AP Class Advice for next year

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>This year (10th grade) , I took AP Biology and I aced it every semester . Plus I think I got a high 4 or 5 on my AP Exam . Next year , I'm taking 4 classes :</p>

<p>AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB
AP US History
AP English Language and Composition</p>

<p>On a scale from 1 - 10 (1: easiest , 10 hardest) , what would you rate these classes based on difficulty ? And how would you rate them based on the difficulty of the AP exam ?</p>

<p>Also , do you have any advice that I should follow while taking these classes ?</p>

<p>Thanks ! (:</p>

2

<p>Calculus: Math is one of my stronger subjects (I took BC this year as a sophomore), so I would rate AB as probably a 4 or 5 (but others may rate it higher if they’re not math people). I would recommend you do your homework every night and pay attention in class (if you have a good teacher). You can’t be good at anything without practice—especially at an advanced level of math.</p>

3

<p>AP Chemistry is most likely hardest course on that list. I took AP Chem without any chemistry experience whatsoever and I found some topics like bonding and equilibrium to be a pain. Otherwise I got an A in the class. </p>

<p>AP Calculus AB is easy. [Banner</a>, A.: The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus.](<a href=“http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/]Banner”>http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/) Watch those lectures from Adrian Banner and you’ll get an a A in the class. If its not enough [MIT</a> OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2006 | Home](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/CourseHome/]MIT”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/CourseHome/) the MIT courses should suffice. Anyway, with both these resources, you should get a 5 on the AP exam. </p>

<p>I cannot really say about the other two, nonetheless, I took AP English Lang. There was a lot of essay writing. I assume APUSH is going require a lot of reading. :)</p>

4

<p>I’ve only taken AP US off that list. </p>

<p>7 It all depends on you, your teacher, and your reading and writing skills. This class can either be a piece of cake or a nightmare. There’s alot of information to cover in a short amount of time, so it can be rather difficult if you’re not use to the pace the course is at (I know I wasn’t well off first semester!). I was lucky to have a really helpful teacher that would grade essays, be available almost everyday for extra help, and was a great lecturer; if you don;t have that teacher next year it could be much more difficult. Lastly, your English skills, being able to read fast AND be able to analyse helps so much. (I’m a rather slow reader so this was particularly hard for me). Also essay seem to be the weak point for many people. My only advice is to have a thesis, and refer back to it OFTEN. Many people tend to just summarize facts. So in short, if you really try to secede it won’t be that bad.</p>

5

<p>Based on difficulty of exams:</p>

<p>AP Chemistry 7
AP Calculus AB 5
AP US History 3
AP English Language and Composition 6</p>

6

<p>okayyy well i here’s the descriptions of the difficulty of each exam</p>

<p>AP Chemistry - no textbook or review book can replace what you learn within the classroom so the difficulty of the test is based on how well you are prepared by your teacher. sounds like common sense, but it applies moreso for chemistry, because you can memorize books of chemistry, and still fail the AP chemistry exam. if you want to know how well your teacher will prepare you, ask students for his/her track record and determine whether he or she is good enough for yourself. and if it so happens that you do not get a great chemistry teacher, get tutored by someone who did well on the chemistry exam. i’m sure someone on college confidential will be glad to help out.</p>

<p>AP Calculus AB - if you learn the basic concepts throughout the year and just practice using review books and the past AP exams available online, you will be golden for this test. granted, calculus BC did come very easy to me (i skipped Calculus AB), but if you learn some of the rules and equations and practice a LOT, then you’ll make a 5 with ease.</p>

<p>AP US History - this exam is very detail-oriented. I don’t know what other history classes you have had thus far, but I can guarantee that this will be on of your harder history classes. the exam itself is not that hard, it’s just memorizing all the different names, events, and all that. unlike most other history classes, just learning the big trends will not help you very much, although it will to some extent. basically, memorize terms and dates throughout the year and this test should not be that hard for you. you really don’t need a good teacher to pass this exam (although it doesn’t hurt to have one)</p>

<p>AP English language and composition - well i just took the english literature and composition exam, which is supposed to be a bit harder than the english language exam, and let me tell you, that was THE easiest test i’ve ever taken (this is coming from a math/science -oriented student). the exam itself is not hard at all, but depending on your teacher, the class can be killer.</p>

<p>just for your information
i took AP United States History my sophomore year (a year ago)
i took AP Chemistry, AP Calculus BC, AP European History, and AP English Literature and Composition my junior year (this year)</p>

7

<p>This thread has some great advice for specific classes: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/928834-tips-each-subject-ap-graduates.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/928834-tips-each-subject-ap-graduates.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>I’ve taken APUSH and AP Lang.</p>

<p>APUSH is a ton of reading and you need to learn how to write a history essay, which can be really tricky because there are a lot of facts to juggle and you still need to make an argument. The test itself is not terrible. The multiple choice is just facts, then you have a DBQ and four essay prompts (only two of which you actually write), which, like I said, can be hard if you aren’t good at history essays. This class was harder for me because I’m not much of a history person. I got a 3 on the test.</p>

<p>AP Lang was probably the best class I took in high school. Really, really, reeeeeeaaaaally depends on the teacher. I had an amazing teacher, so I grew a lot as a writer and got a 5 on the test. Basically, if you can write a decent essay, you’ll be fine. You need to understand how to analyze rhetoric for Essay #2 and the synthesis essay is essentially just a DBQ. Don’t worry so much about traditional academic writing guidelines on this one. My question three response was a narrative in first-person about how I moved to Iowa before sixth grade. Never even mentioned the prompt and I got a 5 on the test.</p>

9

<p>Exam Difficulty (I didn’t take AP Chem)</p>

<p>AP Calculus AB - 4/10
AP US History - 5/10
AP English Language and Composition - 5/10</p>

10

<p>Honestly, this is pretty subjective. I found AP Chemistry to be easy and APUSH to be difficult, but others disagree because they had different teachers and just learn differently. Instead of having us rank the classes, you should ask kids at your school about the difficulty of the classes.</p>