. Don't take AP World History without this book!