AP Comparative Government

Mrs. Stimpson

Materials:

3 ring binder and paper

Optional: Purchase your own copy of AP Comparative Government and Politics: A Study Guide by Ethel Wood (6th Edition)

The AP Comparative Government course is a college level course in which students will examine the governments and politics of six different countries: The United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, Mexico, Nigeria, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In addition, students should be familiar with the European Union. In understanding these countries, students should be able to discuss and compare the different countries in terms of sovereignty, authority, power, political institutions, citizens, society, the state, public policy, political and economic change.

The AP Comparative Government exam is made up of two sections: the first is a multiple choice section with 565 questions (45 minutes), the second is a free response question set which is comprised of 8 questions- the first 5 questions require students to provide brief definitions or descriptions of concepts or terms and their significance, the next three will require students to identify and explain relationships using major concepts from comparative politics and discuss the causes and implications of politics and policy (100 minutes).

AP EXAM- May 18th,2018, Morning session.

Each student will be assigned the required textbook: AP Comparative Government and Politics: A Study Guide by Ethel Wood (6thEdition). The book is purchased by the school and checked out to the students. It is a paperback book, so students need to treat it nicely! Every night will have homework, which will usually also involve reading a selection of the textbook. At the end of each chapter, a list of terms is given. It is recommended that students make flashcards for these terms to help them study during the review for the AP Exam.

There are two websites that have been helpful to students as they study for exams. They are quizlet.com and studyblue.com. They have flashcards for the terms that are already made up and quizlet also has sample tests.

I will also be sending out reminders via text through remind.com. To receive textsabout test dates and other important information and reminders, text @kkk4c7 to 81010. Parents and students are both welcome to sign up.

Assignments

Students who get behind in their work struggle to do well and always seem to be trying to catch up, therefore, please adhere to the following policy.

  • All makeup work and lectures are the student’s responsibility (look at the schedule, ask a class member, ask me)
  • All exams must be made up after school or during R&R.
  • If you are absent the day before an exam you are still expected to take the exam.
  • All exams must be made up within a week or they cannot be made up.
  • If you are absent, work must be made up within a week of the absence (this excludes essays- essays are due the day they are due). This is your responsibility!!!!
  • Assignments are worth half credit for the one week grace period (not including essays).

*Note- Students are expected to do all of their own work. Students who copy other’s work will not be given credit for the work. The assignments are given to prepare students for the Advanced Placement exam and help them acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to perform well on the exam. Some assignments will be graded and some will not, but will help the students develop skills and practice writing.

SCHEDULE

On the attached schedule, you will find daily reading assignments. Each unit also has questions that are due at the end of the unit. These questions should be answered as students are working through the chapter. They will also be a good review for the test.

Current Events

In addition to the daily reading and unit questions, students will be required to read the newspaper or watch the evening news to stay informed of events that are happening in the countries we study. Assignments and quizzes will be given as necessary to assess the students’ knowledge in current issues. Acceptable sources are: BBC News, the Economist, the New York Times, or the Washington Post. The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News are also good options since articles dealing with global issues are usually provided through the Associated Press.

Supplemental Material

Frontline, Ted Videos, 60 Minutes and CNN programs on current issues in several of the countries studied. We will also watch the following documentaries/ movies: The Next Iraq and Mao’s Last Dancer.

Grades

Exams will be a major form of evaluation for this class. Approximately 2-3 exams will be given each term and will significantly impact your grade. Homework, essays, assignments, questions of the day, and quizzes will also be used in calculating your grade.

  • Exams will account for 40% of your grade
  • Assignments and packets- 30%
  • Questions of the day- 30% Questions of the day cannot be made up.
  • You must be on time and in class to earn all of the daily points
  • There will also be activities done in class that cannot be made up. You must attend.

Essay and take-home test due dates must be adhered to. If you are unable to attend the day an essay or test is due, you must make sure that the essay of test is place in my box that day. They will not be accepted late.

Do your best and your grade will follow!

