<p>How important will research and research methods be? Are there a lot of questions regarding those? Also, what are some of the free response questions from previous AP Psych exams? Lastly, what areas should I focus on? Should I place a lot of weight on pure vocab. or should I also understand examples like "John fears this... so he must have this...?"</p>
<p>You can find the answers to most of your questions on collegeboard.com. They have the percentages of each topic, previous free-response questions, etc.</p>
<p>Bump please...</p>
<p>Research methods make up 6-8% of the multiple choice section, according to my Barron's 2008 prep book. I also know that you should study it really well as there's a good chance that you'll need to design an experiment in the free-response section of the test, meaning that you'll need to know the different types of variables (confounding, independent, etc.), sampling, types of assignment, and a slew of other things. I haven't taken the AP Psychology test yet, as I plan to take it this year, but from all the research that I've gathered, that appears to be the case. Make sure you know the vocabulary, but also know how to apply what you learned to real world situations. Ideally, you should be comfortable enough to answer a free response question regarding any section of psychology.</p>
<p>^I have the same book. I'm self-studying right now, so any advice on how to memorize the information? Also, does anyone know where I can get past AP Psychology tests? Do they even release those?</p>
<p>I'm self-studying too. As far as memorizing, I'm not too sure. I read the entire book in one night (11-12 hours straight) and did all the practice tests within the chapters. Now I plan to go back and review a chapter every day, and then take the cumulative practice tests in the back to see what sections I need to work on, then go back and memorize more information (brute-memorization) and take more tests. I also bought Sparknotes AP Psychology Power Pack. It comes with 300 flash cards and practice tests as well as a spark chart that includes useful key terms and information. As far as past AP Psychology tests, I don't know...but if you find out where they have them at, could you post the link on this thread because I'd like to see it too. :P</p>
<p>With a quick Google search, I found the 2003</a> FRQs. Our teacher used FRQs from previous exams for our midterm and final exams last semester. When you're studying, don't just go for memorizing vocabulary alone, make sure you understand the entire concept, with the associated terminology instead.</p>
<p>From what I understand, you (maybe only teachers and schools?) can purchase older full-length AP exams from CollegeBoard.</p>
<p>Here is the breakdown of exam topics from CollegeBoard:
[quote]
* I. History and Approaches (2–4%)
* II. Research Methods (6–8%)
* III. Biological Bases of Behavior (8–10%)
* IV. Sensation and Perception (7–9%)
* V. States of Consciousness (2–4%)
* VI. Learning (7–9%)
* VII. Cognition (8–10%)
* VIII. Motivation and Emotion (7–9%)
* IX. Developmental Psychology (7–9%)
* X. Personality (6–8%)
* XI. Testing and Individual Differences (5–7%)
* XII. Abnormal Psychology (7–9%)
* XIII. Treatment of Psychological Disorders (5–7%)
* XIV. Social Psychology (7–9%)
[/quote]
</p>