Students Prepare for Advanced Placement US History Exam

Advanced Placement US History, most commonly known as APUSH, is one of the advanced placement classes offered for sophomores at Arrowhead Union High School’s south campus.

According to the AP Student website, APUSH explores the events of United States history through analysis of documents, data, and more. The official APUSH test will be held on May 5th. Students taking the test should report to their assigned classrooms at 8 am.

According to the Advanced Placement website the exam is three hours and 15 minutes long. There are 55 multiple choice questions, four short answers, one document based question, and one long answer.

Students such as sophomores Molly Leyden, Taylor Tomich, and Ava Glapinski are among the sophomores currently enrolled in AP US History. According to Leyden, there are currently 116 sophomores taking AP US History at Arrowhead. In the 2014-2015 school year 2,483,452 students nationwide enrolled in AP US History.

“The AP test is very stressful because we have been working so hard all year so if we don’t pass and get college credit, it will almost feel like it’s for nothing. I’m really aiming for a 4 or a 5 because then if I ever run into this class in college I won’t have to take it again,” says Tomich.

According to the Advanced Placement website, scores can range from a 1 to a 5 a 1 being the lowest score and a 5 being the highest. A score of 3 or above is considered passing and earns the student college credit and a score of a 4 or a 5 can exempt the student from having to take the class in the future.

According to Leyden and Tomich, the students in APUSH have been prepping for both their final exam and for their AP test.

“We had a four hour review session on April 30th, a morning review session on Monday the 1st, and Tuesday the 2nd. We also have been doing a lot of practice essays in English that will help prepare us for the free response questions on the test. I really like the review sessions because even though they are early I find it’s more beneficial to study with peers and my teacher than by myself,” says Leyden.

Leyden and Glapinski say they took AP Human Geography last year.

“Taking an AP class and test last year is really helping me prepare for the AP test this year. Even though the content on the test is really different, I still feel like I’m better prepared mentally to take this test because it is so long and you have to do a lot of studying,” says Glapinski.