<p>Hi, I'm a sophomore currently at an international school in Japan. I'm currently taking AP World as a class, which is my first AP course. I'm considering AP Psych self-study, because my school doesn't have it as a class. Is this true? APES is another exam I would consider taking, I've heard it is an easy cram and self-study exam. I'm a well disciplined and extremely science oriented student, I figured if I'm going to take AP exams, I should evenly distribute them, since I'll for sure be taking the fewest amount of AP classes this year. For APES, I'm not sure if I have an ample background, I'm taking chemistry and biology right now, I'm not sure what kind of background I'll need or if the books will cover it. I'm a good student, I work hard, and I'm a smart guy, with a decent and improving work ethic. </p>
<p>For a self-study plan, I would get the books this winter break, and the semester ends before winter break, so I'll be able to focus solely on AP Psych, World, and possibly APES. I'd probably start studying during break, an hour a day everyday, except weekends since it's a long time until AP season. </p>
<p>I have the okay from my dad to take AP Psych, not sure about APES. Is 3 AP exams too much? I don't want to be too ambitious, is this an overambitious plan? </p>
<p>AP psych is a lot of memorization but i had an amazing teacher. i mainly did packets and flashcards, and about two projects the whole year. if you put your heart into it, you could get a 5. its not hard to get a 3. i don’t know much about APES but i’ve heard its relatively easy. i have four AP exams this year (chemistry, united states, language and composition, and spanish culture), so i can definitely say the three you are taking is not much of an overload! ap psych will be the most work though. but go for it!! ap is rigorous and looked at tons 
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I will echo what zeppelins said above - AP Psych is a very easy, memory-based AP course. As long as you put a little bit into it every day you will do fine, and I self-studied out of a textbook.
However, contrary to popular belief APES is not the “easy science.” It has the lowest scores of all the science AP exams (check it out - http://www.totalregistration.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=487:2013-ap-exam-score-distributions&catid=18:misc). I disagree with the website’s assessment that this is due to students lacking a decent biology or chemistry background (you don’t need perfect knowledge of either of these to do well), but I do think the general class preparation (in my experience, at least) does not have the depth demanded by the exam. In a class where the average score on the APES exam was 2, I was probably one of the few who got a 5, and that was only with lots and lots of self-study and practice that you will probably not get in the typical APES class.
I want to self study Psych too, but i am so confused how you simply study from a review book? How do you learn from that?