History

AP Human Geography

Grade: 9

Teacher: Mr. Mewborne

Unit 1 Pre/Post Test

This class was the first AP level class I had ever taken, so I knew it was going to be the most challenging. Mr. Mewborne warned us that it was nearly impossible to mantain an A in his class, so I decided to really focus and put my best effort into succeeding in it. After our very first day of class, our homework was to read the first chapter in the textbook, which was over forty pages of heavy reading. Knowing that I had to be prepared for the unexpected, I read all of the pages very carefully, and took detailed notes as I went. It was very tedious work, but I kept it going.

When I returned to class, our teacher surprised us with a pop quiz (shown above, on the left) which asked questions about some key points in the chapter, and even some that were not in the book! It was short, but very difficult. Fortunately, I remembered the majority of the reading because I did it in a way that worked best for my brain to process it. He passed these out later, and although I recieved a very low grade, it was by far the highest in the class. I made a good first impression and was even referenced to as a leader. At the same time, I realized how difficult the class was really going to be. I was able to go back through the questions and write the correct answers and some tips to help me further understand. Later, we had a post test, and I recieved a perfect score! From this experience, I have adopted new techniques for learning, preparing, and improving, which I can continue to use in all other classes and even outside of school.

AP Human Geography Course Outline

One of the most difficult aspects of the APHG course, was deciding what was most important to study for the tests. When it came to studying for the AP exam, it was extremely difficult for me to find an effective way to cover all of the most important material. Mr. Mewborne assigned us the task of creating an outline for the entire course.

Although an outline seems like a straightforward tool to most people, they are one of my weaknesses to create because I struggle with getting into too much detail. I want to cover everything, but often forget the purpose of an outline: to briefly cover the main topics. I was overwhelmed at first by the assignment, but I made myself take it slowly so that I became disciplined to recognize important facts. In the end, my outline turned out to be to-the-point and easy to read, and it also fit the recommended length. I think that putting the effort into doing this assignment the right way really paid off and is shown in the quality of the finished product.