AP欧洲历史课程Q&A

What is AP?

AP, or Advanced Placement, is a curriculum / exam organized by the College Board (an NPO).

The aim is to prepare high school students in certain subjects at an academic level. American colleges and universities may grant placement and / or course credit to students who obtain high scores on AP exams, i.e. a result from grade 3 to 5.

什么是AP？

AP，是由大学理事会组织的一门课程考试。其目的是能够让高中生在学术水平上做好准备。

美国的大学可以向在AP考试中获得高分的学生授予学分，比如获得3-5分。

Why study AP European History?

In the Advanced Placement of the American College Board there are three different history courses: AP US History, AP European History, AP World History.

In our program it is possible to study each of those courses if there is demand, however we do focus on AP European History, and it is also the theme of our regular AP class. There are a few reasons for that, listed below you canfind the most important ones.

为什么我们要学习AP欧洲历史？

在美国大学理事会的高级课程中，有三个不同的历史课程：AP美国历史、AP欧洲历史、AP世界历史。

在我们的课程中，如果有需求的话，可以学习每门课程，但我们关注的是AP欧洲历史，也是我们AP课程的主题以下是几点理由。

1. The statistical chance for a student to achieve a useful result, i.e. grade 3 to 5, is higher for AP European History than for the two other AP History courses.

The comparison of AP exam results between the years 2011 and 2017 reveals that on average 61% of students taking AP European History were graded between ‘qualified’ and ‘extremely well qualified’. Only 51% of students in AP World History and 52% of students taking AP US History accomplished that.

Even though in the ‘extremely well qualified’ segment AP US History and AP European History are mostly heads on, on average the chance of AP US History students to score ‘extremely well qualified’ - grade 5 - is only 1% higher than that of AP European History students, while the average of AP US History students end up 11% lower than AP European History in getting a ‘qualified’ grade.

(See: A comparison of the results of the AP exams from 2011 to 2017, Appendix A)

1. 统计数据显示，相比较其他两门AP历史课程，AP欧洲历史更容易帮助学生获得3-5的分数。

AP考试的结果显示，在2011到2017年，平均有61%的学生AP欧洲历史获得“合格”或“优秀”的成绩，然而AP世界历史只有51%，AP美国历史只有52%。

尽管获得“优秀”的AP美国历史学生和AP欧洲历史是差不多，但是AP美国历史获得“合格”的却比AP欧洲历史要少11%

2. AP European History is considered by many students to be easier to master.

AP US History deals with a quite limited time and space in history in which not too many major historical events occurred, thusly it is focusing extremely on a great number of minor details which may make studying them dull. Additionally those details may be difficult to remember. AP World History goes the opposite direction by essentially covering all times and spaces in history, which results in a huge amount of information. Due to that fact much more time is needed to learn all the relevant information.

AP European History goes a good middle way, it offers a lot of major topics and events of the history of the world, while being limited in scope to a certain time frame. It’s not covering too much information. It is thusly easier for a magnitude of students to learn the necessary material.

2. AP欧洲历史对很多学生来说都更加简单并容易掌握。

AP美国历史所考察的是美国历史上有限时间内发生的不太多的历史事件，因此它聚焦了极大量的小细节，这可能使得学习变得枯燥, 而且这些细节很难记忆。

AP世界历史则恰恰相反，它基本上涵盖了历史上发生的所有事件，导致了大量的信息。因此需要更多的时间来学习相关信息。

AP欧洲历史则处于中间，它包括了世界历史上主要的话题和事件，同时也受限于一定的时间范畴。它并没有涵盖太多的信息，因此学习起来相对比较简单。

3. AP European History educates students more extensively about the development of history than AP US History does.

The rather narrow focus of AP US History is not as suitable as the more inclusive AP European History for students to get an overall understanding of the main topics of history.

3. AP欧洲历史学习相比较AP美国历史对历史的整体认知要更加广。

AP美国历史的重点比较狭窄，不能像更具包含性的AP欧洲历史一样给学生提供一个全面了解历史的机会。

How is the course structured?

The whole course consists of 30 units, each unit consisting of 2 lessons (2 x 45 min = 90 min). For a certain period of the AP European History course 2 units per day are taught consecutively. Of course a reasonably timed break is given between 2 consecutive units, in order for students minds to have sufficient time to regenerate.

