Quote of the Week: You do you and I'll do me and we're not gonna do each other.

Good Gravy - AP Exam

Advanced Placement U.S. History Exam:

• 55 multiple choice, 55 minutes. But of course these aren't just simple read the question then select the answer multiple choice, that would be too easy and kids nowadays need to think more (I say sarcastically). No, these are read the passage/excerpt for every 2-3 questions or you won't know the answer multiple choice.
  55 questions 55 minutes, Better Learn How To Speed Read.

• 4 "short" answer questions, 45 minutes. And you know that those "4" questions are really going to be questions 1.a, 1.b,1.c, etc., so it's really about 12 questions ,a few sentences each, and (yay) they might even make you read a passage first.
• 1 long essay, 35 minutes (this may be the easiest part) 5 paragraphs
• (oh my favorite part) 1 DBQ (Document Based Question) 60 minutes. You get to read not 1, not 3, not even 6, but 7 passages/documents, one of which may be a political cartoon that you have to understand. Then answer the question with about 5 or 4 paragraphs, but you must include an analysis of at least 6 of the documents in your answer and connect it all to some other historical events.
• Don't understand the question? Too Bad. Not a fast reader? Too Bad. You've been writing for over an hour because you had to answer those other questions and now your hand is killing you? Too Bad, write for another hour! Missed a week of school because of that snow earlier in the year? (I feel bad for the students in Boston) Too Bad, that exam date is the same for everyone in the country and is NOT moving! Don't understand the passage because it was written by some dead guy who lived 2 hundred years ago and wrote in Elizabethan English? Do I Even Need To Say It.
• It's a new test design so you have no idea how they're grading the writing portion.
• The guinea pigs students that were chosen to test out the new exam last summer did not do so good.
• Test is in May but you don't get your results until July

SUMMARY: The College Board hates high schoolers with a BURNING passion.

I don't know about anyone else but I have never taken a test like this before. The history teacher has these after school review sessions (which I go to) and even has a countdown on the chalkboard - 21 days until the AP Exam , oh joy! She's even trying to get #striveforafive trending in Twitter. Earlier this week we had to fill in a ton of things on a big bubble sheet with our personal information.

The seriousness and anticipation for this exam makes finals look like elementary school spelling tests. Wish me luck? (×_×)