Rising Junior taking AP Stat and pre-calc together. Did anyone have summer work to do? What textbook do you guys use? What have you heard about the course or the test?
Rising senior taking stat instead of calc here! We don’t have a summer packet this year, and it feels weird…i asked the stat teacher what to do over the summer to practice, and she said there are practice problems on Khan Academy, but she encouraged me to just “enjoy my summer”…i’ve heard the class isn’t that bad, but i guess i’ll see next year
From what I’ve heard, it’s a lot of common sense sprinkled with organization skills and basic arithmetic. If you can think critically, you can pass AP Stat (I hope).
@codemachine AP Stats is not very difficult to master as long as you learn the AP format. My teacher used AP style questions for all our exams, so I knew what to expect. I will receive my scores later in the summer, but I’m pretty sure I got a 5. (Based off the fact that I got 5’s on Barron’s practice tests) I’ll keep up with this thread, and just tag me if you have any questions about stats.
@ZealousScholar Thanks so much! I just finished the first 6 problems of my summer assignment, and I’m confident I got all of them right. Pretty much basic statistical questions, combined with our first lesson from our textbook.
@codemachine Good for you, getting a head start. I actually didn’t know I had summer homework until the 1st day of school :-S . Most of what you learn in the 1st semester is the basics of each statistical topic. All of this information will come together in the second semester when you learn hypothesis testing/confidence intervals. (Which is the biggest portion of the exam by far)
I am a rising junior and I took AP stats and hon. precalc sophomore year - I honestly found AP stats way easier. You guys are right when you say it’s about intuition. You will have to know some specifics regarding conditions for running procedures, but my teacher taught me a 4 step outline that could be applied to all sorts of problems. I ended up with a 5, and I’m definitely glad I took the class. I did have summer work, but it was not nearly as demanding as summer work from other classes. My workload during the school year was also pretty light. Good luck this year!
Agree with those above, the content in the course isn’t too deep and I feel it is easier to master with a teacher outlining it the way you need to do problems on the exam. There isn’t necessarily much you need to do to get ahead, as long as you can grasp the concepts quickly enough and know where to apply your knowledge (which is more logic than statistical) you should do fine in the course and on the exam.
Rising junior taking AP Stats after finishing Calc BC last year. I hope this class isn’t too hard, and it will be a huge change from the math of the past few weeks. I haven’t been told there is summer homework, so I hope there wasn’t.
@Soccer1235 i don’t have summer homework either, but I’ve been using Khan Academy to get a feel for the content before the school year starts.
My schedule conflicted, so I was put in this class (instead of Calc BC). Hoping the teacher isn’t too weird…it’s been rumored that the Stats teacher makes his students call him G-Money…
How are you guys doing in stats thus far?
@super5000ify pretty good so far. It’s definitely a lot more interesting and easier to understand than other math classes I’ve taken previously. Gradewise, I usually have a low B in math, but now I have a borderline A, so I’m definitely doing better on assessments.
@thecolourist That’s great! The explaining sometimes gets somewhat nitpicky and annoying for me, but overall I’m doing very well.
@super5000ify awesome! I hope you continue to do well 
Hello, I am a freshman in the Class of 2020 currently in Geometry Honors and had some questions about AP Statistics.
I plan on double majoring in film and political science or majoring in one of them. I read lots of articles that AP Statistics will benefit me in my major because for film, it will help me budget, and for political science, it will help me for polling data, economics, etc. My favorite math is also statistics. This made me think of AP Stats a lot. However, I get so much mixed reviews about the class as lots of people are telling me that it is not worth taking the class or that it is worth it, and it is confusing me so much. Some people tell me that I should take AP Calculus AB or BC instead of AP Statistics. Others have told me that it is fine for me to take AP Statistics, but I should at least attempt to take AP Calculus AB. Is there a specific route you guys recommend me? Sorry if I am asking such a silly question, or I am being rude.
Have a good day!
@anthonytheboy In terms of the class itself, the difficulty or enjoyment you will have will really depend on the teacher you have. Ask people who have already taken the course or even the teacher to gauge if it is something you would be interested in taking.
The actual course involves lots of writing as well, which is pretty straightforward, but very picky on wording. If you do not enjoy writing or do not have at least attention to detail, AP Stats may not be for you.
I also enjoy statistics as well, which is why I am taking it as an elective. If you have space in your schedule, you should be able to take both Calculus (AB or BC) and Statistics, which is what I am doing. I would say do what interests you the most, not what would look best on a college application or otherwise(one of two biggest regrets of my academic career). Make sure to have a diverse schedule (arts, sciences, math, language, specific interests), then consider AP Statistics as an elective or a replacement of a regular math credit.
If you have any more questions for my experience you can PM me or ask any other questions, good luck!
5 steps to a 5 review book or Barron’s? I’ve heard good things about Barron’s for Stats, but I’ve had a bad experience with them since I took Human Geo and Econ. The 5 steps to a 5 book was very helpful for Econ, so I was thinking I would do the same for Stats. Any opinions or other options?
Are you guys ready for the test?
Good luck to all of you. I took the test last year and would not envy taking it again, but I hope you all do well. Personally, i thought the multiple choice questions where pretty easy if you could even begin on the free-response.