Notebooks for APUSH

1. Notebooks for APUSH • These are seriously your life. EVERYTHING in this class will go into these two notebooks. • They both must be a 5 subject, college ruled, spiral notebook. The ones with pockets are preferable. You may NOT use a three-ring binder. The bigger (more paper) the better as we will use these the entire year.

2. On the front, put CLEARLY and in BIG LETTERS: • Your name. • Your period. • Label it either “APUSH Homework/Notes” or “APUSH Class Work” APUSH Homework & Notes Joe Schmo Period 1 APUSH Class Work Joe Schmo Period 1

3. In both notebooks, use some sort of sticky tab to separate your chapters/units. Notebooks will be collected on the day of the unit test and I must be able to EASILY find the unit I’m grading and see the separations. Choose sticky tabs that you can write on so you can clearly label each unit. You will put a sticky tab and label for the following: • The BEGINNING of each unit • The END of each unit • The BEGINNING of every chapter • So to sum up, you’ll have sticky tabs to show the beginning and end of every unit, and then a tab to show the beginning of each chapter within the unit. I suggest color coding to make it easier for both of us.

4. You will use the tabs for BOTH notebooks. • If you lose your notebook, it is up to you to replace everything that was lost. You will turn in your notebooks at the end of first semester, and again after the AP test. You will receive an overall completion grade for both of them. So if you lose it, your grade will suffer if you don’t work hard to replace everything. • Also remember, NOTHING else should be in these notebooks. They’re exclusively for APUSH. So your homework/notes shouldn’t have calculus in it and your class work notebook shouldn’t have AP Lang stuff in there. They are ONLY for APUSH.

5. How to do Homework and Take Notes in APUSH There is a very specific way to take notes in APUSH. Your homework notes are your lifeline. You are allowed to use them on quizzes and they’ll provide a foundation for the notes we take in class. Ultimately, the whole point is to see the information twice in a short period of time and then, hopefully, remember it better.

6. There are specific steps you must follow to receive credit: • You will start your homework/notes on a new page for every chapter and for every night’s homework. • On the upper right hand corner of every page, you need to put the chapter number for the notes as well as the page numbers assigned. Don’t just put it the first time. Put it on every single page. Make it clear and big. • You will put any key terms assigned BEFORE the homework notes. Clearly number and underline the term, and then explain in a brief sentence or two (no more) what it was, making sure to include overall importance. Don’t just say for “French and Indian War” - “it was a war fought in the colonies that the French lost.” That’s missing the point. • Remember – the more you put into this class, the more you’ll get out of it. So actually take your time and define the words and DON’T BE LAZY.

7. You must READ the book to take these notes. They will not be effective if you cheat and copy them from someone or somewhere else. If you are concentrating and focusing, they should not take you that long and they’ll help you in the long run. • You MUST do your homework notes in pen. There is not a specific color requirement but they all must be the same color throughout the homework. • You may take your notes however you’d like. BUT, to receive credit and a stamp, you must have at least 1 page front and back and AT MOST 1 page front and back and another front of a page. That’s it. You may NOT take more notes than that per night. The idea is that you learn how to summarize the information and write down the important stuff. • Don’t worry – if you miss anything, you’ll get it in class. We’ll get to that in a minute.

8. While taking your notes for homework, leave room somewhere, somehow. This all depends on your style. You may want to use Cornell style, or skip lines, or whatever. You have to leave room though because the other half of your homework grade comes from the class notes. • When you get to the bottom of your last page of notes, leave at least 3 lines. More on that in a minute. • So to summarize the homework: • Chapter number and page numbers on the upper right hand corner of every page. • Start a new chapter and a new night’s homework on a new page. • Make sure to clearly label the key terms. • Homework must be done all in one color pen. No pencil and no multiple colors. • Homework must be at least 1 page front and page and at most 1 page front and back and another front of a page.

