AP European History course description:
This course will focus on general trends and themes in European history. The instructor, Scott Nicholson, obtained a history degree with a concentration in medieval and Renaissance era Europe. He wrote his senior thesis on the intersection between the role of the public prison in ancient Athens and civic duty in the fledgling democracy.
This course will teach students to parse complicated historical texts to evaluate underlying trends. The instructor will demonstrate that the study of history goes beyond simply memorizing dates and events but requires careful critical analysis of even seemingly mundane primary sources.
Scott will focus on explaining the primary trends and attitudes in European history and identifying the often-subtle clues in sources a test-taker may find in the AP document-based questions. He will also teach general test taking strategies.
Scott: “I graduated from UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in History and a concentration in medieval and early modern European history. History is more than a list of dates; it’s a living story that requires interpretation and context to be understood. With the proper context, any student can answer the vast majority of the multiple-choice questions correctly and easily. I will offer refresher, survey style courses on the major events in European history and in-depth DBQ and FRQ assistance. I will train my students to group DBQ documents and compare and contrast the themes in each group in order to achieve the highest essay scores possible.”
Lee Academics AP European History course includes:
- 20 instructional hours of lessons – More lesson will be added as needed to fully prepare for the AP exam.
- Up to 5 proctored exams – These are released College Board exams.
- face to face and Skype DBQ essay critiques – possibly 1 emailed critique
- Recommendation letter for our AP European Course – upon request
- AP Exam Club fee is waived – a $70 value + $50 per essay critique of Document Based Questions
- Enrolled students have access to all released AP European History exams. Lee Academics owns most of these.
About the instructor:
Scott started teaching SAT for Lee Academics as a sophomore in high school. Many of his SAT and ACT students attribute their success on the English, reading, writing and science to Scott’s teaching. Over his years of teaching, Scott has developed methods of teaching to make reading comprehension easier for students. Some students report being able to hear Scott as they take the SAT or ACT exams. Scott had a 4.7 GPA at James Logan High School. In Scott’s high school junior and senior years and as a Lee Academics instructor, Scott taught SAT/ACT at James Logan High School for Dr. Tommie Lindsey’s speech and debate team. Scott attended Rice University with a 4-year scholarship and a 2-year English research fellowship before returning to California for medical reasons, finishing his degree at UC Davis. Scott is a National Merit Finalist and received many full-ride scholarship offers.
Scott scored 2350 on the SAT, 35 on the ACT and earned scores of 4 or 5 on 12 AP exams. Scott scored 5
- AP World History
- AP United States history
- AP Government
- AP Microeconomics
- AP Macroeconomics
- AP Literature
Scott won the Social Studies award at James Logan in 2011. He was one of very few students to take 5 AP history/government/economics exams at James Logan High School. Scott writes and administers exams for the State of California. He was also a legislative aid for the State of California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control.
Advantages of taking an AP European History course with Lee Academics:
- Scott will give face to face and Skype DBQ reviews – possibly 1 emailed critique as well.
- Scott will teach students to understand words. He teaches students to break up words into components. Students will learn how to analyze the meaning of these vocabulary words.
- Scott will go over students’ mistakes so that they can learn the concepts missed.
- Scott will teach and test with released AP College Board exams.
- Our course can be listed on the UC application under Education Preparation Courses and listed on the Common application.
An AP European History score of 5 may be necessary for some of students. Passing the AP European exam can save students $3000-$6,000 in college. Passing may make a difference between graduating college “on time” or even early. Having additional AP credit hours could make college less stressful as some college students change majors several times. Having AP credits can allow a student to take more college courses as students figure out what to major in. Additionally, many AP European History teachers test with released AP exams. Some teachers give a released exam before the AP exam as a practice exam; it usually counts as a test. Then give one after the AP as a final as well.
Discounts for AP European History Prep Course:
- 2 students – $20 (at least one student new to Lee Academics)
- 3 students – $30 (at least 2 students new to Lee Academics)
- 5 students – $50 (at least 4 students new to Lee Academics)
Group rates apply with concurrent enrollment with students new to Lee Academics.