How My Students Crushed Their AP Exams

I am very proud to share my students' excellent AP scores. This year, 27/39 students passed the AP US History Exam. Of those 27 who passed, 17 earned scores of 4 or 5.

This result is not a fluke.

Last year, 30/40 students passed the exam, including 16 students who earned scores of 4 or 5.

These results are far better than the results for other exams at my school. Similar students - and in many cases the exact same students - earn far lower scores on other exams.

Why do students perform so much better in my class than in other, similar classes?

It is because I implement the knowledge-building cycle: a proven, replicable system for introducing, reviewing, and assessing knowledge so that it sticks.

The seven steps are:
1. Provide students with a knowledge organizer that includes all of the most important information students must know. When introducing the new knowledge, show students where it lives on the knowledge organizer.
2. Begin each class with retrieval practice to review knowledge from previous lessons.
3. Implement fun, high-ratio retrieval practice drills 2-3 times per week.
4. Review related knowledge before introducing new knowledge to help students connect new knowledge to existing knowledge, increasing retention.
5. Provide students with class time and simple tools to quiz each other and show them how to study on their own by quizzing themselves.
6. Implement bi-weekly quizzes to hold students accountable and identify areas for re-teaching and re-studying.
7. Show students how to use the knowledge they gain from steps 1-6 to tackle multiple choice questions and write sophisticated essays.

In this video, I outline the steps in a bit more detail and provide examples.

I can help you implement this system at your school.

Some of the services we offer include:

* Working directly with teachers to develop knowledge organizers
* Facilitating professional development workshops that train teachers to implement retrieval practice drills
* Designing unit plans to ensure that all critical content is covered, reviewed, and assessed

Let's talk about how I can help your students achieve remarkable results. E-mail me today.

Sincerely,

Ben Katcher