Looking Ahead: What to Do After the AP Exam

The AP US History Exam is May 6th. After that, we'll have another 6 full weeks of school until the end of the school year. What should (could) we do with all that time?

Here are some thoughts:

1. We will have just finished a college-level course in US History. We could take that knowledge and the skills we develop, and focus them on a particular topic in US history to the end of producing publishable scholarly works. Here, the American Historical Association has a directory of history journals to which we could submit our research articles. Depending on student interest, we could go beyond history journals too, and aim for journals in economics, philosophy, culture and society, sociology, religious studies, etc. We could even make attempts at submitting articles and editorials to magazines like Time and newspapers like the NYTimes. What's the advantage to doing something like this? Being published as a junior, even if its only a book review, could go a long way in setting your resume apart from others when it comes to college applications next fall.
2. We will have just finished a college-level course and have taken an exam with the hopes of securing college credit in US history. Why not earn some college credit over the last 6 weeks of school? Students could select a MOOC (massive open online course) to pursue during this period, using class time to work on MOOC assignments with the aid of fellow classmates and the instructor. Coursera and EdX are great places to start looking. You could also view available MOOCs at specific institutions. For example:

• Harvard
• Yale
• UPenn

I have some other ideas in mind for productive use of our last 6 weeks. I wanted to get these ideas out now, however, because it might be useful to have these options in mind as we make our way through the course. You could begin culling research for this work from your studies even now!