*This primer is designed to help students prepare for the AP US Government and Politics course. This primer is not a requirement for the AP US Government and Politics course, nor are students expected to start the year with the knowledge this primer provides.* AP US Government and Politics is a fast-paced, college-level course. This primer is designed to facilitate review of the foundational course concepts, where we will examine the relationships between the president, Congress, and the Supreme Court, and explore how different political ideologies and opinions shape American politics. Students will practice key skills like connecting political concepts to real-life situations, explaining the impact and implications of certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions, analyzing data to find patterns and trends and draw conclusions, reading and analyzing text and visual sources, developing a thesis, and supporting it in an essay. In doing so, students will closely review key primary source documents like the Constitution and Federalist Papers, and practice test sections like the Free Response Questions (FRQ’s).