If you’re taking the US History exam and reading this article, either you respect and value the opinions of those who have proven performance, or you’re desperate for a solution and hoping to find out some magic formula to help you get a 5. I’m only taking those in the first group seriously. There is no replacement for hard work, not even God-given natural ability. Some AP tests are easier than others, but US History is not one of them.

The best preparation for this test is a full-year high school course with a proven textbook, like Bailey’s The American Pageant. Your teacher should make you write more than one practice essay a week, preferably three. What I did to prepare for the test was simply read Bailey repeatedly, cover to cover, and write those essays. Those of you familiar with the book know about his corny wit; I used those awful jokes as memory aids, to help me remember everything about everyone in that book. When the class below me needed help studying a year later, I picked up Bailey after being completely away from it and was still able to show them the exact pages where the most important information was.

Should you be this extreme? If you can, then you must. The best way to get a 5 is NOT to answer the questions you know, leave some blank, and guess on the ones you have a good idea about. The best way to get a 5 is TRYING TO GET EVERY QUESTION RIGHT. If you study with this goal in mind, all the additional questions you will answer correctly more than make up for those few you will miss. You don’t have to get every question right to get a 5, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. So, there’s your strategy for the multiple-choice section. If you know the facts, then you won’t find it a significant obstacle at all. If you don’t, and don’t want to remedy that the proven (read: hard) way, then the default strategy of common sense educated guessing is ugly but serviceable. This means, look at the answer choices and see if you can eliminate any immediately. Then, guess from the narrowed choices, always being logical about it.

Your real place to shine on the AP test is also, sadly, the graveyard of many test-takers as well: the three essays. Two of them are so-called “free-response” questions, which simply pose a question asking you to demonstrate your knowledge of a certain time period. You will actually be presented with four questions in total: one pair from one time period, and the other from another period, and then be asked to answer one from each pair. The third essay question is the infamous document-based question (DBQ), which presents you with several documents all from one specific time period in history, and asks you to address the question posed.

There are two keys to scoring high on the essays, which are all graded on a scale from 1 to 9 (9 being the best). The first, and most important, is that you do not simply regurgitate the information you have learned in class through your book. What separates the 7-8-9 essays from the rest is ANALYSIS. If you use analysis in your essays, if you form your own opinion about the history you have learned, then that leads itself to the most structurally important part of your essay: your thesis.

Essays without analysis simply retell, for example, that Congress sabotaged President Wilson’s League of Nations proposal. Essays with analysis address the various reasons why the ratification failed and the implications for future generations, including the partisan motivations of House Speaker Henry Cabot Lodge, the general reluctance of the American public as evidenced by Wilson’s desperate whistle-stop campaigning for the League, and finally how the failure of the United States to ratify caused the League of Nations to be a toothless entity ultimately unable to prevent the horrors of World War II. History might be facts, but what matters to the AP graders is what your opinions and theories are, and how well you present and reinforce them.

For suggestions and more examples of analysis versus factual reporting, go to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of Time magazine, and then compare its content to the neighboring issue of The Economist, a British publication. Time is not bad at all compared to the other American newsmagazines, but cannot hold a candle to the analysis in The Economist. Analysis means addressing their issues, exploring motivations and discussing implications, while always seeing both sides of the debate (if there is one).

The second key to scoring high on the essays is eye-catching organization and name-dropping. Now, you might be wondering, how can I make my essay eye-catching when I get a standardized booklet and can only use pencil, or black or blue pen? Simple: begin your paragraphs powerfully. Aim for a five-paragraph approach in your two free-response essays and a bookend approach to your DBQ: begin all of your essays with an introductory paragraph and end with a conclusion. The body paragraphs in between should each address one factor in your analysis, for example, the causes behind Manifest Destiny and the great westward expansion.

The introductory paragraph is the most important paragraph of your essay. Your first sentence should be your thesis. Next, briefly address your three factors, and close your introduction by recognizing the complexity of the situation (the other side of your argument), but of course reinforcing your own thesis. Then, for your three factor paragraphs, address why they relate to the thesis in the first sentence, and give your examples for the analysis within. The conclusion is really just a restatement and can be shrunk to just two sentences if you are pressed for time.

Since each reader is spending a handful of minutes reading your essay at most, you can bet that your introduction will definitely be scrutinized, as well as those important first sentences of your body paragraphs. Note that for the DBQ, you should follow almost the exact same strategy, but also include the given documents in your analysis; furthermore, give yourself 1-3 more body paragraphs in the same format. With any essay you write, try to drop specific names, dates, and even anecdotes as much as possible. Seeing these “buzzwords” may mean the difference between a very good score and an outstanding score, though your essay should not be poorer without those key words. If you have been faithfully reading your book and paying attention in class, then dropping names should be second nature already. Note that, if you are pressed for time, name-dropping is the first thing that can go. Try to divide your hour and a half evenly between your three essays, giving 10 more minutes to the DBQ. If you follow this advice, your chances of getting the score you want are immeasurably higher.