Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to World History AP® (WHAP).  I am excited with the opportunity to work with your child this year as they accept the academic challenge of this course.  The purpose of this letter is to provide you with how the course is organized and the expectations set forth this year.

World History AP® is part of the College Board program which studies World History from 1200 A.D. to the present.  Your child may have the opportunity to earn college credit by successfully passing the AP® World History exam with a score of 3 or higher.  The acceptance of exam credits depends on the standards of each university and I would suggest researching college and university acceptance of AP® credits. 

This course is designed for students who possess a strong work ethic and have an intrinsic motivation to succeed.  It is an extremely rigorous course of study and is a college course taught in high school; it is not a high school course designed to earn college credit.  This is a very important distinction.

The World History AP® test will be administered on May 10, 2021 and is a combination of four tasks.  The tasks and percentages of the test are as follows:

These tasks are not easy and will be my primary focus this year.  The test is graded on a scale of 1 to 5.  Most universities will give some level of credit for a score of 3 and higher, but again, I recommend researching what colleges and universities will accept for college credit.

Students will be graded based on the Boerne ISD Social Studies grading system.  Tests and projects will count for 60% of the grade and homework, quizzes, and daily assignments will count for the remaining 40%.  Tests will follow the format of the AP® exam and will include multiple choice items, short answer questions (SAQs), long essay questions (LEQs), and document-based questions (DBQs).  Daily assignments, homework, and quizzes will include a variety of content and skills-based assignments.

Please know, this course was originally designed for Juniors and Seniors.  It is assumed that students will be able to remember massive amounts of information, but the test will focus on their ability to use the information to understand and find complex patterns; rote memorization will not be sufficient for the exam or for the class.  Many students struggle with this so please understand your student may do poorly on the first several tests as he or she learns to apply knowledge and skills to answer questions.  Please do not worry as there are enough grading opportunities to make up for test grades and it rarely will affect the GPA.  Please remember, your child is being held to a college level of expectation. 

It is important that you support your child this year.  Ways you can show your support include teaching time management and organizational skills, engaging in family discussions based on the classroom topic of the day, and encourage your child to complete reading and homework assignments.  When you begin to see the signs of “stressing out” encourage your child to take a break as no learning can take place when a student is frustrated. It is also important that your child receive enough sleep each night.  By the end of the school year, you will be amazed at the positive changes in your child. 

My goal is to guide, encourage, and instruct your child to be successful in this course and to prepare him or her for the rest of high school and future plans.  And selfishly, encourage a love of learning history. 

My door is always open should you have any questions.  Email is the easiest and fastest way to contact me.  It is my honor and privilege to walk this World History AP® adventure with your child.

Warmest Regards,

Jonathan Tate

Jonathan.tate@boerneisd.net@boerneisd.net  

https://classroom.google.com/