How to survive AP's?

Question

im going to be a senior and im taking 4 APs: literature, gov't, economics, and chemistry. just wondering, what did you guys do to get through APs?? i know , obviously to study ur *** off, but like, do you guys stay up the whole night the whole year and do u struggle in class? i took honors classes 9-11th grade and 11th grade was the hardest cuz i had a LOT of homework, i consumed larrgggge quantities of coffee and redbull , and i stayed up throught the night (espec in the spring)and so im kinda scared for this year.

did you study with your friends? do you stay after school for review sessions? anyhting else??

HELP!!

Answer 1

I've never done AP courses in my life, since I do the A-levels where I study (albeit a little modified from the British version). I currently do Mathematics (which covers Calculus AB, and bits of BC), Chemistry (which covers AP Chemistry and more), Physics (which covers Physics B topics, and to roughly the same depth), Japanese (let's not talk about it) and General Paper (basically a subject where you do a 90-minute comprehension exam and a 90-minute essay on topics like 'Why study philosophy?' or 'Can war ever be justified?'). I wasn't doing very well in school and was terribly bored with the incredible lack of breadth in my school curriculum in terms of subjects, so I decided to take AP exams for fun. I'll just speak in terms of surviving (even doing pretty well) for the actual exam.

To state my point in a single sentence: the best way to do well for the AP exam itself is to buy and study the correct books (meaning the course itself isn't terribly relevant to getting a good score - the right book matters a lot more).

To be honest, AP exams (as in the exam itself) are generally extremely easy compared to their A-level counterparts, in large part due to the weightage given to multiple-choice questions. By way of comparison, the Mathematics paper at A-level involves two three-hour papers comprising only free-response questions, with something like 10 questions with lots of part questions per question per paper, but Calculus BC has only six FRQs comprising 50% and lots of MCQs comprising another 50%. So with my educational background I was prepared for the AB aspect of the exam, but not the BC. What I did to prepare myself further was to buy 'Calculus, 5th edition' by Stewart and to read through it, doing a few problems here and there. I had a teacher help me out with some bits, and I managed to get a 5, despite failing mathematics at school (meaning <50% of the maximum mark).

For chemistry (another subject I fail at in school), I bought a Barron's test-prep book two weeks before the exam and read through it by way of preparation. Fortunately that sufficed, and I got a 5.

Economics is something I never did in school, but this really good test-prep book called '5 steps to a 5 in AP Economics' was all I needed to get a 5 for Microeconomics and a 4 in Macroeconomics.

For Comparative Government and Politics, I simply read the chapters corresponding to the six countries tested in this book called 'Comparative Politics Today'. For U.S. Govt I'm sure there's a book of similar quality and comprehensiveness - find out what it is, buy it, and read it from cover to cover. If you can retain all that information for just 3 days you'll ace the actual exam.

I didn't do literature, so I can't help you out on that. I did get 5 for AP English language by blundering around - it's almost a miracle, so I can't say anything useful about that.

In conclusion: to do well for your exam, buy and use the right books - read them from cover to cover and try your best to retain the information for just one or two days. As for the myriad of homework and quizzes that comes with AP courses, I don't know what to say - except that if your high school's a nice sort of place where they actually replace your course grade with the exam grade (if you do better on the exam than you did in the course), there's no need to stress over the course itself - just ace the exam and you'll be on your way!

A more general word of advice: GET ENOUGH SLEEP. Pulling all-nighters for homework is NOT SMART. I adhere to a simple principle for my own work - either I do it by 12, or I go to bed anyway, and to h**l with the consequences. It didn't do my school grades much good, but it didn't exactly hurt my AP exam grades. I wouldn't suggest you go as far as I did, but really - get enough rest. Or else your performance will dip below optimal, and over time, you'll become a very irritable and unhappy young person. Get your beauty sleep!

Oh and don't count too much on peer study. Studying with friends usually degenerates into chit-chat sessions in my experience. Study alone, or with a tutor/teacher. Some music might help - but resist the urge to hum or sing along with it. Oh and - drink lots of water, with the occasional sweetened drink. Skip the Red Bull and settle for good old tea with sugar and milk or just hot milk. Cut down on coffee - caffeine is really not fantastic for the body. I'm a caffeine addict, so trust me on this - you won't like the day you find your fingers trembling for no good reason.

That's all for the day. Good luck with your senior year! (I'll be graduating from high school this November. Two years as a conscript in the military before I head to Japan for college. Enjoy life as a free American - and pray the Selective Service scheme doesn't suddenly activate and conscript you as well.)

Answer 2

Taking an AP class is a little more difficult, since you're expected to do a lot of the work at home by yourself and such, but the entire year isn't full of stressing out. First semester isn't bad but second semester is where things pick up dramaticly. In AP classes, you practice writing timed essays a lot (since that's a majority of probably all of your exams, I know at least literature and government).

About a month or two before the exams, it is probably easier if you do have study groups with your friends. Two of my friends and I would go by Starbucks or someone's house about once a week and go over flashcards. If your teacher offers review sessions, try to make it to a few. Just a little more practice can make a huge difference. When I took the tests for the '08 year, I recalled quite a few of answers from what we learned in our study group than what we learned only in our class since we were repeated the material to help us learn it.

Sure, it's probably going to be a little stressful, but it's definantly worth taking the AP classes for the boost in your GPA and either getting college credit or preparing yourself for college classes so you arn't stressing as much then. Good luck in Chemistry, that's probably going to take the most work out of you, so prepare to spend a lot of your focus in that class.

Answer 3

my government class kicked my butt. but then the test was very easy. i think i got a 5 on it easy.

your biggest worry is chemistry. its just a bunch of memorizing from what i heard. and its got the lowest pass rate of any AP test.

im taking it along with literature, calculus, and biology this year. so we're in the same boat.

last year i took physics, gov, and stats and i didnt really have to study that much.

Answer 4

I took AP English and it wasn't as stressful as you think it's going to be. I felt that in my AP classes I had to be more prepared that me other classes because you never know when they would put you on the spot. I also felt that writing assignments were harder and of course they grade you much harder than a regular class. It's worth it in the end.

Answer 5

The most important thing is to manage your time. I took 7 APs last year and there were a few weeks when I was busy and didn't do any of my homework for the week until Thursday night. Bad idea. Some of your class will have homework given on Monday and due on Friday. Don't procrastinate. Make it a goal to have your homework done by Wed. or Thur. Also, don't wait till the day before a test to study. Study a little bit each day (read over your notes from that chapter) and read the book. Your teachers will tell you to read the book. Trust me, they know what they are talking about. Also, I took notes in a seperate notebook on the book. This helped me to actually read the book and not just look at the pages for a while. I actually absorbed what I was reading.

Good luck with your Aps!