Grade Scale:

A93-100B-75-79D+55-59

A- 88-92C+70-74D50-54

B+84-87C65-69D-45-49

B80-83C-60-64F44 and below

You must keep track of your grade. You can keep track of your scores and figure out your grade. I will also keep up to date on the school grading system so you know where you stand. Attached to this disclosure is a detailed calendar. You can find all of my PowerPoints on my website, so if you miss a day that a PowerPoint was presented, get on my website and take down the information.

RULES:

  1. Be nice
  2. Each day come prepared with your text book, review text, workbook and notebook.
  3. Do your own work--- no cheating.
  4. No food allowed in class. You can bring drinks as long as they are covered and you can bring treats, but don’t show up with McDonalds lunch!!!
  5. Come to class on time.
  6. Respect others
  7. Cell phones-- Keep them out of sight during class. They are not to be used unless I open the class up for free technology. Only one warning is given. The second offense you will lose your phone and receive a “U”.

DISCIPLINE POLICY

Every student has the right to learn in a positive environment. The teacher and other class members should be treated with respect in order to foster learning.

  1. Warning
  2. Removal from class and phone call
  3. Administration involvement

ADVANCED PLACEMENT REALITY:

It is important for all students to remember that this is a college level class and I need to cover the skills to enable you to pass the AP Exam. Therefore, there will be homework every class period. You must be dedicated and responsible. I will not give “busywork”. Every assignment is directed to the exam and is teaching the skills needed to pass the exam. Please realize that this is a class that most students take in college. It is necessary that you realize that I will teach to that level of academic success.

CONTACT ME:

Please email me at if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Mrs. Stimpson

Schedule

1st week (short days)- Course disclosure, introductions, cloze testing, book checkout and syllabus.

Comparative Political Literacy- Unit 1 (Read pages 12-77, vocab and questions pages 78-90) Read about 8 pages every night.

  1. Comparative Political Literacy which will discuss generalizations of six topics. Each topic will be expounded upon in the individual countries
  2. The Comparative Method
  3. Sovereignty, Authority and Power
  4. Political and Economic Change
  5. Citizens, Society, and the State
  6. Political Institutions
  7. Public Policy
  8. PowerPoint covering political literacy (1-16)
  9. Stay or switch activity- Empirical data v intuition
  10. Causation v correlation
  11. Continue PowerPoint on political literacy (17-51)
  12. Moder model- 15 minutes
  13. Political and Economic Systems Chart—finish PowerPoint
  14. Bingo- Vocab
  15. Unit packet due
  16. Quiz on political literacy and vocabulary terms.
  17. Test Corrections
  18. STARPOWER- ACTIVITY

Advanced Democracies (3-4 weeks)

  1. Great Britain/ EU(read pp 92-178) Read about 6 pages every night.
  2. EU Notes
  3. Introduction to culture and packet
  4. Map with the geography of Great Britain
  5. Citizens, Society and State; Political Institutions (read
  6. Brief History of Great Britain from Magna Carta to Present
  7. Sovereignty, Authority and Power
  8. Political Culture and Economic Change
  9. PowerPoint slides 1-8
  10. Public Policy and Current Issues
  11. Social and Ethnic Class- Slides 10-15
  12. Institutions of government activity
  13. Watch “Question Time” online
  14. Important People/ Institutions (Briefing Paper: Democratization)
  15. Finish PowerPoint
  16. 4 pictures and a word
  17. time to work in packet
  18. Exam on the EU and Great Britain—Unit Packet Due

Communist and Post-Communist Countries- (4-6 weeks)

