What's up y'all? It's your boi, Maddie Whelan, comin' at you with a survival guide to AP Euro (if you get the reference to my blog title then you're the real OG).
I'd like to start out by saying how much I love this class. I'm not trying to be a kiss-up over here or anything, but Salz is one of the best teachers I've ever had. I had P-Man by sophomore year, and while I love him to death, his class can be pretty boring at times (all we did was notes or a "quest" every class and we had boring homework from the textbook every night). After having such an easy and uneventful history class last year, going to Euro was a huge step up for me. I went from not having to try at all to having to give it my all in order to keep my grade up. Although Euro gets a bad rap for being one of the toughest AP courses, and therefore one of the hardest in the school, I honestly thought it wasn't that bad. While history is my favorite subject and I plan to major in it in the future so my opinion might be a bit biased, I really do think that this class isn't too difficult. Salz does a great job teaching the material in a fun yet effective way (my favorite activity had to be the Thirty Year's War one, where we each had to research one of the phases of the war and come together as a group, share our information, and eat food associated to each phase). Plus, Salz lets people use their notes on reading checks, which is great, plus if you don't do well on one she lets you stay after and correct the wrong answers for extra points. If you're ever stressed about something, talk to Salz about it and she'll try her best to solve the issue and push back due dates or whatever. I think that Salz is an extremely fair and understanding teacher, which is a huge part of what makes Euro so great.
Nonetheless, there are some aspects of the class that will make you want to claw your eyes out. Do you have to take a lot of notes at home? Yes. Are there classes where Salz just does a PowerPoint for the entire time and it's really boring? Yes. Are the reading checks difficult? If you don't take the notes, then yes. While I hated all of this, I honestly feel like taking this class is a great experience to have and is worthwhile in the end (if I, the laziest person in the world, can do it, then you can).
I have a couple suggestions for improving the class. Salz, I remember you saying that you don't know how to include more multiple choice practice in the class. I think you should have an Albert assignment at the end of each quarter on the material learned (1st quarter = Period 1, etc.), and perhaps replace them with the quarterly concept review packets? The concept review packets we did each quarter honestly didn't help me on the exam, but the Albert multiple choice questions really did, so I feel like you should replace the packets with Albert. My last suggestion for improvement is more DBQ and LEQ practice, since I feel like there wasn't enough. In AP Lang, we drilled and killed on rhetorical, synthesis, and argument essays so much so that I feel like I aced them on the exam. However, when I took the DBQ and LEQ on the Euro exam, I didn't feel as confident. I think you should assign more DBQs and LEQs, preferably timed and in class. My suggestion would be to have one of each at the end of every quarter. So in conclusion: replace the quarterly concept review packets with multiple choice on Albert instead, and have more timed DBQs and LEQs in class.
I also have a few survival tips for this class, of course. First off, pay attention in class! It might be boring, but it's beneficial for the exam. Secondly, learn time management! I took Lang and Euro in the same year and I was drowning in work, however I learned to use time management when planning my work schedule and survived both classes and both exams. Time management will be your best friend, so you better learn it now while you can. Thirdly, take notes from the textbook! While the textbook is extremely boring (so much so that I've fallen asleep taken notes a handful of times) and taking notes is probably the worst thing about the class, they will be EXTREMELY beneficial, especially when studying for the exam. Thirdly, buy the AP Euro Princeton Review book (2018 edition)! This book is IMMENSELY helpful, as it's full of information about the exam, strategies, content review, and even two full practice exams. All I read while studying for the exam was this book, and I feel like I aced it. I believe this book is a vital necessity to the class and you should definitely buy it. There's this awesome website called Book Depository (https://www.bookdepository.com/) that sells brand new books, including textbooks, for really cheap prices. Shipping is free but isn't that fast (since it comes from England) and takes roughly five to eight business days (but it's worth it for the price, in my opinion). I'll leave a link to the AP Euro Princeton Review book on Book Depository at the end of this blog (make sure it says 2018 edition!!), and I urge you all to buy it. Lastly, if you ever need help just email Salz! As a slow-minded person whose brain takes a while to process and understand information, I emailed Salz constantly throughout the year and she always responded relatively quickly with extremely helpful instructions. And don't worry, she doesn't bite.
In conclusion, while this class may be challenging at times and needs to improved a bit, I feel like it's a worthwhile experience to take this class. Good luck and Godspeed!!
Link to the AP Euro Princeton Review book (2018 edition): https://www.bookdepository.com/Cracking-the-AP-European-History-Exam--2018-Edition/9781524710095
Amazon link (it's cheap as well, I don't know about shipping though): https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-European-History-Exam-2018/dp/1524710091
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