How to Succeed In Writing-Heavy Classes

Hello everyone!

This year I am taking AP European History as my history course, and there is a LOT of writing involved. Our main activities during class are listening to my teacher’s lectures and taking furious notes, practicing writing DBQs, and writing out long lists of terms for our study guides. Writing and AP classes are both time consuming on their own, so together… let’s just say I’ve spent many hours each week on writing assignments for this class. If you’re taking a similar course, this is the post for you!

Break it up – This is crucial. I know we all love to procrastinate, but you CANNOT leave every paper/essay/huge assignment until the last minute in these classes, because there’s just too many assignments like that. I highly recommend working on these things every day for at least 20-30 minutes (more if you can!!), specifically covering the parts of the material that you discuss in class each day.
Record lectures to give your hand a break sometimes – Hopefully your teacher allows this (mine does), but in these types of classes, especially history, a lot of information is covered; it can be very useful to record lectures so you don’t miss any minute details. You can also use these to take revised notes later.
DO EXTRA CREDIT – I say this in every school advice post no matter what class it is, but in these types of classes it’s especially important. Writing is so subjective that you may not always be sure of how you’re doing in the class/what grades you’ll get on assignments- this is why extra credit may save you. It’s always nice to have the extra padding regardless.
Mainly study formatting; otherwise, PRACTICE is your best bet for studying – If a lot of your grade is based on in-class essays and writing assignments, there’s not always a way to “study” for those. I recommend always looking over the format the night before and even right before you go to class so it’s fresh in your mind. Other than that, I would suggest you do as many practice writes as you have time for; I know that’s not always realistic timewise though.
Use highlighters and make keys – This can really help you figure out what you’re actually writing and what you’re missing. My teacher makes us do this, and it helps so much. Use a bunch of different colored highlighters and make a key; break it up by thesis, evidence, important people/events, etc. Your strengths and weaknesses in your writing will come across much clearer this way, and you can easily see if you forget something.

The best thing you can do is to keep writing; the more you practice, the more you improve. These types of classes have a lot of time-consuming assignments, but as you get used to the pace it will be a lot easier to keep up (that’s what I keep telling myself!). Try to stay on top of the work and do your best, because that’s all you can do. If all else fails, write as much as you know and ask your teacher for help- they want you to succeed too!

-Brooke