This is my first AP exam in High school, and I have no idea what to expect. Its in 31 days and I just started studying. I have Barron and Kaplan but don’t know which one to study more. Do you think that I should have started studying earlier? and how much/often (hours per week) should I study now?
Also, I had a mid 90-92 as an average the whole year, but my teacher curves a lot. What are important things to study and where should I study for vocab? Also, how much are AP exams usually curved and do you think I can get a 4 or 5?
Any links/ help would be appreciated, I’m freaking out
Thanks!
The Human Geography exam is one of the easiest AP exams from what I’ve heard. I’m also a freshman taking this as my first AP, and I’m hoping for a 5 as well. Luckily, the curve for a five is ~60%. You should study as much as you need to. Take the diagnostic exam from Barron’s, then you can see what you get, and what you need to work on. Then you can study just the right amount.
You really need to know how the exam questions work and go into the mind of the exam readers. I am a freshman too, taking AP Euro and AP Human Geography.
At the start of the year, I understood the content really well, and could explain almost anything learned from the textbook (I was good at memorization). However, I couldn’t APPLY the concepts, and that really hurt my test grades. I’m taking AP Euro in-class and APHG online Florida Virtual School. I have a 93%-94%, but remember your grade is completely different from your AP exam score. I really recommend Princeton review, but the ones you have are great. I also just started reviewing and feel somewhat hurried just like you. Of course, I am not reading the chapters word-for-word, but I see that the practice tests are VERY helpful. They’re just like the difficulty of the AP exam, and the wording, choices, and answers will definitely help the most. Also, make sue your review book has answer explanations. It helps a lot with elimination and choosing the best answers.
Additionally, make sure to check out sample FRQ’s. I think the AP website posts good and bad examples of FRQ’s, along with explanations of why they earned high/low scores. I think knowing what earns you a high and low score on these exams is the most helpful thing you can do to review; I only realized this later in the year, unfortunately 
One more thing - don’t stress over it! APHG has a ~50% fail rate (score of 1 or 2) because most kids don’t know what they’re doing. I have noticed that the less I stress out and the more I relax, the better I do on exams, especially concerning making less silly mistakes and really grasping the concepts and applying them to the questions.
I’m aiming for a 5 too - If you’re curious of what you need to get a four or five, check out these score calculators:
http://appass.com/calculators/humangeography
http://aphaven.com/haven/ap-human-geography/calculator
These are also some great resources for exam cram, review or just a general guide to success on the exam:
http://www.appracticeexams.com/ap-human-geography
https://apgeographymhs.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/04/sbigideaspacket2012.pdf
Hope this helps! I wish you best of luck!
While possibly true, you should also be aware that this test has the lowest pass rate of all AP tests, with approx. ~52% earning a 3+, and almost 30% earning a 1.
APHUG was my first exam… I got a 4 but I did not study at all… literally burned my notes after the class and didn’t have anything to study