AP European History 2016-2017

not sure if the euro test has happened or not?

also, for those who don’t know, dbq’s are scored:

+1 for thesis

+1 for argument

+1 for using 6 documents

+1 for POV on 4 documents

+1 for context

+1 for synthesis

+1 for outside info

The formula is basically the same for long essays, except:

+1 for thesis

+2 for argument development

important to note what kind of question it is:

compare/contrast, continuity/change over time, periodization, causation

for each one, you get one point for basically answering it, (ie similarities and differences for compare and contrast) and another point for explaining why those things existed/that stuff happened 

+2 for evidence

+1 for synthesis

louis xvi: 

so the ap euro exam is in less than a week, right? i don’t know about all of you, but i find the multiple choice one of the hardest sections on the test. i’ve gathered a bunch of tips on how to tackle those mcqs here, which i’ll do in a step-by-step list. hope it helps some of you out there. let’s go euro!

first of all, take a few deep breaths and make sure your mind’s in the right space to answer the questions. just taking a few seconds to calm yourself down won’t impact your time that much, and it will help you be super focused and ready.

read the source of the stimulus and note down anything that comes to mind. for example, if the source is otto von bismarck, you might write “german unification”, or if the source date is 1789, you might write “french revolution”. don’t worry if you don’t recognise the source, but if you can get yourself thinking about the right period of history, it will help focus your reading.

read the whole stimulus, underlining important words or phrases as you go along. if it’s a cartoon or artwork, label people / events you recognise.

when you’re finished reading, summarise the document or illustration in three to five words. this will help you focus on the important message of the document and act as a quick reminder if you go back and check your work. when answering the questions, refer to these words rather than the stimulus itself. the questions won’t ask about specific details in the stimulus, they’ll ask about the main ideas, which you will have identified by summarising the stimulus.

move on to the questions. make sure you read the whole question and the whole of each option. you don’t want to miss any important details!

start eliminating the options you know for sure are wrong. most of the time there’s one option that’s out of the date range for the document, so you can eliminate that one. for example, if the treaty of westphalia is a stimulus but one of the multiple choice options talks about nationalism, you can easily cross it out.

follow your gut when answering, and don’t change your answers unless you didn’t read the question properly. remember all those times you got the right answer but changed it at the last minute and you ended up kicking yourself? yeah. stick with your first choice.

move through the questions at your own pace. don’t try to rush or stick to some sort of time schedule. even if you can’t get to every question, it’s much better to answer some questions right than lots of questions wrong because you were rushing.

if you don’t get to all the questions, bubble in random answers. wrong answers don’t count against your grade and you have a one in four chance of getting it right!

just breathe. you got this!

History is one of my favorite subjects, from my Ancient World History class to APUSH to my AP European History class, I’ve found the material fascinating. However, it is a course that can be difficult, particularly if you don’t enjoy reading assignments. Here are some tips!

Keep up with textbook readings. They can be tedious, but keeping up with readings also allows you to participate more effectively in class discussions, especially if your teacher reviews the content from the previous night’s reading in class. 

Decide on one platform for note taking. This allows you to keep them organized and easily accessible. I prefer to take mine on Google Drive, with a new document for each chapter and a separate folder for essays, in-class activities, etc. 

Time yourself for a set amount of pages (say, 10 pages) and see how long it takes you. It takes me approximately 50 minutes to read and take notes on 10 pages, and I can use that information to plan out my studying. 

Divide and conquer. You don’t have to do 15 pages in one sitting. I like to take pictures of a few pages of the textbook on my iPad so when I have some downtime, I can do a few pages of reading. 

Take notes on your readings. Simply reading and/or highlighting is ineffective - notes will help you retain information, and give you something to refer back to.

Here’s a post on how I do my notes. 

Hand-writing your notes helps you remember better, but it’s more time consuming. Ultimately, I type my notes because it’s easier for me to organize and access. 

