AP Calc AB exam--HELP!

<p>Any last minute study tips for my D for next week's AB test? She is so worried after taking a couple of practice tests. Any ideas????</p>

<p>Collegeboard has all the free responses with solutions from the past few years I think. Going over those is helping me tremendously!! Also, your D might want to make a formula sheet or list with formulas needed to be memorized (Mean Value Theorem, the Riemans Sums, etc.). Other than that, practice practice practice. I am taking it as well next week.
<a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/calculus_ab/samp.html?calcab%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/calculus_ab/samp.html?calcab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks for the post vin09. Are you skipping the MCs that you don't know, or are you guessing?</p>

<p>If I can eliminate 1 answer, I'm guessing. If I have no idea, I'm not.</p>

<p>You figure, if you can eliminate one answer on 4 questions and you guess on these questions, you will probably get one right. You will then lose 3/4 of a point on the ones you guessed incorrectly on. You are still up 1/4 of a point =)</p>

<p>tmi, what practice tests are your daughter taking? I have been working through some official (released) AP CalcAB exams, and they are significantly easier than the Barron's review book's practice tests. I would tell her to practice doing an official test, during a timed session, to get the feel for how the exam will go. Also, she she should not use/use the calculator on the respective portions. In terms of practice for the free response sections, direct your D to the collegeboard site and tell her to look through several years worth of FR q's. It is **very important to look at the answers<a href="also%20provided%20on%20CB's%20website">/B</a>. Students must know how the FR are scored, where points can be lost, how much detail/explanation/work must be shown. Often, you can earn a lot of points just through the FR so it's important to do well. Also, the questions from year to year often are similar- there's usually a certain type of question the CB likes to test kids on. It's important to be familiar with these. Lastly, I would suggest is to take all of her tests and quizzes from this year. Go through all of them, look at where mistakes were made: Where there entire topics that are not strong? Is it silly mistakes? Certain formulas/equations/methods?</p>

<p>ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~celaine/apcalc/apcalc.pdf</p>

<p>This is an EXCELLENT review sheet for AP Calc AB - I used it to get a 5 last year in AB and I'm using it a little for BC this year.</p>

<p>I'm probably going to attempt all of the MC.. if one is too difficult I might skip it. Also, my teacher told me that you can store whatever you want in your calculator before the test..formulas, theorems. Agreed with mememe. Barrons questions are much harder than the offical exam questions..they over-prepare you. Again, you can get plenty of points on the Free Response without actually even writing an answer..it's helpful to see exactly how they grade the free response: lots of points come from variables, integrals, explanations rather than raw answers.
Oh, and learn L'Hopitals rule...it is a BC topic but really comes in handy for a few limits questions.</p>

<p>I went through a lot of problems with Calc as a junior this year. It was the first C I ever got on a report card, EVER. I am very involved in sports but also I had a gambling problem too. These issues plus having a time consuming girlfriend all detracted from my ability to succeed in the class. However, I took a practice test the first week of April and got a 3 being 6 points off of a 4. this was after so many poor results. then, I went over the stuff for the next two weeks and this past saturday I got a 5 (easily). What I'm saying is it is all about the teacher and how hard the class runs because the AP test seems a lot easier than my class itself. I am pretty proud of myself and sort of surprised I got a 5. I wish your D the best of luck and memorize all the derivative-antiderivative formulas. i am studying them tonight along with Euro AP</p>

<p>GO gettum</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! I'll show my D in a short while (she's currently in her room studying -- you guessed it -- Calculus!!)</p>

<p>Hey is the test as easy as the old tests collegeboard offers, because I found that the practice tests in the Princeton Review were a bit more diffucult. Any comments?</p>

<p>sfboy- I'd like to know this as well, try posting in anew thread.</p>

<p>Any thoughts on my comment? I'm freaking out about the free response cause what I write down might not be what the collegeboard is looking for, but I guess I can just BS my way through.</p>

<p>My teacher said the test is getting harder however the cutoffs are getting lower so even if you do worse it will be easier to get a higher score. For instance, on the 2003 test you only had to get 27& of the possible points on the test to get a 3</p>