At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to challenge myself by making the transition from an honors US history II to my first AP class ever: AP European history (along with AP bio). I should mention that I absolutely loved my US history II class, some of it because the curriculum being studied but mainly because of the great teaching techniques that Mrs Salz incorporated into the classroom. For the first time in school, I felt like I was actually learning to learn, not for the grade; further driving my interest and self-confidence throughout my sophomore year. When course selections came out, my decision on whether or not I should take AP Euro fluctuated- I knew I would love the class but the fact that all my other friends had taken APUSH before me, I felt like I was behind somehow, which was pretty discouraging. But, in the end, I trusted in Salz’s encouragement and signed up! Looking back now, I will never regret that moment :)
What I really enjoyed in this class was, again, the way it was taught (I mixed in survival tips in here as well). When going into this class, I was a little intimidated because there was rumors about it being “the hardest ap class in the school”- this is false. Although the pacing is faster than college and honors classes, I have never felt overwhelmed with the amount of work given- she is sooo organized!!! Mrs. Salz is really great about giving monthly schedules about things that is due for hw (which is usually only taking notes). Also if the whole class feels that the time given for a certain assignment is too short and stressful, she is happy to make arrangements to change it so everyone is okay. I know you have all heard this secret before, but managing your time is key; especially when organizing large assignments by breaking them down into everynight(ish) sessions. Most of my friends, unfortunately waited to the last minuet and pulled all nighters all of the time. Speaking of large projects, the Machiavelli Project in the first quarter is the hardest project of the entire year so if you can do that, you can manage everything else later on in this class :) you’ve got this! Also I really liked how reliable and helpful Salz was throughout the year. If I couldn't understand a certain historical event, I never felt shamed for asking during class or even after school for some help (she is after school everyday which I have always greatly appreciated). I can remember in the beginning of the year, I received a couple of poor grades on the reading checks (mostly because I wasn't used to the timed testing) and I began to feel discouraged because I would spend so much time reading and taking notes on the material and it felt like my hard work was not paying off. I went after school one day (a mess) and just talked to Salz about how I was feeling and she was so understanding. She told me that she can allow me a few extra minutes on the quizzes and then, overtime, once I got faster and more comfortable, we could restrict the time back to the normal amount of time. Even though this might not seem like a lot, it meant so much that she actually cared about me as a student and making me feel more confident within the class :)
There's nothing that I really disliked from the class, besides the long sections of notes- which isn't really salz’s fault, it just kinda get tedious after a while haha.
One suggestion for the class is to not read Sophie’s world- it was incredibly boring and not useful. Other than that, I have no more suggestions. I can not express to you all enough how well Mrs. Salz prepared me along with the rest of the class, for not only the ap exam but for all of the lessons I will need for life later on.
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