It’s that season again. Well, sure, spring is starting in a few days, but I’m not talking about that: it’s AP season. Now whether you signed up for just one test this AP season, or, for the less fortunate of you, anywhere from six to eight, here are a few valuable tips that will help you get that 5.
Textbooks vs. Study Guides
Now, forgive me Prentice Hall, but AP textbooks are probably the worst thing you can use to study. Think about it, the longer the book, the more money publishers can sell the book for; and this often translates to overly complicated, lengthy and way-too-detailed texts which can leave the student confused and frustrated with the material. Ask yourself, how much valuable information do you get from reading ten pages of your textbook? Probably about ten bullet points or so.
The solution: use an AP study guide. “Barrons,” “Crash Course” (my favorite) or “5 Steps to a 5;” it really doesn’t matter. But these books are written by people who study the AP tests, who have probably looked at all of the released questions for that subject and compiled a book containing everything you need to know boiled down to a minimum, nothing more, nothing less.
Time Spent vs. Detail
A common piece of advice you may hear about studying for APs is that the earlier you start preparing and the more time you spend doing so, the higher of a score you will receive. I’m here to tell you that that’s not necessarily the case. There are dozens of students who have signed up for a test without taking the class, procrastinated studying until the last minute and still managed to get a passing score on the test, or even a 5.
It’s not about how many months you spend studying, its about how much material you study. In my opinion, I say base your studying solely off AP study guides, and maybe some flashcards if you like them. But from my experiences, here’s a pretty good scale on study guides. If you read one book cover to cover, you can probably get a three or a four. Read two and its likely you can get a four or five. If you read three study guides cover to cover, there’s a high chance you’ll get a five.
It’s not about the number of months you spend reading, say three study guides, but how many you read.If you can read one a day for three days, right before your test, then I say do it: more power to you. If you can accurately and thoroughly read three the day before, the better. And the great thing is all of this information will be fresh in your mind; you won’t need to pull back from stuff you learned in October.
The Actual AP Test
To be honest, the AP tests are so overhyped, it’s not even funny. Everyone focuses so much on time limits, messing up and anxiety that the test itself has a bad rep. But ask anyone who has actually studied for and taken an AP test, and he or she will probably tell you “it wasn’t that bad.”
The tests cover so much information in such a short time that the questions only skim the surface at best. This is why I say textbooks that go into so much detail really are your worst enemy. All you need to know is that the mitochondria is the main power supply of the cell, not the specifics of the action potential and how it actually works.
So with all of that said, I wish you the best of luck this AP season. Hopefully you find these tips helpful. And to any of you who signed up for an AP test for a class you didn’t take: Bravo, trust me, you made the right choice.
*Disclaimer: This guide applies to nearly all AP tests, but not AP Art History. To put it simply, that test is insane.*