Shoot for a 4

 

If you are serious about passing the APUSH Exam on May 8, 2026 LEARN and MEMORIZE the APUSH Writing Rubrics.  This week we watched Heimler's video about the Document Based Question.  He breaks it down so well!  If you have not taken notes over the video you can watch it here, and you will turn it in on Friday the 19th.

The DBQ is out of 7 points.  If you want to pass shoot for a 4/7.  If you want to make a 4 or 5 make a 6 or 7 on the DBQ.  If you are overwhelmed that is ok!  We will be practicing these skills all year.

It will feel like you are writing like this - fast and furious.  But College Board knows you have an hour to write.  So they are expecting a rough draft!

DBQ Rubric - 7 Points

Thesis - 1 Point

Context - 1 Point

Evidence - 3 Points

-Describe 3 Documents - 1 Point

- Summarize 4 Documents - 2 Points

- Evidence Beyond Documents - 1 Point

Analysis - 2 Points

- HIPP 2 Documents - 1 Point

- Complexity - 1 Point

How Bad Do You Want It?

 

I WANT you to PASS the APUSH Exam, and you CAN!!!! I believe in you! To pass this test, you need two things:

1, a teacher who cares, and you got that! I am going to bring my A game every day!

2, you must study outside this classroom. I wish you could just come in here and listen, but that is not enough.

So how bad do you want it? How hard are you willing to work?

Get a prep book. The favorite is AMSCO, but they are all fantastic! Can you read for five minutes a day? I would say yes.

Watch a video. Read an article online. You got this!

Watch this Video below:

Knowt.com - GREAT APUSH Study Tool

 

GREAT Resource for APUSH and Reviewing!  I had a student make a 5 on the APUSH Exam and she said what made the difference was this!!!  You have to make an account, but it is FREE and completely worth it!  

Once you get in they have flash cards for important terms, practice questions, timelines, and mock exams.  At this point if you spend 10 minutes reviewing a night you are golden!  If you wait till the week before you will have to give hours!  Who has time for that?

www. knowt.com

Confronting Hard History

 

This week in class we watched a TED Talk - Confronting Hard History.  I LOVE ted Talks, and especially this one.  The speaker argues we MUST confront hard history or we are doomed to repeat it.  Or even continue it!  He also argues that we hate history, and we avoid it or ignore it when it gets hard or sad.

My job as your APUSH teacher is not to offend you, or upset you!  My job is to present what happened, and not sugar coat it, or gloss over it.  Also College Board knows your phone will tell you everything.  They want you to be able to have an opinion, and put values on people and events.  Is it good or bad?  Was it effective or not?

Confronting Hard History TED Talk

There are some moments in American History that rips my heart out, and then throw it to the ground and step on it!  I know as a historian "why" these things happened, but as a human it is hard to wrap my brain around.  How could you treat another human like that?!

American Slavery

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Trail of Tears

WW2 Japanese Interment Camps 

Columbian Exchange v. Triangular Trade

 We are 12 days away from the Exam.  One thing students always get confused is the Columbian Exchange the Triangular Trade.  I hear they are the same thing, but they are NOT!  

The Columbian Exchange is Unit 1 - 1491 to 1607. 

It is when the Spanish (Europeans) exchange between the Native Americans.  They exchanged animals, plants, cultural life, and diseases.  The exchange had positive and negative effects.  The  most positive impact for Native Americans is the introduction of the horse.  The most positive impact for the Spanish is the introduction of New World Foods.  It saved the European population.  The worst impact was disease.  The worst one being Small Pox.

The Triangular Trade in Unit 2 - 1607 to 1754

Unit 2 is all about England and Colonial Trade.  The Triangular Trade was established.  Know the differences!

Road To Civil War Posters

 In AP History you do NOT need to know Military History.  If you are a big Military History Buff - I am so sorry.  In AP Histories you just need to know what led up to the conflict, who won, and what was the impact.  That is why my APUSH students made a Road to Civil War poster!  This is WHAT they need to know!  In the 1840s the ONLY thing Americans talked about was SLAVERY!!!  It is no surprise there was a Civil War!

The posters were so creative and so informative!!!  Here are some of the events they included:

1. Compromise of 1850

2. Uncle Tom's Cabin

3. Kansas Nebraska Act

4. Bleeding Kansas

5. Brook/Sumner Affair

6. Dred Scott Decision

7. Lincoln/Douglas Debates

8. Election of 1858

9. Harper Ferry's Raid

10. Election of 1860

My first hour hung them!  So grateful

Embargo Act of 1807

 

In APUSH we are discussing the Embargo Act of 1807.  At this moment England and France were fighting against each other in the Napoleonic Wars creating an unsafe environment to trade on the seas!  The new American Government wanted to protect American Businessman.  So they said you cannot trade with any country!  They truly thought this action would hurt the rest of the world!  It did NOT!  It backfired!  It hurt America more, and numerous traders and merchants became smugglers to get around the Embargo.

The government heard the pain of American Businessmen and repealed this hated embargo creating smugglers.  It was replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act, which is an unfortunate name.  This Act opened the world to American Businessmen except for England and France.

To show American frustration the above political cartoon was created!  In the early 19th Century most Americans could not read or write, but they could analyze pictures.  Here is the symbolism in the political cartoon:

1. The snapping turtle is the Embargo

2. The guy running with a barrel to the ocean is a smuggler

3. The turtle is biting the smuggler (the embargo holds American businessmen back) 

4. The scene is in a port

5. There is a British Ship waiting in the port for the smuggler

6.  Last thing is the title Embago backwards

APUSH Masterclass