How to Self-Study for an AP Exam

How to Self-Study for an AP Exam ACT SAT Prep and College Admissions Blog Unfortunately, not all high school AP programs are created equal. Even though colleges put your AP exams in the context of how many were offered at your school, there are major tuition savings to be had from doing well on more AP exams. If you find yourself wanting to take an AP exam that your school does not offer, here is how you can ace the exams on your own: Pick Your Textbook This is an important decision as it will form the basis of your self-study journey, especially for exams that have recently gotten a facelift from the CollegeBoard. For such exams, like AP Biology in the 2012-2013 school year, you will want to Google “SUBJECT NAME textbook correlations”. For most redesigned exam, the CollegeBoard collects correlation assessments from textbook publishers to ensure that their books align with the exam frameworks. This is usually the ideal way to pick the best textbook. If a comprehensive correlations document is not available, then you can look for the “SUBJECT NAME example textbook list”, which is more commonly available. Get the latest edition whenever possible and if you can’t decide, just go with whichever one you think has the most reputable publisher behind it. Either way, do not spend too much time obsessing over the textbook you use â€" the important thing is how you will use it. Set a Study Plan Generally, every textbook will have more information than what you actually need to succeed on the AP exam. So to save yourself lots of headaches down the line, look through the chapters and make note of which ones will not show up on the real exam (have a copy of the framework handy). Once you have determined the chapters that you will need to get through, set a weekly schedule all the way until April 1st, a month before AP exams are administered. You will want the last month before exams start to review and practice. Allocate at least one hour per day on your self-study. Remember that other kids will be taking an actual hour-long class for this every day plus more time for homework. You need to be putting in at least one hour per day to stay on track. Be a Note-Taking Fiend When I self-studied for AP World History, what really made me successful was that as I read every chapter, I took notes on the major points of almost everything I read. It came out to about 2-3 sentences per page read. This was certainly a significant amount of work to stay on top of, but it paid dividends in two important ways: It reinforces the learning process because you can’t just passively read the textbook and forget things easily. You have to decide which parts are the most important, which forces you to think about what you just read and the act of writing it imprints the knowledge to memory better. You now have a self-made study guide of the points that you thought were important. This was an excellent resource for me when it came time to cram because I had written the notes in a way that I would easily understand and quickly jog my memory. Practice Profusely To make sure you are internalizing what you are learning, give yourself frequent assessments along the way. Textbooks will generally have end-of-chapter quizzes and there are a number of online resources as well: Learnerator â€" We work with AP table leaders and readers to develop the most comprehensive question banks possible and work each year to ensure all content is in-line with the AP exams. Quizlet â€" You will find many flash card sets put together by teachers and students. The quality will vary 4tests â€" There are free tests here, although be careful because it does not seem like the content has been updated to match the redesigned exams. If you want even more practice questions, you can purchased past released exams on the CollegeBoard store: https://store.collegeboard.org/sto/catalog.do?category=259categoryName=AP%AE Physical review books, although clunky to carry around, can also provide additional practice. *Before going down this route however, it is worth noting that many such books do not have very good content. This is especially true of books written to adapt to overhauled AP exams, as they are often regurgitations of past books that are not truly aligned to the new frameworks. The Final Push About a month before the exam, you should plan to have all the necessary chapters read with copious notes. Here is a checklist of things to do before the exam to ensure best odds of success: Re-read your notes By this point, it is more than likely that you have forgotten many of the things that you read earlier in the year. Give all your notes a run-through as a refresher. Practice like Crazy The best way to really master a subject is to get as many reps as possible. One way to do this is to go to a local bookstore with a notebook and grab as many review books as possible and just take all the practice questions out of the books (if you don’t want to actually buy several books). Take released exam The best way to be prepared for the real exam is to take past released exams. This may not always be available the year after a re-designed course is first implemented, such as AP U.S. History in the 2014-15 school year. In those cases, you will have to rely on independent companies and their review products. In-Person Questions They say that you don’t truly know something until you are able to teach it. One way to do this is to get a friend, a parent, or a willing teacher to quiz you FRQ-style on various topics. The topics can be pulled from past released FRQ’s, review books, topics found in textbooks, online resources, etc. The goal is to not know what questions to be expecting and be able to provide thoughtful and confident answers in the moment without the aid of any resources. Through a process like this Memorization self-challenge Starting at the highest level of organization, try to remember everything you can about what you learned. A good way to start is by textbook chapters. If you can recall all the chapter names in your textbook, that is a great start because it means that you can see the big picture of how the course progresses and what it contains. Then at each chapter, recall from memory how each one was organized. You don’t need to recall every fact, but if you can remember at an “outline” level, at least two tiers (such as chapters - sections) and some supporting knowledge in each one, then you are in great shape. As you do this exercise, you can take down notes of things you struggled to remember and look up the actual book chapters to see which ones you missed. So there you have it! If you plan it out and stick to your strategy, self-studying for an AP exam is not all that difficult. It may seem daunting at times, but the payoff will be worth it: You have another chance to save on college tuition and admissions offices will love that you put in all that effort to go above and beyond. Good luck! About the Author Luke Liu is CEO and founder of Learnerator Education. When he was in high school, he took 11 AP exams and got 11 5’s. He self-studied for the AP World History exam after having taken the APUSH and AP European History classes. Learnerator is the web's leading resource for high-quality academic practice materials. With over 18,000 questions and solutions spanning 37 subjects developed by elite educators in the respective fields, thousands of people trust Learnerator to prepare them for high-stakes exams. Subjects that can be found on Learnerator include all major AP exams, SAT, ACT, GMAT, and more. All content is meticulously developed and tested before publishing on our platform which makes it as simple as possible to begin practicing and learning by doing. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(215486, 'a519c073-790d-4c67-b0fd-7095f1869478', {});