Try your hardest not to copy what the textbook says. Instead, summarize ideas in your own words so you know what they mean. 

Bold/italicize/underline important people, dates, and legislation, so you can find them quickly. [For example, 1900: Sigmund Freud publishes The Interpretation of Dreams about the importance of dreams and subconscious thought to an individual’s psychological makeup, might be a bullet point]  

Participate in class, and communicate with classmates/teachers. 

Sit close to the board, or in what my teacher calls the “T-zone” - the column of seats in the middle and the last row or two - which is where the teacher’s eyes tend to look at, so there’s a greater chance of you being called on 

Take notes on what’s being lectured. They don’t have to be neat or pretty, but sometimes teachers will comment on ideas that will appear on the test, etc, and it’s important to write those down.

Get the phone number of a classmate or two (ideally a responsible one!) in case you miss class so they can send you the notes and some updates. 

Start studying early, and study effectively. 

It is very difficult to cram successfully for a history exam. Whenever possible, I schedule 3-4 days to study for an exam, more if it’s a particularly long one. 

Find yourself a good review book. Two recommendations I have are the AMSCO for APUSH or the McGraw-Hill AP Achiever for AP Euro. These will boil down the chapter to main events, ideas, and trends. 

Don’t get bogged down in details. Especially for AP courses, general political, artistic, and cultural trends will be the most important. Make connections between earlier units. 

I like to make graphic organizers for important ideas for each country in the unit, and then to fill them out by memory to see if I remember everything. 

For me, the most important thing is that I know the textbook content, especially since my teacher bases most of her questions off of it, which is something many teachers do. 

Pay attention to important clues when taking tests. 

Circle dates, names, and locations in the prompt - anything that can give you more context about the question. Look at the clothing and setting to get a better idea of context in visual prompts (paintings, etc). 

When analyzing primary source, keep in mind the time and author. What were their biases? Who was the audience? 

Try to find trends in questions. Sometimes teachers prefer a certain type of question, or like to trick you up by changing one thing (they might not even realize this). Finding these patterns will make your test taking easier. 

Be careful when reading the question. Sometimes they ask for which one was not true, or to select the true statement from a list of false ones. Don’t get confused! 

Do not change your answers on a whim. Really, if you’ve studied, you’re more likely to be right the first time around. 

If you’re allowed to see your test after you receive your grade, go and identify the questions you got wrong. This lets you see areas of weakness (are you bad at primary source analysis? Is there something you’re consistently getting wrong?). See if you can retrace your thought process when answering it and explain it to your teacher so he/she can explain where you went wrong. Who knows, you might even get partial credit back!

When I was in class, my teacher gave us a couple of lists of tips. Here are the ones that I found useful: 1. Take a position and STICK TO IT.


Remember that you need to argue a point in your essay. Nothing is neutral, EVER. It’s fine to note what the opposite argument to the point you’re making might be. However, only do this is you are confident that the way you combat this argument will strengthen your stance.

2. Make your references as specific as possible, but make sure they’re factual.
 Facts strengthen essays. It shows you know what you’re talking about! However, if you’re not sure about a piece of information in terms of accuracy, leave it out. Don’t harm your credibility.

3. Answer the ENTRIE question in your thesis. 
The best way I did this was to underline each part of the question, number each part, then cross that number off once I had successfully addressed in my thesis. Then, of course, you just need to facts and analysis to back it up.

4. Use past tense and third person consistently. History has happened, it’s done. Keeping a clear tense will make your essay cleaner. Same situation with using ONLY third person. For as much as your opinion matters in a DBQ, no using “I” to talk about your opinion, nor using “you” to appeal to your reader. You need to do that through third person only.

5. For DBQ’s, use the rule of “Three groups of three” You are required to show your argument from three different points of PERSIA. Let’s say, worst case scenario, you fail to analyze one of your documents correctly. If you only have two documents in a group, and one is wrong, you’re left with one correct document, and one is not a group. You have then lost major points on your essay. However, if you have three documents in a group, and one is wrong, you still are safe with a group of two!

