5 AP US Government Resources for Students Who Want a 5

5 min read•Last Updated on July 11, 2024

The Best AP Gov Resources

So you want a 5 on your AP Gov exam? Duh! Of course you do! Whether you want to study politics in college or not at all, the credits you can earn from AP Gov will come in handy. You’ll get credit for an intro to government course that can save you time with your general requirements and/or jump ahead to higher level politics classes.

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So. Worth. It.

Last year, only 13% of students that took the AP Gov exam scored a 5. You’ll need to surround yourself with the absolute best resources if you are headed toward a high score.

Although there are thousands of teacher websites and other free content across the internet, these five resources are proven to help students pass the exam with flying colors. Some of them are free, some cost as much as $40, but when you consider the amount of college credit you can earn, it’s a worthy investment to pass this exam.

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Let’s jump in!

1. Fiveable for AP US Government

What is it? Kind of like tutoring, but in a group and all online. Every Tuesday night at 9pm, an experienced teacher hosts a live review to discuss topics and write practice essays live. You can rewatch any of the live sessions as many times as you want!

Why is it helpful? The key feature that Fiveable has that you won’t find in any of the other listed resource is a live, real teacher to answer your questions whenever you have them. If you attend sessions live, you can submit questions for the teacher to discuss. The replay will get time-stamped with the answered questions, which makes it really easy to go back and review that answer.

Fun Feature: The cool thing about Fiveable is that even though the live reviews are at the core of this resource, there are several other key features like trivia games that members play live! There are thousands of members across the world and you can see how you stack up against them!

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2. ASAP US Government & Politics (on Amazon)

What is it? It’s a prep book, but the entire book is made up of images, graphic organizers, and flow charts! It’s relatively small at just 237 pages, unlike those thick prep books, and the amount of text is very limited. One of our favorite spreads is the How a Bill Becomes a Law Board Game!

Why is it helpful? Some of the content in AP Gov can be really confusing or overwhelming, but this book is incredibly visual so it helps you make sense of each topic. Plus, there are tons of charts that will directly compare things and time lines to make sense of order of events.

Fun Feature: Throughout the book, there are little icons that specify whether a topic is “must know,” “should know,” or “could know”. This is an incredibly helpful feature to help you narrow down all of the content and focus on just what you need to get a 5.

3. Sarge Notes - AP GOV

What is it? Paul Sargent is an AP Gov and AP Euro teacher that has been developing his website and YouTube channel for years. There are tons of lectures, study guides, and other helpful videos linked throughout the site.

Why is it helpful? Like many AP classes, there are many ways to connect the content to real world events, but AP Gov is particularly relevant. Sargent does an excellent job linking interesting articles to each topic for further reading and to help connect these topics to current events.

Fun Feature: On Youtube, Sargent has a series called “Bit by Bit” that does an excellent job of breaking down the concepts into bite-sized chunks. Here’s the playlist for Gov: http://www.sargenotes.com/ap-government.html

4. Romulus AP US Gov (for iOS)

What is it? It’s an app! Actually, it’s a super useful app and super affordable ($2.99). There are 300 questions on here

that cover all of the topics in a really straightforward way to help you study terms. These practice questions are not stimulus-based like the exam, but rather quick recall so you can play it a whole bunch of times.

Why is it helpful? Vocabulary is such a big part of any AP exam and this app was created by teachers who truly understand the value of studying key terms. You can play the whole deck or focus just on a time period. Either way, if you play this a few times a week, you’ll be golden.

Fun Feature: For every question, there is a detailed explanation in case you need a reminder for why the right answer is right. Each explanation also includes why the other three answers were wrong and it’s all right in the app so you don’t have to stop and Google anything.

5. AMSCO US Government & Politics: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Exam

What is it? It’s a bit more than your average prep book, but way less than a textbook. A lot of teachers just use this as the textbook because it is so much more condensed in a good way! Each chapter is 10 pages or less and just gets to what’s important.

Why is it helpful? It’s super easy to read and if you get it soon, you could definitely read the whole thing.

Key Feature: Every chapter has practice questions at the end, which are amazing! There are multiple-choice, short-answer, long-essay, and document-based questions that you can practice throughout. The only downside is the answer key is super secure and for teachers only, so you won’t have a quick way to check if you were right.

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Bonus Resource: Facebook group for AP Gov students!

Join the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/apgopostudents

What resources do you use? Tweet us at @thinkfiveable or comment below!

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