WHAP Survival Guide Part Four

Study Groups

Setting one up, Making it work

I did not participate in a study group this year, but if I had, this is what I would’ve done….

~ Choose smart people, not necessarily your bffs.

We all love our friends, which is why it is sometimes best to not have them in your study group. If you are anything like me at all you will NOT study, you will simply chat and perhaps watch a movie or go on a walk or have a photo shoot at a park or something crazy like that. Just save yourself a grade and go with people who are not compatible with your personality. Actually, that might not be a good idea ‘cause then you’d be fighting all the time. Ok scratch that. Go with who is smart and serious.

~ Meet every couple weeks or so

This way you won’t get tired of each other but you will still be productive.

~ Make t-shirts!

This will boost the morale and make you look cool and super-nerdy. Mr. Edlowitz will be truly touched by it, trustttt me.

~ Use your group’s strengths!

Say Billy’s brain is like a sponge and it absorbs everything he reads and he understands the textbook perfectly and Sally is really good with maps and you are a definition master. Help each other out!

Strategies

Preparing for the AP test

First of all, take a deep breath. This AP test is neither the end nor the beginning of the world. Here are some tips to help get you through it, though…

~ IT IS OKAY TO SKIP SOME MULTIPLE CHOICE

The AP test is scored that if you get a question wrong you get a ¼ point off, whereas if you just skip it, you don’t earn anything but you get nothing taken away. So in the long run, it is better to skip when you know absolutely nothing. However, there a golden number of questions you can skip before it stops benefiting you. I forget what it is, but Mr. Edlowitz will tell you! Try not to skip more than that.

~ DBQs are fun!

Read the historical context they provide you and look for obscure and obvious connections alike between the documents.

~ Other Free-Responses

Know your stuff. If you don’t, fake it.

~ Get a ton of sleep the night before. Don’t try last-minute studying- it won’t work.

~ Bring in…

Peppermint gum (Stride, sweet peppermint)

Mints

Blueberries

Bananas

You will be a genius :)

WHAP Survival Guide Part Three

Drills 101

Follow this and you will never fail.

Drill #

Date

1. Why do I have to write down the question?

Because Mr. Edlowitz says so.

2. When will this help me?

When you take the drill test after your AP tests. In May sometime

And that’s that. Simple, but don’t do it and you will be very upset with yourself.

And seniors! If you are taking this class don’t think you will get out of this. You won’t...trust me.

WHAP Survivial Guide Part Two

How to tame

Your Research Paper

This is seriously a ball to write. Not really. But you can make it a heck of a lot easier for yourself if you follow these simple instructions...

- You have a ton of time to do this sucker, so spread the workload out. Have a goal for each week, and if you meet that goal you get a prize! If not, no punishment necessary. The all-nighter pulled the night before it is due will hurt your feelings enough.

- Get good sources. Actually read the books you’re citing. This will be good in the long-run when your paper is totally knowledgeable-sounding.

- If you do happen to leave it off till the last minute, make sure you have a ton of blueberries, bananas, and hot chocolate close by ‘cause it’s gonna be a long night.

How to read

The textbook at least

~ This book is pretty fabulous. There is a ton a ton of info in here, so get ready to have your brain bombarded with facts that you will forget two seconds later and some bits of precious historical facts that you would love to forget but cannot.

~ To read the textbook, use its website. If you’re having trouble understanding what you’re reading (sometimes it just is too much. I understand), then read the chapter summary on the internet and then brave the actual textbook.

~ This ties in with homework. If you don’t know what in the world the textbook is saying to you or what you should say as an answer to the question, back-track or back-forward (if that makes sense). Back-track is when you go backwards to the last question you answered and figure out where the next answer is based on location. Same for back-forward, except the other way around. Make sense? Now you know what reading the textbook feels like. Mmm….history! Just kidding, it’s not that bad. Sometimes.

~ Read it. I know there are like, four pictures for every billion words but you can do this! If you don’t, it’ll be a lot harder to understand your homework and the class.

~ If all else fails, try your chapter outline. And remember, some people can’t read. You have this whole textbook to read read read all the day long, you lucky duck!

WHAP Survival Guide Part One

What you should expect

The course and the Instructor

- One word that could be used to describe Mr. Edlowitz is energetic. Even when he is sick. Another word is hilarious. These two combine into a story about how one time, Mr. Edlowitz was sick but he had to come into school anyway so he pretended to be a substitute teacher and spent the whole class acting clueless.

- Expect a lot of references to The Amazing Race, 30 Rock, and American Idol. If you aren’t a fan, become one. Especially 30 Rock and The Amazing Race.

- Mr. Edlowitz is very nice, so be nice, too.

- The course is definitely an AP course. You will get a ton of work, and you should do it all.

- You will get quizzes after almost every chapter of the outline. Some will be counted, some won’t. You never know.

- You will never get a perfect score on a homework unless it is when he is feeling especially nice and gives you 25/25 because you happened to turn it in. This happens sometimes, but when he actually grades them, you will always always always get less than that 25. Just give up.

