AP US GOVERNMENT & POLITICS 2015-2016 MISS GORSKI HACKETTSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL RGORSKI@HACKETTSTOWN.ORG

Course Overview

AP US Government & Politics is a vigorous one-year course investigating several elements of US government and

politics, designed to prepare students for the AP US Government exam in May. The purpose of the course is to prepare

students for college-level history or political science courses, develop analytical thinking skills, and enable students to be

more aware of and comprehend the functions of government.

Course Design

The course material is divided into six units:

1. Constitutional Underpinnings of United States Government

2. Political Beliefs & Behaviors

3. Political Parties, Interest Groups, & Mass Media

4. Institutions of National Government

5. Public Policy

6. Civil Rights & Civil Liberties

These topics will be studied in-depth as students work to meet these

course objectives:

Describe & compare important facts, concepts, and theories

pertaining to US government

Explain typical patterns of political processes, behavior, and

their consequences

Interpret basic data relevant to US government and politics

Critically analyze relevant theories and concepts, apply them

appropriately, and develop their connections across the

curriculum

Course Expectations

Students must meet high expectations to succeed in this course. They are required to participate in class discussions and

prepare themselves for class by completing all reading assignments by their due dates. As this course is designed to

resemble a college-level course, please expect heavy reading outside of class and numerous complex writing assignments

that although are not long (usually 2-3 pages) require advanced analysis and synthesis skills.

All AP students must ensure their work is completed on time. With each unit, students will receive a Unit Planner that

serves as a calendar with all class activities, homework assignments, and due dates listed. My website is also updated at

least weekly with current assignments, PowerPoints, guided reading assignments, etc. Please see the back of this page for

information regarding unit assignments and the AP US Government Exam.

Academic Honesty

It is expected that students will use genuine and fair means for accomplishing tests, tasks, and projects of this course.

Students found plagiarizing, copying, or cheating in any way will receive automatic zeros and have phone calls home to

their parents. For information on avoiding plagiarism, please see www.plagiarism.org

I have read the syllabus and agree to meet or help my child meet the expectations of AP US Government in the 2015-2016 school

year.

Student Signature ________________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian Signature _________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian Email _____________________________________________________________

Internet Access at Home: YES NO Parent/Guardian Phone

Grading & Late Work

Grades will be calculated as follows each

marking period:

15% 21st Century Skills

25% Tests & Quizzes

25% Writing Assignments

35% Class Assignments

All late work will be eligible for a maximum

of 70% after the due date has passed.

Students who are absent will have the

number of days missed to make up work

without penalty; for example, if a student is

absent one day, s/he has one day to make up

the work missed.

Unit Activities

The following activities and assignment types will be administered regularly throughout the year. Not all units will

include all of these assignment types, however students can expect to complete each type several times.

Vocabulary Packet – Students will define vocabulary terms related to US Government & Politics.

Guided Readings – For each chapter, students will answer multiple-choice questions using the online companion to

their textbook and will answer open-ended questions from the reading. These will sometimes be checked, graded

based on completion, and other times collected, and graded on accuracy.

Current Events Report – Students will locate a current news article related to a concept learned in class and write

a ½ page summary of the article and a ½ page reaction or analysis. Prompting questions for the analysis will be given

based on the topic for the current event.

Current Events Discussion – Students will explain their report to other students in the class and participate in

small-group and whole-class discussions of the events.

Persuasive Essay – Students will answer a given prompt persuasively, supporting their opinion with factual evidence

and ideas published by political scientists or respected journalists.

Data Analysis – Students will interpret information given in charts and/or graphs to analyze trends in American

government.

Small Group Research Project – Students will work together to research information on given topics (interest

groups, civil rights, etc.) to create a finished product demonstrating their knowledge of the topic.

Vocabulary Quizzes: Students will identify key terms, places, events, and documents for each unit, as given by the

teacher, and answer multiple choice, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank questions in a quiz.

Unit Exams: Unit exam multiple choice questions are taken directly from released AP US Gov exams, so they do

predict in some ways how well a student will do on the AP Exam at the end of the year. All exams will feature

multiple choice questions and free-response questions.

Final Project: After the AP test, students will engage in a research project to present both sides of a controversial

issue and lead a class discussion of the topic.

AP US Government & Politics Exam

The AP Exam consists of 60 multiple choice questions and four free response questions. Therefore, all unit exams will

include multiple choice and free response questions and students will practice answering previous years’ AP Gov exam

questions when relevant.