No system is perfect.
All human beings learn differently, but we can take ideas that have worked for most and apply them ourselves.
Please ask Mr. Duez if you have any question regarding any of these tips or suggestions.
Many of these tips will discuss in class throughout the year.
Tips for Transitioning to AP World History by Mr. Duez
Aidan Explains How to Use this Website, 2013
Suggested pace for a week at a glance:
1. Print and copy down the Learning Targets from the website. Copy the key terms and definitions into your notes so that you can use them on your quiz for that chapter. Or - make flash cards (I sometimes call them "cards that flash").
2. Skim through the Chapter you are reading from Strayer quickly, looking over the section titles, headings, pictures, and margin review questions.
What do you already know?
How did Strayer organize this chapter?
Why do you think it is presented in this way?
3. Read the Chapter and take notes.
My best advice is column notes or Cornell notes so that there is room on the page of notes for you to add to it during class.
4. Continue reading the Chapter and taking notes.
Most students can NOT read 30+ pages of a college text in one sitting. Heck, I can't either. I usually do a major section and then take a break. Write questions down in your notes for things you do not understand. Bring those to class on Monday and ask that question in class. Then, Read Mr. Duez's Notes and/or Watch the accompanying YouTube video lectures. Compare his notes and ideas to your own.
5. Write out and answer the Big Picture Questions & Margin Review Questions.
After you have read the chapter, go back and try to answer the questions. They are listed for you in the Target Sheets for your convenience. Before Monday, try to at least, write out the questions in your notebook. Then during the week focus on answering them. Try a few each night.
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| "Great Leap Forward." 2012 |
MONDAY:
7. CRUSH THE READING CHECK QUIZ.
How, you say? You can use your handwritten notes. So take them over the weekend, bring them to class on Monday and get to crushing that quiz!
8. Answer the Margin Review and Big Picture Questions from the Target Sheet. Place special emphasis on questions that are in the week's agenda that Mr. Duez has already put on the website and will be the focus of a lesson or a DO NOW Question.
WEEK OF THE UNIT TEST:
9. Get together with a STUDY GROUP to sit and discuss the chapter. Don't just "talk about it". Question each other with Margin Review and Big Picture Questions and work to find the best answers cooperatively.
DAY OF THE TEST:
10. CRUSH THE TEST.
- REPEAT STARTING WITH #1 -
Be patient, learning at an advanced pace will be trial and error at first. What takes you an hour to accomplish in August and September, might take 20 minutes in November. It will feel as if you are working very hard at first until you get to a point where when you work efficiently.
Sooner or later you will come to a place this year when you just "Shampoo It" each week.
That's what I call it.
Shampoo it:
Lather, Rinse, Repeat if necessary.
Those are the directions on the back of the bottle. You will find a system that works for you. (Results may vary!)
Find a weekly pattern that works for you and then stick with it. First step, find a place to read Strayer in quiet. A place that you can sit and write at the same time. If you can do it, it is not a bad idea to purchase a copy of Strayer so that you can actually write in it and take notes as you go. That is exactly what many college students do.
Brain science tells us that learning only happens with repetition. You can't possibly look at something once and know it. Especially a topic as vast and as complex as the history of the world. As an old teacher used to tell me, "Repetition is at the root of learning."
Learn from the past. Students that have had success in the class and ended up doing great on the AP Test have passed on their tried and true methods.
What is #StrayerSunday ???
The image below is from the 2013 WHAP T-Shirts. On the back "Hashtag" Strayer Sunday. The same can be said for #StudyingTheNightBefore. It does not work. You will not succeed by doing what you have done in the past. You must grow up and start to work smart.
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| #StrayerSunday - 2013 |
When reading Strayer, use the SQ3R Method: Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review!
Find out more here: The SQ3R Reading Method on Study Guides and Strategies Website.
This is a video that I put together with my son Aidan's help in 2011. He discusses tips like
SLANT and our 3 Rules for the class.
3 Classroom Rules - 1. Be Prompt. 2. Be Prepared. 3. Be Polite.
SLANT:Sit up straight
Lean forward
Activate your thinking
Note key information
Track the speaker
Here are some Tips & Tricks for the skills of note taking, analysis, and thinking in the AP Way:
Using Cornell Notes - How To Tips and Tricks
Taking Notes from a Textbook
SQ3R
SOAPS Tone Primary Document Analysis
GPERSIA Chart
Glasser's Percentages of Information Retention
You will remember...
10% of what you read
20% of what you hear
30% of what you see
50% of what you see and hear
70% of what you discuss with others
80% of what you experience personally (that involves feeling)
95% of what you teach someone else
So Create a Study Group!
It is a GREAT way to learn, help others, and Help Yourself!
PARENT WELCOME & TIPS FOR SUCCESS
0:00 Why am I making this video - How it can help
1:14 Introduction - Who I am
2:23 Syllabus & About AP World History & The AP Test
9:20 The Agenda on the Website - How to know what we are doing each day
14:30 The Notes on the Website - accessing them, Target Sheets, & resources for each Unit and Chapter
17:23 The Target Sheet - How to access, use, and understand this resource.
**18:38 Strayer Textbook & Companion Site - how to access it, use it effectively, chapter notes outlines, online practice quizzes & tests. (NO LONGER AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME)**
26:38 How to succeed on the Reading Check Quizzes
34:16 Understanding Strayer Tests
36:37 FRQ Questions - Looking at the Comparative Essay that is due on Friday. Tips
40:37 Looking at “The Notes” - Specifically discussing Chapter 4 “Intro to Empires” and how they are organized.
46:45 The Calendar, How to Contact Mr. Duez, Importance of AP classes
PARENT WELCOME & TIPS FOR SUCCESS
0:00 Why am I making this video - How it can help
1:14 Introduction - Who I am
2:23 Syllabus & About AP World History & The AP Test
9:20 The Agenda on the Website - How to know what we are doing each day
14:30 The Notes on the Website - accessing them, Target Sheets, & resources for each Unit and Chapter
17:23 The Target Sheet - How to access, use, and understand this resource.
**18:38
26:38 How to succeed on the Reading Check Quizzes
34:16 Understanding Strayer Tests
36:37 FRQ Questions - Looking at the Comparative Essay that is due on Friday. Tips
40:37 Looking at “The Notes” - Specifically discussing Chapter 4 “Intro to Empires” and how they are organized.
46:45 The Calendar, How to Contact Mr. Duez, Importance of AP classes
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN WHAP - R.G. - 2016
EWW! TIPS FOR WHAP - MADI, LILLIAN, CLAYTON 2015
10 Ways to Ace AP World History by Joseph A., 2014