1. "THIS CLASS IS SOOOO HARD. YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO DIE. IT'S TORTURE! DON'T DO IT TO YOURSELF!"
2. Dude. It's really not that bad. Like, it's hard. But seriously, if you just manage your time you'll be fine. It's a lot, but stop stressing. No big deal.
These two conflicting opinions made my decision to take Euro kind of a struggle. My mom also told me not to take Euro, because she knew how heavy my workload is with all APs and Honors classes. But I pretty much make a habit of trying to screw myself over so I went ahead and took it anyway. I didn't really realize how much summer work I actually had and put it off until a few days before school. Other than Censabella's Honors US 1 class, I'd never really had a challenging history course. So I spent the last few nights of my summer cramming in all the work, which became a very frequent habit of mine. My biggest take away from this course is that if you manage your time at least a LITTLE better than you usually do, you will be OK.
Throughout this year I learned more about history than I probably had in my years in school combined. There were some kids in my class that just naturally had a pretty solid understanding of history. I was not one of these kids, so I felt at first that I was at a slight disadvantage. You overcome this setback pretty quickly. The material itself isn't HARD. There's just a lot of it.
Here's what you need to do and know to get through this class:
1. READ. When there is a reading, you'll be saving yourself so much stress if you just read SOMETHING. Even if its a summary online or the timelines and vocab, just read something. It might not be mandatory, but you can use your notes on all of the quizzes. SO Jesus just read and write something down.
2. Don't save everything for the last second. I'm one to talk because I pretty much did this every time, but when I did spread out my work and plan ahead, my grades and lack of stress reflected it. I know it's hard with sports and other AP or Honor classes, but just try.
3. SALZ IS AMAZING. I'm not saying this because she's reading it, but because it's actually so true. She understands that students are people and that we have things going on in our own lives. If you really need an extension or some leeway, she'll understand and try to help you. She lets you correct and make up almost any reading check. She makes the activities interactive and fun. She talks about life and the problems in school with her classes. She doesn't lecture. She gives us food (pizza, croissants, subs, Swedish fish...). She made us goodie bags for the AP Exam. She is just overall a teacher that you will not struggle to get along with. She makes the class so much more bearable. And she knows what she's doing and what she's talking about... So trust the process
4. If you get really bad grades, its good. A 50 is still passing on the exam. I think I failed almost all of the reading checks, and so did everyone else lol. But you get to make them up and correct them. If you do your classwork and projects well and put in the effort, it will make up for the worse grades. I somehow managed to have an A for two of the quarters and a B for the other two.
5. RELAX. It really all does end up fine. Everything works itself out if you just put in the effort.
Make the most of the class, the skills you learn are REALLY going to help you in other classes and in college.
Manage your time, put in the effort, stress a little but not too much, eat some snacks, and become friends with Salz. You'll be fine. Just keep your eye on the prize!
I actually became closer with people through this class because we all struggle (and succeed!) together. You become like a little AP Euro family.
Best of Luck!
- Vianne Turcotte 2019
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