  1. Russian Federation (Read pp 183-246, vocab and questions 246-257)
  2. Introduction of culture and packet
  3. Map with Geography of Russia
  4. Test Corrections
  5. Russian Obituary Assignment
  6. PowerPoint slide 1-12
  7. Citizens, Society and State
  8. Russian Obituaries shared
  9. PowerPoint slides 13-18
  10. Political culture and Economic Change: Political Institutions
  11. Where power comes from
  12. PowerPoint slides 19-23
  13. Moder model- 15 minutes
  14. CNN- Frontline Program
  15. PowerPoint 34
  16. Current issues cartoon- MUST be about Russia
  17. Take home exam given on Russia (can include any discussion or readings up to this point—includes an essay) due on ______(2 class periods)
  18. Public Policy and Current Issues
  19. Present Cartoons
  20. Important People/ Institutions (Briefing paper: Globalization)
  21. Take home test due—Unit Packet Due
  22. Putin on 60 Minutes
  23. People’s Republic of China (read pp 258-314, vocab & questions pp 314-326)
  24. Introduction of culture and Packet
  25. Map with geography of China
  26. Brief History of China to Present
  27. Sovereignty, Authority and Power
  28. Compare Confucianism and Maoism
  29. Citizens, Society, and State; Political Institutions
  30. Tower of Power
  31. Mao’s Last Dancer?
  32. Political Culture and Economic Change
  33. Current issues, cleavages reading and assignment.
  34. Public Policy and Current Issues
  35. Cleavages and current issues/ policy—activity from AP Conference
  36. Russia v China Fishbowl
  37. Important People and Institutions
  38. End of Term Exam
  39. FRQ
  40. Multiple choice with all countries up to this point
  41. Unit Packet Due
  42. Correct and grade FRQ
  43. Do Test Corrections
  44. Political Literacy catch phrase

Newly industrialized and less developed Countries— (6-8 weeks)

  1. Mexico- (read pp 327-390, vocab & questions pp 390-401)
  2. Introduction of culture and packet
  3. Map with the geography of Mexico
  4. Brief history of Mexico to present
  5. Sovereignty, Authority and Power
  6. PowerPoint slides 1-7
  7. Time to work on packet
  8. Citizens, Society and State
  9. PowerPoint slides 8-12
  10. 1st notes page- economic development of countries (circle the wagons)
  11. Political Culture and Economic Change; Political Institutions
  12. PowerPoint slides 12-16
  13. Institutions of Government
  14. Public Policy and Current Issues
  15. Presidents
  16. Important People/ Institutions (Briefing paper- Mexico)
  17. QOTD- power flow chart
  18. Current issues and policy
  19. Review game- Jeopardy or connect 4 or new game
  20. Unit Packet Due
  21. Exam on Mexico
  22. Islamic Republic of Iran (read pp 402-454, vocab & questions pp454-465)
  23. Introduction of culture and packet
  24. Map with Geography of Iran
  25. Brief History of Iran to present
  26. Sovereignty, Authority and Power
  27. PowerPoint slides 1-9
  28. Citizens, Society and state
  29. Finish PowerPoint
  30. Iran: The Next Iraq with listening guide or Frontline: Showdown with Iran
  31. Political Culture and economic change; Political Institutions
  32. Flow of power in Iran
  33. Mexico Test corrections
  34. Public Policy and Current Issues
  35. QOTD China/ Russia Regime FRQ
  36. Cleavages
  37. Important People/ Institutions (Briefing paper: Iran)
  38. Current Issues
  39. Jeopardy
  40. Exam on Iran—Unit packet due
  41. Nigeria (Read pp 466-514, vocab & questions pp 514-524)
  42. Introduction of culture and packet
  43. Map with the geography of Nigeria
  44. Brief History of Nigeria to present
  45. Sovereignty, Authority and Power
  46. PowerPoint slides 1-6 (brief history and 3 periods of rule)
  47. Citizens, Society and State
  48. PowerPoint slides 7-20
  49. Flow Chart
  50. Iran Test Corrections
  51. Political Culture and Economic Change; Political Institutions
  52. Finish PowerPoint except Current issues slides
  53. Public Policy and Current issues
  54. FRQ 2015 Nigeria and GB
  55. Current issues—Circle the wagons
  56. Important People Institutions (Briefing paper: Nigeria)
  57. Finish Nigeria
  58. Comparative Notes grid
  59. Unit Packet Due
  60. Deal or No Deal review for final exam
  61. April will be review month for the AP Exam- Working backwards
  62. Essay exam
  63. Multiple choice final exam
  64. Review of tests
  65. Wrap up and review