is ap us history hard

is ap us history hard

Exploring the Complexity of AP US History: A Scholarly Analysis

1. Introduction to AP US History

The AP U.S. History course enables students to engage in the historical issues and events that allocate most powerfully to these objectives. The first tenet is the perspective that all of our history is the story of the complexity of human behavior in context. The context, in this case, is the web of political, economic, social, and intellectual change that has continually transformed the face of American history. The diversity of the student body may be recognized and encouraged in the diversity of the historical sources, models, and special interest projects that are evaluated by students and teachers. AP U.S. History is committed to the academic success of all its students, encouraging and expecting success not only for the gifted and talented but also for the underachievers and learners with special needs. AP U.S. History offers both a demanding curriculum and at the same time encourages a diversity of techniques that meet the diversified learning styles and needs of our gifted students. As we teach U.S. history, we are instructing students and citizens about the meaning of their shared American identity. AP U.S. History expands that sense of identity as it encourages our students to recognize the national diversity of our unique heritage. AP U.S. History curriculum is commensurate with the AP U.S. History exam in both breadth and depth. Teachers are urged to use the examination specifications when planning their courses.

AP US History encompasses the breadth of American history from Native American societies, through the colonial and revolutionary periods, to the present century. Such an approach may present the teacher, student, and text writer with a daunting array of information. It does, however, also offer tremendous potential for the exploration of American history and its meaning for our lives today. Teaching AP U.S. History offers us an incomparable opportunity to live with the discipline of history. Indeed, it is precisely this constant, year-long exploration of the richness of human nature with the constraints and opportunities posed by the historical context that makes the course both so challenging and rewarding to teach.

2. Challenges and Misconceptions Surrounding AP US History

Taking up the second point of concern, Fleisher and Hashmi (2004) return to the volume of material learned. While they note that the considerable amount of time and commitment required to overcome such hurdles as explosively increasing content and sustain an effective AP US History requires a massive initial commitment and continued dedication of existing faculty, no U.S. Government or U.S. History state examination studies have examined this issue. To explore, these authors use both the National Assessment of Education Progress and the state AP testing program from 1987 through 2003.

Kerns notes two common criticisms of AP US History: first, the idea that it is simply the same information as covered in a first-year college history course, and second, concerns about the large amount of information covered. To the first point, Crespi and Christopher (2001), citing concerns raised by the Advanced Placement Workgroup, found difficulty demonstrating significantly greater scores for college students who had taken AP courses as compared to college students who followed similar coursework but did not take the exam, suggesting that the AP courses were not substantially superior to other college preparatory and honors courses. These senior high school AP students in their study reported more course material measured against other school endeavors. Overall, however, AP students were unlikely to have a broader understanding of course content than students from other college preparatory senior high school programs.

3. Key Strategies for Success in AP US History

The best AP US History teachers begin the year by establishing a joint understanding with their students about why US history is a particularly important study. A vision for the course is jointly articulated and sustained over time. Neither teachers nor students allow the course to disintegrate into isolated dates and events. Both teachers and students share a final exam-oriented focus from the start. The teacher often states that the AP US History exam will daily loom in the background as the reason why we are considering issues of the past, and the type of questions we need to ask about studying various aspects of American history.

For teachers and students:

Unifying the essential elements of effective teaching and studying in AP US History is a demanding but crucial task. Although the most important elements of success are the students and teachers who accomplish great things in the classroom each day, the following twenty-year study of curriculum, instruction, and assessment data reveals some key strategies that account for significant success in the AP US History classroom. Some strategies work for both teachers and students alike while others can be directed at the specific needs of one group.

4. The Impact and Value of Studying US History at an Advanced Level

This paper seeks to contribute by exploring the AP US History experience. The intention is to substantiate the unique opportunity the course represents to create the informed, thoughtful citizenry capable of engaging productively with history that contributes to endorsement and accountability for this crucial enterprise. This paper will outline considerations that make the AP US History a unique course, present proof that students will profit academically from coursework under these auspices, and demonstrate how the skills provided by AP history experience serve US policy expectations of informed citizenship.

Support for AP history education has been grounded on findings of the lasting and broad impact of quality history education, many of which have been cataloged in the heavily utilized 1987 ASHE Report. Support has also been implemented when authors have creatively and convincingly sold AP Human Geography as viable to the United States Department of Education as a course that harnesses the skills important for more advanced US education. Lastly, support has been at least briefly offered in the form of recognition of the field as an up and coming voice in social studies scholarship.

5. Conclusion: Navigating the Academic Rigor of AP US History

Students enrolled in AP US History need to expect and interact with significant amounts of historical and contemporary journalistic reading, with lengthy research reports. To meet the rigor of high school and standards of college, they should be prepared to read multiple historical sources based on a variety of themes. These works need to be read and studied in their original languages and for historical background, beyond pre-made summaries or single summary readings. However, these foundational documents could most likely benefit greatly from small synchronous group discussion virtually or through small socially-distanced meetings. The interpretive essays and research-based projects can elicit rich group discussion within the new forms of digital meetings and discussion rooms. Such assignments can facilitate students’ abilities in error correction and expose them firsthand to ethical applications of personal and cultural historical understanding. In a world with changing technology and controversy over information validity and literacy, it is essential that students in the near future and on can navigate through their historical inheritances and current understandings.

In conclusion, it is important to recognize that expectations around student workload and academic rigor differ based on a student’s other course offerings, presence of a job, extracurricular activities, parental support, and other numerous factors. The 560 homework minutes average for AP US History seems within reason for highly academically motivated high school students, even for a full year course. The differing nature of reading written reports digitally rather than extracting information via paper surveys make drawing detailed conclusions comparing AP US History student work in this study with the current generation difficult. While this small study has some limitations, it does provide preliminary insight into the complexity of taking an AP US History course.