6. Know how to answer the prompt. I present to you the great page of instruction definitions! Refer to this when you’re not sure how to answer what your prompt is asking of you 

i’ve actually never taken AP Euro, but here are some quick resources for you!

Barron’s prep

Sage notes

textbook outlines

all this on tumblr

how to tackle ap euro

these quizzes

nice music videos

really amazing guide!

Tom Richey’s resources

+ this masterpost

Southern(Italy and Whatnot) Renaissance:

Giovanni de’ Medici: (d. 1429) Merchant and banker of Florence, foundee of the Medici dynasty. He could be considered one of the world’s first modern people.

Cosimo de’ Medici:(1389-1464) Unofficial ruler of Florence Republic for awhile

Lorenzo The Magnificent: (1449-1492) Ruler of the Republic, official patron of the arts, he wanted to live life rather than wait for its fulfillment after death

Filippo Brunelleschi: (1377-1446) studied Roman buildings and built cathedrals

Leon Battista Alberti: (1404-1472) Filippo Brunelleschi’s buddy kinda thing cause they did the same shit

Lorenzo Ghiberti: (1378-1455) sculpted a set of bronze doors for the Florentine baptistery with not only crowds of human figures but the illusion of depth

Giotto: (1267-1337) painted walls on florentine buildings and created the illusion of depth and movement

Masaccio: (1401-1428) used light and shadow, nude figures, and the illusion of perspective.

Sandro Botticelli: (1444-1510)n painted themes from classical mythology such as his Birth of Venus

Raphael: (1483-1520) is considered one of the greatest painters of his era; he epitomizes the Renaissance style

Leonardo da Vinci: (1452-1519): “The Renaissance Man”; painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, writer, scientist

Michelangelo Buonarroti: (1475-1564) sculptor whose sculptures are often credited with the most perfect marble statues. He also did paintings in the Sistine Chapel

Dante: (1265-1321) standardized Italian speech and language which also helped create “modern” writing because it was finally out of Latin! That dick

Petrarch: (1304-1374) considered first “modern” writer

Boccaccio: (1313-1375) THIS BITCH WROTE THE DECAMERON, entertaining that reflect upon the human condition

Leonardo Bruni: (1370-1444) chancellor of the Republic of Florence, he wrote the first modern history, an account of the development of Florence

Baldassare Castiglione: (1478-1529) The Book of The Courtier, a manual for the manners of the modern gentleman

Niccoló Machiavelli: (1469-1499) he wrote The Prince as the first meaningful treatise on political science; how governments rule without moral judgement or exhortation.

Laura Cereta(1469-1499) humanist and early feminist; she (might) have taught at the University of Padua, she is often criticized for her Epistolae familiares cause people got upset about the “gender bias” she had.

Northern Renaissance:

GERMANY AND ENGLAND

Johann Gutenberg: (1400-1468) invented changeable, movable type for the printing press

Regiomontanus(Johann Muller 1436-1476) ALONG WITH Nicolas of Cusa(1401-1464): laid foundation for science and mathematics {fuck them right?}

Copernicus: (1473-1543) kinda like proved heliocentric system

Martin Behaim(1459-1507) and Thomas á Kempis(1380-1471) mysticism {a person alone could talk to God}

Gerard Groote: (1340-1384) Dutch preacher created “Bro’s of Common Life” a modern devotion

Erasmus(1456-1536): Gradual Reform of the church, nut still be loyal to it

Albrecht Dürer(1471-1528) artist(portraits and woodblock prints) also a fucking mathematician

Pieter Brueghel the Elder: (1520-1569): focused his painting and prints on ordinary people. Which challenged the whole Renaissance