Orange County AP Tutor 5 Ways to Conquer AP Exams

Orange County AP Tutor 5 Ways to Conquer AP Exams 5 Ways to Conquer AP Exams Advanced placement exams are just around the corner, and many high school students are feeling anxious about how well they will score on test day. One of the most important things students can do is prepare for the exam well in advance. Of course, students will have taken the AP class all year long, and their teacher will have gone over a lot of the elements of the exam with them already, but students should definitely take the time to work on test preparation on their own so they can conquer their AP exams and, hopefully, get a score of 3 or higher and get college credit as well as have a great transcript to send to the admissions committees. 1.   Working within a time crunch Its not that much longer until AP exams, so students are encouraged to use the remaining time to focus on their studies really. Some students will have been practicing since the beginning of the school year, but many students will just be starting their test prep now. Working within this limited timeframe means students should accelerate their timeline of study and also prioritize what is most important. Maybe they need to memorize math formulas or work on reading comprehension. Perhaps they need to improve their writing skills or learn how to organize their thoughts in an outline.   Whatever students need to do, theres no time like the present when it comes to test prep this spring. 2.   Focus on clarity in writing More often than not students can sit down and write a clear and concise passage when they have all the time in the world, but when the clock is ticking, they often start to ramble or go off on a tangent that makes their writing unclear to the reader. Students should do a series of drills that encourage them to write quickly yet clearly within a short amount of time, so they get used to the situation and also have time to make any improvements in their writing if needed. 3.   Review important facts and figures Depending on what AP course the student is enrolled in they will likely have to review a lot of important facts and figures. Advanced placement courses that involve history or math often require students to memorize a lot of things before they can do well on the exam. Also, this is a lot of information for a student to carry in their head throughout the year. Whether a student uses flashcards, takes notes, or has a tutor quiz them on a regular basis, its just important they know their stuff on test day (READ: 5 Ways to Start Prepping for AP Exams). 4.   Get plenty of sleep Most students get into the bad habit of staying up late to cram for their AP exams. Unfortunately, this type of study is not helpful for two reasons: students dont remember much of what they do when theyre tired, and they may fatigue themselves to the point that they cant remember things that would normally be easy. Students should get a full eight hours of sleep, or even more, lead up to the days of the AP exams. Things often seem clear and are easier to deal with after a good night’s sleep, and students who get enough sleep tend to be less stressed out and worried about the college application process overall. 5.   Stay organized During advanced placement prep students also need to stay highly organized. Its so easy to forget a tutoring or study group session, forget an important deadline, or fail to remember a particular topic that a student needed to review. Excellent organization is one of the best ways high school students can conquer their AP exams because it forces them to look at the big picture and think about how much time they realistically have to meet their goals. If a student needs help getting or staying organized they’re encouraged to work with a tutor or parent to achieve success up until the big day. Its not too late to book your private Orange County AP tutor. Call us today for more information. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.