- Study definitions! On the tests, you have to define things. Apartheid took place in South Africa and it was when the Europeans were like, we’re so much better than the Africans so we’ll make a set of rules that says so. There go, already got one.

Helpful Hints

How to be successful in World History AP

~ Memorize the Chinese Dynasty Song (Chang Yo Chen Han….something like that)

~ Fill in the outlines.

Seriously like the easiest rule in the book. Mr. Edlowitz is kind of hard to follow at the beginning but don’t worry, you’ll catch on quick J

~ Drills

Here’s the deal…you’re gonna have a drill quiz at the end of the school year. You want to pass it, right? So you can do one of the following;

#1, Be a good little AP student and write down the drills.

#2, Be a slacker AP student and fail the test because your drills are spread out over seven binders and notebooks and, oops! You forgot three of them the day of the test.

#3, Get the drills from your friends the day before. Not the best thing to do because you will be stressed out of your mind.

~ Listen

Mr. Edlowitz likes to say stuff like, “That sounds like a good test question I would study that if I were you.” and those who were listening will know at least one question on the test coming up. Just listen, k?

~ Don’t Sleep

It’s kinda difficult to sleep in this class, because Mr. Edlowitz is just so energetic! But if you haveee to sleep, try not to make it obvious and only once or twice EVER.

Colton Harris-Moore

aka the Barefoot Bandit.

Alright so this is a guy who is what, 18? And he is notorious and I am in love with him.

I first heard of him the other day. He is a fugitive. He grew up with his single mother and he steals airplanes and boats and cars and I knowww this sounds bad and stuff but ohmigosh he is like a modern-day outlaw! Like Robin Hood or a rogue cowboy. He's been caught or almost caught sooo many times but even with so many police searching for him with helicopters and infra-red cameras and all that he stilllll gets away. Ohmigosh I just wanna marry him. I like, wish that he was MY outlaw and that we would have secret rendezvous in which I would bring him baskets of food and like, a train ticket or something and then we would kiss passionately before he ran away to the unknown because like, it would be too dangerous for me to know because I could be like, interrogated. Seriously. And he wants to get rich and then come back for his mom and then take her to somewhere where they'll be free! Gahhhh he is SUCHH a good son!

And they call him the Barefoot Bandit because he works with bare feet. And he leaves a mark. He draws two bare feet to show that it was him that did whatever crime he did.

Gahh I just love him. He sounds SOOO romantic!

So I have a new life goal. To meet him and become one of his best friends.

How I feel right now part 2

Ok so, I try really reallyyy hard to be nice to people. Whenever I want to say something mean to someone I think to myself, "somewhere out there is a mother who loves this annoying piece of crap, so I should be nice because it would hurt her feelings if I was mean." and usually that works. But there are just some people who get under my skin in such a major way that, given the opportunity, I would smash a bucket of rocky road ice cream on them while they take their prom pictures. Seriously.

I think it is not that hard to not be a butthead. Just be nice, don't say every single stupid obnoxious thing that pops into your head, smile occasionally, compliment others. These are the four things you must do if you wish for everyone in the world to not hate you. And you can do them. It's not like I'm asking you to climb Everest with a camel on your back.

There are some things that you just shouldn't do. I could list them all buuuttt I don't feel like it. However, many people know these rules to live by, and they still break them. It's like ehmagoshh youre a rebel, congratulations! Not. Stop trying to create a roadblock on my highway to happiness you a-hole.

The End. Hmph.

How I feel right now

This is how I feel right now....

I feel mad. I am mad at several people. Top of the list is my English teacher. I like her well enough, but holy cow we have this 10-12 page research paper due tomorrow. wtf. tomorrow. the first day back from Spring Break. NEWSFLASH:: we're seniors. the end. do you nottt get this??

I'm also mad at myself. I had all Spring Break to do this, but I didn't because I thought it was due Wednesday. Nope :(

I'm mad at the fact that time will not take a break for like, 16 hours for me. 16 hours! that's all I need! I would use the time very wisely! I would use three or so more to write this paper, 20 more minutes after that to do stuff for intern/mentor, 20 minutes to shower and ready myself for bed, and then the rest of the time to sleep. Then after 16 hours the clock would start again and I would sleep some more and then wake up and go to seminary and then go to school all fresh-faced and pretty and stuff and not tired!

OMG ANOTHER REASON WHY IM MAD::

my make-up bag is missing. Like, wtf??? it's MINE. I have lost more make-up bags than is legal. This is unfair. I leave them somewhere and they run away from me. Well excuse me but I like you, not sure why you don't like me. Stupid make-up bag.

Also, why can't Justin Bieber be in love with me? Like, why not?

I'm also mad at myself for not writing my missionaries for two weeks. I suck :(

I am happy that ke$ha sings that song, "your love is my drug." I think it is very cute and I love it lots.

Like, its 2:14 am, and I just watched the Valentine's Day trailer. Can I gettt any more ironic??

Ok this is not that hard. I can concentrate on this. I knoww I'm gonna hate myself if I don't. Ugh I hate school.

Because your love your love your love is my drug! Your love your love your love....is my drug!