Christopher Marlowe: (1564-1593) dramatist who helped form modern English

Edmund Spenser: (1552-1599) poet who helped form modern English

Francis Bacon (1564-1616) scientist who also helped form modern English

William Shakes-a lot-spear (1564-1616) yall know this dick right? if not, he is a writer

Sir Thomas More (1478-1535):  helped with contemporary English(also wrote blueprint for perfect society)

FRANCO

Rabelais (1494-1553): attacked French society and church while advocating reform

Montaigne (1533-1592) fucking formated the essay, you dick

SPAINO

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) sarersed societys anachronistic glorification of chivalry and medieval institutions in Don Quixote

Lope de Vega: wrote hella dramas

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (idk) painted magnificent religious pictures

Doménikos El Greco(1541-1614) painted magnificent religious pictures

Diego Valázquez(1599-1660): painted magnificent religious pictures

Francisco Suárez (idk): wrote hella admired works on philosophy and law

LOW COUNTRIES

Jan Van Eyck(1385–1441) Dutch painter

Rembrandt van Rijn(1606-1669) Dutch master (chiaroscuro)

ap euro (or any history) note taking tips

include causes, effects, and links/connections

when you find an event/treaty/war/etc., automatically write down the causes, effects, and links/connections to other events to help you better understand it, ap euro as a whole, and better your writing.

include who, what, where, when, why, and how

again, for an important event, answer these 6 questions. they’re all you need to get the vital, basic rundown of the event.

include the significance

why is it important? make sure you know so you can link/connect it to other things in the course, as well as add to your ap euro big picture. it’s huge if a piece is missing, the picture’s incomplete.

include people + their role/works, and dates and/or time periods

after a while, you can kind of tell who had a and who’s merely mentioned to make a foundation. know the people who are a big deal, their role in the time, and any works they did + what they’re about.

general time periods are usually much more vital to understand and remember than exact dates, so focus first. (some years are very important, though, so only memorize HUGE monumental dates you find the class coming back to over and over.)

exclude repetition

if the textbook or your teacher says it more than once in a different way, make a star or something to signal that it’s important, but don’t write it more than once and waste your time.

exclude minor details

remember, we’re painting a big picture here, and we only have but so much room. we need to include things like martin luther started the reformation, not how many slings he had.

1453  Constantinople is sacked by Muslim forces

1488  Bartolomeu Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope

1492  Columbus encounters the Americas (God, Glory and Gold.)

1517  Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses

1520  Diet of Worms declares Martin Luther an outlaw

1524-1525  The Peasants’ Revolt takes place in Germany

1534  Act of Supremacy passed in England → Henry VIII becomes head of the Anglican Church

1545  Council of Trent begins The Counter Reformation

1555  Peace of Augsburg (cuius regio, eius religio →whose region, his religion)

1585-1589  War of the Three Henries in France

1588  Spanish Armada destroyed by the English and “The Protestant Wind”

1603  Elizabeth I Dies → Tudor Dynasty Ends and the Stuart Dynasty Begins

1618-1648  The Thirty Years War (Treaty of Westphalia ends the war in 1648)

1642-1646  English Civil War (Roundheads vs. the Cavaliers)

1649  Charles I is executed → Oliver Cromwell begins his rule

1660  Stuart Restoration in England through Charles II

1688-1689  Glorious Revolution in England→ William and Mary of Orange replace James II and sign the English Bill of Rights

1643-1715  Era of Louis XIV  The Sun King (l’etat c’est moi)

1689-1725  Reign of Peter the Great in Russia

1756-1763  The Seven Years War

1789-1799  Era of the French Revolution (Radical Stage → late 1792-1795)

1799  Napoleon comes to power

1805-1815  Napoleonic Wars are waged

1814-1815  The Congress of Vienna meets (Main principles: Legitimacy, Conservatism, Compensation & Balance of Power)

