How to Succeed in AP Euro

Welcome back everyone!

Frankly, school has been kicking my butt lately. I’m not sure if any of you can relate, but I have a feeling most of you can. This year I am taking AP European History, and it’s been both a great and a horrible experience at the same time. A quick pro and con list to sum it up:

PROS: I have a great, hilarious teacher, history is one of my favorite subjects, I’m actually doing pretty well in it, there’s no homework

CONS: The pace is super fast which means constant studying and review, no homework means tests matter way more in the gradebook, it’s still a lot of work even though there’s no homework

That being said, I’ve picked up a few tips for this class in the past couple months. If you’re in the same boat as me or are planning on taking AP Euro in the future, keep on reading!

Write down the significance of things rather than a lengthier definition – Obviously you still need to know the definition of people/events/etc., but it’s more important that you know the impact they have on the country and other people involved. I would focus more on the “why” of things instead of the “what”.
Constantly be adding to your notes/reviewing – I honestly don’t do this as much as I should, but it helps if you ever have the time to. Going back to your notes and adding another detail gets your brain even more familiar with the topic; even just re-wording things so they’re easier to understand can help.
Read after the lectures/lessons – I find that my teacher is better at explaining things so that I actually understand them, whereas the book just has more details packed in. If I try to read from the textbook first, I usually don’t really grasp what’s going on. Again, the reading honestly isn’t required (unless your teacher says it is) but if you have the time to do it/are planning on it, I would do it AFTER lectures occur.
Reteach the material to yourself – This can be through adding to your notes or reading after a lesson like I already suggested, but what helps me the most is to talk through everything to myself. I find or make a list of the most important topics we talked about in a chapter or unit, and I just explain everything to myself using all the details and facts I know. It makes you more confident that you actually do know what you’re talking about.
Use Quizlet – I know I talk about Quizlet in every study help post, but I have a different strategy with Quizlet here. AP Euro is obviously a popular class and all schools teach it a little differently- there are SO many Quizlets for any possible Euro topic, so if you ever need more information on something, look up a Quizlet. Sometimes I do this for my notes or my study guides when I feel like I’m missing information on a certain person.

I honestly love history classes, but I’m not the best at managing my time studying for them. I’ve really tried to work on that this year with Euro, and I hope all of you taking the class are thriving as well! Let me know if you have any questions or any Euro-specific tips you or your teachers utilize.

-Brooke