课程是如何设置的？

这门课程总共有30个单元，每个单元包括2课时（45分／课时），其中有一段教学时间我们会连上2个单元，当然课间会有休息安排，让学生们有时间去放松。

From the Late Middle-ages topics like the Renaissance, Reformation, Religious Wars, Exploration, Conquest, Absolutism, Revolutions, Ideologies, Nationalism up to the events surrounding the World Wars and the Cold War will be taught and discussed in class.

Besides the content itself the students receive an introduction into the AP exam, its structure, focus of grading and systematics.

Key elements of practice for the AP exam are the testing of factual knowledge, the skill of text and source analysis, the ability to identify the context of documents and to categorize them as well as the art of crafting good theses essays.

课程内容会涵盖文艺复兴，宗教改革，探索，征服，专制主义，革命，意识形态，民族主义等，围绕世界大战以及冷战的各种活动也会在课堂上讲授和讨论。

除了内容之外，学生们会通过课程学习了解AP的考试，包括它的结构，评分重点以及它的体系。

AP考试的重点是对事实知识的测试，对文本以及来源的分析，识别文章的内容并且进行归类，以及撰写好论文。

How does the course benefit the student?

At the end of the course the student will have the ability to attend the AP European History exam with a good chance to receive the result ‘qualified’ or better. This will give the student a real advantage when applying for studying at US colleges, under the condition of course that the colleges in question accept AP credits. A few notable schools that accept AP credits are Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, UCLA, Northwestern University, Rice University, the University of Missouri, Boston University, Drexel University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For a complete list of all universities accepting AP credits please visit:

https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement

An other benefit is that the student will also have vastly improved his knowledge of history which is helpful in school as well as in university, and the skills acquired regarding source analysis and essay drafting are useful in any academic subject and also for working life.

我们可以从AP欧洲历史学习中收获什么？

课程结束后，学生们将有能力去参加AP欧洲历史的考试并且获得一个“合格”甚至更好的分数，这对于学生申请美国大学（接受AP分数的学校）有很大的帮助。

接受AP学分的几所著名学校有范德堡大学、弗吉尼亚大学、加州大学洛杉矶分校、西北大学、莱斯大学、密苏里堪萨斯大学、波士顿大学、卓克索大学、北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校。

申请接受AP学分的所有大学的完整名单请访问：

https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement

另一个好处是，学生们将大大提高他们的历史知识，提升对信息的分析能力以及论文的起草和写作，这对于他们不仅是学校或是工作生活都有极大的帮助。

What is the most important requirement for this course?

The basic requirement and an absolute condition sine qua non for positive results is the willingness and ability of the student to do an EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF SELFSTUDY. The whole course depends on the student to do his homework assignments with utmost diligence. If the student does not also invest sufficient time outside the classroom into the study of European History, then he most likely will not succeed.

这门课的重点要求是什么?

如果想要获得理想的成绩，学生们在这门课程的学习上必须要做大量的自主学习。整个课程取决于学生们是否能够尽自己最大的努力去完成作业。如果学生无法把足够的时间投入课堂以外的欧洲历史学习，那么他很有可能会不成功。

Which material is used in this course?

The main work used for this course is A History of Western Society Since 1300 - For AP (McKay et al.). Further more Barron’s AP European History can be used to supplement the course.

需要用到什么教材？

主要的授课教材是“A History of Western Society Since 1300 - For AP (McKay et al.)”，此外，Barron的AP欧洲历史书也会作为辅助材料来补充。

Appendix A - A comparison of the results of the AP exams from 2011 to 2017 percentage of students with an AP result from ‘qualified’ to ‘extremely well qualified’

附录：以下是2011-2017各门AP历史考试的结果比较：

Percentage of students with an AP result ‘well and extremely well qualified’

获得“合格以及优秀”的结果比较。

Percentage of students with an AP result ‘qualified’

获得“合格”的结果比较。

Percentage of students without a qualified AP result, meaning for most purposes it is useless.

没有获得“合格”的结果比较。

Highest percentage of students scoring ‘qualified’ to‘extremely well qualified’ achieved in a year between 2011-2017

2011-2017年获得“合格”或“优秀”的结果比较。