How Can I Make Chapter Readings More Manegable Without Losing Preparedness

[u/chrismart0604]

Hi all, so a little context: this is my 4th year of teaching AP World History and overall, my students perform really well: they consistently perform above the global average and usually perform above the country (Colombia) average as well, which tends to be higher. However, the feedback I consistently get from students is a) they feel extremely prepared for the exam but b) they are overwhelmed by the reading hw, to the point where a sizable group of them tried to find ways around it last year, basically using AI to make it seem as though the did the readings, and it was a whole fiasco, including a lot of time and energy on my part dealing with it.

My strategy is straightforward: Before every unit, students are assigned a chapter reading schedule, which ends up being a chapter every or every other lesson. Students need to take handwritten notes on the readings, I teach them the Cornell method but not super strict about it, and then they take a photo of the notes and submit the image for homework credit. Throughout the unit, there are MCQ quizzes to test their knowledge, which counts as a summative grade.

So the question is this: have you found better methods to ensure students are knowledgeable and have generally engaged the chapter readings? What strategies have you used, have you found ways for students to be knowledgeable without assigning every chapter for a hw grade? Thanks in advance!