Top 3 Ways to Study for AP World History!

By Neha N., Grade 10

At the beginning of the school year, as a sophomore taking her first-ever Advanced Placement course, I didn’t know what I was more nervous for–the class itself, or the AP exam in May. However, after six months of school, I have finally come to a decision: 

AP exams are quite possibly the scariest experience I will ever have. 

My AP courses themselves have honestly been going as well as I could ask for right now–I have amazing teachers, classmates who are genuinely curious about learning, and plenty of resources to help me be successful. However, studying for the Collegeboard-administered AP exam is a whole other story. To be honest, I’ve felt too overwhelmed by the sheer amount of topic material to even begin studying, and many AP students at my school feel the same way. Thus, this list is made up of my top 3 study resources for the AP World History AP exam in particular, which is one of the most common introductory AP classes for sophomores. 

3. Albert.io

Albert.io is a free and easy-to-use online practice test website that offers multiple choice practice questions for many subjects, including AP World History. Personally, I use these practice questions before big tests, but not on a regular basis, since most of my class assessments come in the form of short answer quizzes. However, the multiple choice section is worth 40% of your AP score, meaning that albert.io is a good way to prepare, especially if you haven’t reviewed the earlier units in a while. One note about this resource is that the questions are often much more difficult than the questions you’ll receive on the actual exam. This could be a blessing or a curse, depending if you’re someone who gets easily discouraged while studying, or if you’re someone who likes to be over prepared. For me, although the practice prepares me well, it often leaves me feeling discouraged due to the difficult nature of the questions, which leaves it in third place in my ranking. 

2. AMSCO 

Even though AMSCO (the name of the textbook that most AP World History classes use) is likely your most-used AP World History resource, it still manages to be overlooked. It is organized into sections specifically designed for the AP exam, making it far easier to navigate than other AP World History textbooks I’ve used. In addition, it contains free-response and document-based question practice, which are formatted in the exact same way as the free-response questions and document-based questions that we work on in class. In addition, it contains useful compare and contrast charts, maps, and timelines which make it much easier for a visual learner to read and understand than a typical textbook. My only critique of this textbook is that it is relatively shallow in nature, covering everything essential but not going as deep as other textbooks, meaning I’d advise one to use the AMSCO textbook in conjunction with another textbook when studying. 

1. Heimler’s History 

If you are a student in any AP History class, you have most likely heard of Heimler’s History, arguably the most popular Youtube channel for history review. Mr. Heimler does an amazing job of prioritizing the most important topics from each chapter and subsection of the curriculum while still reviewing everything enough. In addition, the videos are short and concise, meaning that they can quickly get a procrastinator (like me) up to speed when necessary in a pinch. But their main selling point for me is how engaging Heimler is, including jokes and nicknames in the videos to help students pay attention to topics that may be dull to them. Overall, Heimler’s History is great for people who want a quick review or refresher of the topic, people who procrastinated on studying, or anyone that has trouble learning from a textbook alone.