9. So to get credit, you come to me BEFORE class starts and show me your work. If you’ve done enough and not too much, you’ll get a stamp. • Tardy students don’t get a stamp without an excused pass! • You’ll take your notebook back and take the class notes. • You’ll have me stamp it every time you have a reading/notes assignment. • Both notebooks, homework/notes and class work, will be turned in on the unit test day. They’ll be graded right then and handed back by the end of the period. • Now for the class notes. Using a DIFFERENT pen color from the one you used for homework, you’ll take notes. No pencils. You may only take class notes within the space you have used for homework. You can’t write more and go onto another page.

10. This is where it’s critical that you plan out your homework well. You have to fit it onto the required space but also leave space for class notes. • You have to show that you’re adding to your homework notes. The different color of pen will do that so fill in information, underline, circle, whatever. When you turn in your notebooks, all of your notes should be completely filled with two different colors. • At the end of your notes (remember the 3 blank lines?) you’ll summarize the section. This is not a silly section. This is where you really look back and explain in about 2 sentences the general theme of what you just read and took notes on. Like, American power overseas? Growing economic problems leading to war? Whatever it may be, you need to take it seriously and look for that major theme. Then, you write it down in the same color as class notes.

11. A few things to remember: • You may use the back of the paper in your notebook. • The back of a paper can count as a new page if you want to start there. • Nothing else should be in your notebooks. Your homework/notes notebook should only have APUSH notes in there. Nothing else. Period. • You need to use one color pen for the homework notes and a different color for the notes in class. No pencils. Any color works (even pink!) • At the end of your notes, give a two sentence explanation of the overall theme of the section. Focus on importance in the grand scheme of things and the impact on the United States in the long run.

12. Chapter 1 Pages 2-14 Key terms: Key term #1: explanation Key term #2: explanation More… more… II. Peopling the Americas There is controversial evidence that the earliest Americans arrived here up to 35,000 years ago, using the frozen oceans to travel by land and by boat (stuff you would add from class notes) About 10,000 years ago when the Ice Age ended, the land bridge was swallowed up and pretty much no more humans came to the Americas until thousands of years later, leaving the humans here isolated for the most part (stuff you would add from class notes) By the time the Europeans came to America, it is suggested that 54 million people inhabited the land, but this number is debated The Incas in Peru, the Mayans in Central America and the Aztecs in Mexico developed very sophisticated civilizations (more stuff from class notes) Lots of stuff from class notes

13. Chapter 1 Pages 2-14 II. Peopling the Americas There is controversial evidence that the earliest Americans arrived here up to 35,000 years ago, using the frozen oceans to travel by land and by boat (stuff you would add from class notes) About 10,000 years ago when the Ice Age ended, the land bridge was swallowed up and pretty much no more humans came to the Americas until thousands of years later, leaving the humans here isolated for the most part (stuff you would add from class notes) By the time the Europeans came to America, it is suggested that 54 million people inhabited the land, but this number is debated The Incas in Peru, the Mayans in Central America and the Aztecs in Mexico developed very sophisticated civilizations (more stuff from class notes) Lots of stuff from class notes More homework notes… more homework notes…More homework notes… more homework notes… more class notes, more class notes Summary:

14. The AP Test • The AP Test • The test is May 14th, morning session. • Cost is $89 (this might change, but I’ll let you know if it does). • You’ll take it in somewhere on campus. • There are 80 multiple choice questions on the test. You have 55 minutes to do these 80 questions. • There is one DBQ on the test (with only one prompt) and two FRQ (free response questions) on the test, each with two prompts to choose from. Students have a 15 minute reading period prior to writing the essays where they are NOT allowed to start actually writing the essays. You have 2 hours, 10 minutes for ALL essays. • The suggested time for the DBQ is 45 minutes, each FRQ should be 35 minutes. • The multiple choice portion is worth 50% and the essays are worth 50%. • You may earn the following scores on the test: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 3 and up is passing. Generally speaking, most colleges only accept a 4 or 5 to receive college credit. Some colleges do accept a score of 3. • Colleges frown not only on taking an AP class and not taking the test, but also on failing the AP test! So keep that in mind!