Treehouse Review Week
Cerebellum Corporation
Educational Library of DVDs and videos
All Light Speed Learning products
Light Speed History of the U.S. A.P. Exam Prep DVD set
From preschool to end-of-school...our second-last Review Crew product is the lengthily-named but zippy-to-watch Light Speed History of the U.S. A.P. Exam Prep 2-disc set.
This is mostly going to be an "informational" review, because, as you can probably guess, we do not have anyone here writing A.P. U.S. history this year. Or probably ever. Actually A.P. courses and exams are not that common around here, although one of the Apprentice's friends is writing the Chemistry exam this spring (with a group at school).
So Ponytails and I watched the 73-minute DVD (well, most of it--I fast-forwarded through some of the tariffs and political stuff once we had the idea) and I looked at the accompanying study guide afterwards. This is what you get: a short run-through of the types of questions, timing, scoring etc. of the test; brief but useful tips on managing essay-format questions (using a thesis, trying to get all your points to hang together), and then about half an hour of "pivotal events in U.S. history," featuring a cast of seven young people who mostly look like they could be students at the Apprentice's high school. The whole thing had a feel of some of the educational-station programming we watch that's aimed more at my younger Squirrelings' age group, except that this was talking about constitutional amendments and the Origins of the Two-Party System. Lots of little sound effects, graphics popping up, flipping back and forth between the speakers, and a friendly, entertaining style of delivery. You might say this is A.P. History for Zoom alumni. Please note that this DVD isn't supposed to be teaching you these topics--it goes way too fast for that. It's just a recital of the main points, the things you had better know if you want to do well on the test.
The accompanying study guide offers a little more of the same--matching and fill-in-the-blank exercises, the printed version of those same key points, and a few sample essay questions such as "Write an essay analyzing how ideas and experiences of the Progressive Era influenced three major reforms made during that time. Cite relevant historical evidence in a clear and logical argument."
We watched the clips from the other Light Speed test-prep DVDs, and they all seem to be similar in style, combining animation and graphics with facts read by real live people who might pass for twelfth graders. The Spanish DVD clip includes a tongue twister involving the trilled r; the Vocabulary DVD shows a brief skit demonstrating the word "versatile." In addition to the A.P. and more general Light Speed DVDs, there's one for the S.A.T. The same company produces many other DVD/video products, some to teach or help with school subjects and others, like Cutest Kittens, that look like they're more just for fun.
Final Take: As far as this DVD's historical correctness or its helpfulness with the actual A.P. history exam, I don't have an opinion to give! But it seems to me that if you're studying for one of these big exams, anything you can get to keep you on track is helpful, and at US$14.98 (on sale right now for $11.24), it doesn't seem like a huge investment.
For more reviews of this product, see the Review Crew home page.
Dewey's Disclaimer: This product was received free for purposes of review. No other payment was made. The opinions expressed in this review are our own.
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