Advanced Placement U.S. History
Advanced Placement United States History
** Please note that the 2020-21 Daily Schedule was implemented in a 4x4 Block Schedule where the APUSH Class met face to face beginning January 19, 2021. The students were expected to be responsible for all items starting Monday October 19, 2020. Weekly Zoom meetings were held on Sunday evenings to review the concepts and answer student questions. Each Zoom meeting typically lasted about 90 minutes. It is also noteworthy that 93% of the class earned a score of 3 or higher on the National Exam.**
2020-21 Daily Schedule (will be strictly followed)
APUSH National Exam Study Tools
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Things You Should Be Doing As A Junior To Prepare for College
The Advanced Placement Test for 2020-21 will be administered on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. If you are a College Credit Plus student or have other obligations it is your responsibility to make the necessary arrangements to take the test at this time. The test will last approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes. There are no exceptions.
General Course Information
Introduction
This is essentially a college course that is rather demanding, and is one that requires you to put forth your best effort on a DAILY basis. Due to the challenging nature of the course, an extra grade point will be added to your course G.P.A. You have ample opportunity to demonstrate that you are academically competent learners, effective communicators, productive individuals, culturally aware individuals, and involved citizens.
Textbook
Electronic Version: The American Pageant 15e
Course Notes for American Pageant 15th edition
Supplemental Books:
United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination by John Newman. (ISBN: 1-56765-660-9) - .pdf
Portrait of America by Stephen B. Oates Volume I (ISBN: 0-395-90077-8)
Portrait of America by Stephen B. Oates Volume II (ISBN: 0-395-90078-6)
Course of Study
Attendance
Regular attendance is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL in this class.
I will strictly enforce the school attendance policy. Students with persistent attendance problems will be transferred to another class.
Classroom Management
I CAN NOT OVERSTATE THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING EXCELLENT CLASS NOTES. THEY WILL BE OF GREAT HELP NOT ONLY FOR THE TEST PREPARATION THIS YEAR, BUT ALSO FOR REVIEWING FOR THE AP TEST IN MAY. Each one of you is expected to take an active part in class on a daily basis. When you enter this room, be prepared to think, ask questions, and make comments.
If you have difficulties in this class, feel free to drop by for extra help. If special problems arise, see me as soon as possible, so that we can work things out.
If you are having "one of those days", let me know before class begins so that I can accordingly make allowances.
Homework
Expect nightly reading assignments. TAKE THESE SERIOUSLY! If you do not read, you will not do well in this course. Read to understand, do not read just to "get it done".
Late work is usually not accepted. If you are going to be absent, you are responsible to see me as soon as possible to find out what you missed and if there are any assignments that do not appear on the syllabus.
Grades
I use the following grading scale as is published in the school agenda.
A = 95-100
A- = 92-94
B+ = 89-91
B = 85-88
B- = 82-84
C+ = 78-81
C = 77-74
C- = 70-73
D+ = 67-69
D = 63-66
D- = 60-62
F = Below 60
Your nine weeks grade will be based on the following factors:
Test scores 40%
Quiz scores 30%
Daily Work Scores 30%
Your semester and final grade will be determined by the following factors:
quarter grade 40%
quarter grade 40%
semester exam 20%
Spectacular Resources to help you be successful in this class:
Jennifer Burns U.S. History Lectures - Jennifer Burns Slides to accompany lectures.
The Kahn Academy APUSH Prep. - Great review site before any test.
American Heritage - Well written articles and analysis of events associated with United States History
HistoryOrb.com - scholarly articles on all aspects of History.
Mr. Johnson's APUSH - Hopewell High School, Hopewell, Virginia
Chronicling American - Library of Congress Newspaper archives
Various Resources for Class:
JoczProductions - Youtube videos that are the chapter reviews for Kennedy.
Adam Norris AP Review Site (Home to videos to match every chapter of our Kennedy Book)
Immigration in the U.S. (History Channel)
Exam and Course Description for AP U.S. History