AP US Gov and Politics?

Question

How realistic is it for me to be able to take that exam while not taking any ap class on it... I plan on buying an AP Test book by Barron and teaching myself? I do have a pretty good understanding of the Constitution and I do keep up with Politics.... Is it realistic to expect a 4 or 5?

Answer 1

I took the AP US Government test last year and I got a 5, but I took a class.  Actually, the class I took was a combination US and Comparative politic class at my high school and it was actually known for being the most difficult class in the social studies department.  Just to give this some perspective, there were about 900 people in my graduating class and there were less than 40 seniors who took this course.  

From what I remember on the test it had very little to do with current politics and a lot about the intricacies of the government system.  How a bill becomes a law, powers of the president (the much more detailed versions than what you learned from school house rock) and a lot of supreme court cases.  There was also a lot of vocab; earmarks and tabling and latin terms I don't even remember.  

Honestly, I think it would be conceivable that you could get a 4 or a 5 without taking a course if you spent a lot of time studying this stuff intently.  Realistic?  Maybe not.  Then again, I don't know what your grades are like or what your work ethic is and how much time you have to devote to studying.  

Also, the AP US politics exam is one of the oldest AP exams, meaning they have had years and years to come up with questions and standardize a grading system which means that teachers have learned how to teach to the test and what kind of questions to expect every few years.  You won't have that kind of knowledge going into the exam like students who took a course will and the scores are based on how well that year's pool of students did (top scorers get a five and everything else is assigned based off the top scores if I remember right).

Answer 2

hmm. i took this class last year. i consider myself a political junkie i guess but i'm not too hardcore about it. the class taught me alot but i did buy and read the ap review book to catch up. i studied for like a month, could have studied more but i went at it pretty hard. i got a 3 (my school only accepts 4s and 5s so that sucks..) it would be really tough to do that and balance out the rest of your life. i wouldn't suggest it but thats me, if you put the effort it, it is one of the easier APs. good luck!

Answer 3

The Barron's book will have a practice test in it, so use the book and take a practice test and then you'll see whether or not you'll need to sign up for the actual course in school.

Alternatively, if you go to www.MyStudentEdge.com, they have free practice AP tests and you can see if you're in the 3-5 range and then decide to take the course in school.

Btw, you'll need the access code: XULGFRAD to get in.

Answer 4

It could be possible. I had a horrible AP gov teacher who just went on wild political tangents instead of actually teaching us the AP material. As a result, I know many people who ended up getting 2's and 3's on that test. I basically self studied my butt off using Barron's and was pleasantly surprised with a 5. The Barron's book really helped me in answering the questions asked on the test.

Answer 5

Go for it.  But only if you have confidence in your memory.  Remembering which bill or amendment says what, which act did what, which supreme court ruling caused what is approximately 90% of the test.  There are many so obviously you have to train hard to remember them.  If you are type of learner that learns from reading a book, then by all means try it.  However, if you have never attempted taking a test or something without a teacher's lecture, I think its a bit risky.  A class will help you remember since you will be hearing the teacher repeat the things he/she thinks is important as opposed to reading the same pages over and over.