A.P. U.S. Government

4-19-2020

DEAR STUDENTS:

Please read the following CAREFULLY. This email applies to ALL AP U.S. Government Students, both FIRST and SECOND SEMESTER 

First of all, do not stress.  

Secondly, MAKE SURE that you have download the lesson documents (MS WORD) and the MP4 videos that are listed on my home page and can be downloaded from MY web page calendar. Watch them and email me with questions (as many as you have)!

The following will be what YOU NEED to DO to be SUCCESSFUL on the AP U.S. Government test:

The below Units are Units 1-3 in the A.P. U.S. Government Curriculum. Don't confuse the numbers with my lesson numbers. I am using a slightly different order in my reviews. 

Unit 1 is “Constitutional Underpinnings” (i.e. all the material we did at the beginning of the year on the Federalists and Anti-Federalists and some  parts of the Constitution). That will be one of the last units I’ll cover in my videos and documents, and will be done by the end of the coming week (April 20-24).

Unit 2 is “The Interactions Among Branches of Government” (i.e. the material on the three branches of government and the Bureaucracy). That material is covered in depth in MY lessons 2-6.

Unit 3 is “Civil Liberties and Civil Rights”. I will post part 1 of that lesson tomorrow (4-20-2020) and part 2 on Tuesday (4-21-2020).

ALSO, I will post two documents at the end of the coming week. The first one will have salient excerpts from the 10 foundational documents (i.e. Federalist Paper #10, Brutus #1, Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and some subsequent amendments, Federalist #51, MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Federalist #70, Federalist #78. The second one I will post will be a document of the 15 MUST-KNOW SCOTUS Cases with commentary on the salient points in each case.

***THE ABOVE MATERIAL IS THE ONLY MATERIAL YOU’LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ON THE TEST.

***The last two units in the AP Curriculum are the unit materials YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ON THE TEST (I.E.  “American Political Ideologies and Beliefs” AND “Political Participation”).

MAKE SURE that you download the lesson documents (MS WORD) and the MP4 videos. Watch them and email me with questions (as many as you have). ALSO, PRINT all the WORD docs as the test is an open book/open notes test. BUT, AND I STRESS BUT: make sure you are VERY well-versed in the materials, so you know which document to go to if needed on the actual test such that you are not wasting valuable time looking for information in which you are not well-versed in and thus will not have time to respond completely to the FRQs.

The last two weeks April 27 thru  May 8 we’ll spend on lessons for the two FRQS on the exam (remember, there are no multiple-choice questions). The first question will be an argument essay and the second one is on concept application. SOOO, we’ll have 10 days of practice/reviewing on the two types of FRQs

Following is INFORMATION FROM AP.

This year, the AP US Government exam will look different than you were expecting. As we’re all on quarantine �� due to COVID-19, the College Board has decided to update the format and content of the test to fit an online testing format.

You’ll have 45-minutes to take the exam online and it will only cover units 1-3. If you have already studied content from unit 4 and 5, don’t stress! It’s all worth knowing.

What will be on the test?

• Two FRQs
• Q1 = Argument Essay
• 25 minutes and will be 60% of your score
• Q2 = 15 mins and will be 40% of your score
• Concept application like FRQ 1

BE SAFE! PRACTICE YOUR SOCIAL DISTANCING!!!

I will put daily announcements on this homepage and then will upload the activities/resources to my daily web-page calendar. 

ALSO: Each time I post a Word Doc and Mp4, I will list it below by calendar date and subject, so you don't have to waste time searching through my web calendar.

1)Lesson  1: Conservative and Liberal Unit is posted on 3-21-20 on my web calendar.

2) Lesson 2: Executive Branch Unit is posted on 3-24-20 on my web calendar.

3) Lesson 3: Judicial Branch Unit is posted on 3-27-20 on my web calendar

4) Lesson 4: Legislative Branch Unit pt 1 is posted on 4-03-20 on my web calendar.

5) Lesson 5: Legislative Branch Unit pt 2 is posted on 4-05-20 on my web calendar.

6) Lesson 6: Bureaucracy Unit is posted on 4-09-20 on my web calendar.

7) Lesson 7: Fiscal Federalism Unit is posted on 4-13-20 on my web calendar.