1819  Peterloo Massacre in England

1830  Belgian Independence

1832  Reform Bill in England Passed

1848  Revolutions break out across Western Europe (France, Austria, Italy and Germany)

1861  Serfs emancipated in Russia under Alexander II

1870-1871  Germany and Italy Unification

1884-1885  Berlin Conference is held (“Scramble for Africa”)

1894  Tsar Nicholas II comes to power in Russia (the last of the Romanovs)

1905  Sunday Bloody Revolution in Russia → “The Dress Rehearsal”

1914  Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated → WWI starts

1917  March and November (Bolshevik) Revolutions in Russia

1918  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is signed →Russia withdraws from war

1918  WWI ends

1919  Treaty of Versailles is signed

1918-1921  Russian Civil War (Reds vs. Whites)

1922  Mussolini comes to power in Italy and establishes the 1st Fascist government

1922  Russia officially becomes known as the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) → The Soviet Union

1923  Adolf Hitler leads the Beer Hall Putsch in Germany

1924  Lenin dies

1928  Stalin is firmly entrenched as the leader of the Soviet Union → begins the first of several 5 year plans

1929  Stock Market Crash in the US → The Great Depression begins

1933  Hitler comes to power in Germany

1938  Munich Conference (Peace in our time→Neville Chamberlain)

1939  World War II starts with Germany’s invasion of Poland

1945  World War II ends (V-E Day → May 8, 1945 and V-J Day → August 15, 1945)

1945  First session of the United Nations is held

1945-1989  Cold War (U.S. vs. S.U. begins and begins to end in Poland)

POST WW II  Decolonization → European colonies become independent

1946  Winston Churchill gives the “Iron Curtain” speech

1948-1949 Operation Vittles→the Berlin Airlift

1949  USSR successfully tests first atomic bomb

1951  European Coal and Steel Community formed (sounds like the Zollverein)

1953  Stalin dies and is succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev → destalinization begins

1954  French forces defeated in French-Indochina at Dien Bien Phu

1956  Hungarian revolt against the Soviet Union → it is crushed by the Soviets

1957  Rome Treaty is signed → The European Economic Community (EEC) is created = Common Market

1957  Sputnik is launched by the Soviet Union → the first space satellite

1958  The fifth Republic is born in France and Charles de Gaulle becomes President

1961  Berlin Wall built → dividing East and West Berlin

1961  Soviet Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space

1962  Cuban Missile Crisis → 90 miles off the coast of Florida

1963  Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is published

1964  Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Union

1966  Under President Charles de Gaulle, France withdraws from the common NATO military command

1968  “Prague Spring” occurs in Czechoslovakia → it is crushed by the Soviets

1968  Student revolt in France (Paris)

1978  Pole Karol Wojtyla elected Pope → Pope John Paul II → 1st non-Italian in 455 years

1979  Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of England (“The Iron Lady”) (Mags loathes no one more than this heinous twat)

1979  The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (eventually becomes their own “little Vietnam”)

1980  1st independent labor union in the Soviet Bloc formed  “Solidarity” led by Lech Walesa of Poland

1980  Ronald Reagan elected President of the US (calls the Soviet Union an “evil empire”)

1985  Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader (implements policies of perestroika and glasnost)

1986  Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in the Soviet Union (specifically the Ukraine)

1989  Berlin Wall comes down

1989  The “Velvet Revolution” occurs in Czechoslovakia → Vaclav Havel becomes President

1989  The Soviet Union withdraws its forces from Afghanistan

1989  Romanian leader Nicolai Ceausescu is overthrown and killed

1990  Lech Walesa becomes President of Poland

1990  East Germany and West Germany reunify into one Germany

1990  The first McDonalds opens in Russia

1991  Attempted coup attempt in the Soviet Union → The Soviet Union begins to disintegrate

1991  Boris Yeltsin becomes President of Russia → former 15 republics of the Soviet Union form the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.)

1991  Yugoslavia begins to break apart

1992  Maastricht Treaty signed

1997  Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of England → 1st Labor Party leader in 18 years

… You’re welcome.