#hellosoko

11.01.18

Got back a midterm that I had a bad feeling about (let’s just say my bad feeling was correct) but also recieved a summer internship offer! guess it all balances out ~ 

sticky notes available here

08.04.17 Love the way these colors look together - find them here ~

hi I’m dante and this is my first studyblr post!! I hope you enjoy!!

INTRODUCTION:

Art History was hands down my favorite class I took last year and I’m going to miss it dearly this upcoming year :’v It’s a very rewarding and fun class, but prepared to work a lot if you’re looking for that 5 (or a 3 or 4, actually). I really wouldn’t recommend this class to you if you

a) don’t like art

b) just want an “easy” AP under your belt

c) are just looking for an AP art credit

because the universe will make you pay for it later!

TIPS:

I was one of the 11% of the people who got a 5, so I feel like I know how to study pretty well. Here’s how I recommend you study (and hopefully it’ll turn out well for you, too!):

1- ART CARDS + MINI FLASHCARDS

The College Board requires 250 pieces for you to know (and a bunch of additional sub-pieces tied to those works). As you pass through a unit of history, I recommend that you do two things for each piece you cover--- make an art card and a mini flashcard for you to accompany it.

The art card will serve as a place for you to take comprehensive notes on the piece, while the flashcard is a condensed version of what you had on the art card. I know it sounds tedious to copy the information down twice, but I promise it’s worth it. If you do it as you go along instead of waiting until the last minute, it’ll be less painful.

2- MINDMAPS

This is where flashcards are super important. I regret not doing this at the beginning of the semester, but oh well. After you start accumulating flash cards, you should start arranging them on your floor/desk into big piles by theme/similarities you find in pieces. The College Board is really into cross-cultural comparisons (especially for the FRQs) , so I highly recommend that you go out of your way and try to connect pieces (e.g. putting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and the Micronesian Nan Madol in the same stack because they’re both architecture pieces tied to water).

3- DON’T BOTHER MEMORIZING EVERYTHING

In a perfect world, you would be able to memorize the five key identifiers for each piece: name of piece, artist, culture of origin, year/time period, materials. Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to be able to do so.

Thankfully, you don’t need to know all of the identifiers for full credit—on most FRQs, 3-4 should do, meaning you don’t need to press yourself to know all the dates. On the other hand, you should know the context/history behind each piece, because that’s the “meat” of both the FRQs and the multiple choice section.

4- THEN AGAIN, HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF THE ART MOVEMENT + CENTURY A PIECE IS FROM

Some of the FRQs require you to write about pieces from a certain time period, meaning that you should be familiar with the general time period of when a piece is from (e.g. you should know that you shouldn’t be writing about Manet in a FRQ about Pre-Historic art). If you know when the art movement occurred (and you can identify what characteristics of that art movement are), you’ll be set for the attribution section, which brings me to my next tip….

5- LEARN THE ART MOVEMENTS

The attribution section of the test is (arguably) the hardest, especially if you aren’t that familiar with art. This section asks you to identify a piece (that was not in the 250), and label its artist, movement, etc. This means for all major art movements (Cubism, Impressionism, Modern, Postmodern, etc) you should have a little sheet of key characteristics that’ll help you identify what movement a piece is from (e.g. fractured shapes = Cubism). This is especially important with architecture!!!! A lot of the European architectural movements (Gothic, Romanesque, Art Noveau, etc) look super similar so if you don’t know what distinguishes each from the other you’ll be greatly confused.

The flashcards also help with this, as well: you can arrange pieces from the same movements in a pile and find similar attributes.

6- START REVIEWING EARLY

You should start reviewing for the test at the end of February-beginning of March because there’s lots of stuff you need to know. You should be reviewing your art cards throughout the year, but now’s the time to start picking up the pace. You should also start taking practice tests now. The more the better, honestly. I used the Barron’s AP book and the Collegeboard tests I found online to practice. (Don’t skimp on the FRQs!!)

7- PICK SOME CHILDREN

By children, I mean some of your favorite art pieces. You should know 7-10 pieces especially well (like forwards and backwards) so that you’ll never get stuck on any FRQs. I recommend that you pick a variety of pieces (both architecture and art, Western and non-Western, etc) that cover a variety of themes. It’s especially helpful if you have pairs of pieces that are similar together—for instance, I learned Mary Cassatt’s The Coiffure and Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas together. That way, you’ll have pieces to compare/contrast.

Some of my “children” I memorized for the 2017 AP test included: The Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson, Templo Mayor, Nan Madol, House in New Castle County, Luncheon in Furs, Les Desmoiselles de Avignon, Great Stupa at Sanchi, etc… but these were all pieces I thoroughly enjoyed, though. Don’t pick these because I picked these: pick some you actually like and find interest in. It’s definitely more enjoyable that way.

Now all that’s left of you is hard work! If you have any questions, feel free to message me!! I love art history dearly so it’s always a pleasure.