<p>Hey guys,
I will be taking the following ap's next year and I will be buying over $300 worth of books to fully prepare myself for the following:
Phys b
Phys c mechan
Ap calc
Ap world
Ap us
Ap gov
Ap lang
Ap micro
Ap macro
Ap bio
Ap comp sci
Ap psych
Ap enviro
Ap human</p>
<p>my questions is, do the barrons/pr/5 steps to a 5 change from year to year? should i buy the books now to start studying or wait until september or october of next year to buy the 2011-2012 editions? are there anything different within the editions from year to year?</p>
<p>… Are you taking all those APs next year? crazy much? </p>
<p>So what i would do is reduce that list. The Ap classes that i’m taking I would not buy books for but the ones that I’m self-studying I would.</p>
<p>For some books, different editions don’t come out very often, so I would buy some now, but unless you’re really dedicated, you probably won’t look those over much over the summer. If you are dedicated, then buy them now. Otherwise, wait.</p>
<p>The different editions usually only happen when the test itself gets changed. CB always changes like 3 tests a year and next year is AP French, German, and World History. So wait for world history</p>
<p>Thats alot of History APs you’re taking there…</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what to do. i took 2 exams this year but thats my plan for next year. i mean ill be taking
ap phys c
ap lang
ap calc
ap us
ap micro
in school
the rest are reasonably easy to self study? or not?</p>
<p>They may be easy individually but not all at once. Don’t do it. You might think AP tests are easy after taking this year’s, but that’s because you only took 2. Even if you miraculously give each enough focus and review, taking the tests themselves will be mentally exhausting and you won’t do well on any of them. And if you’re doing this to impress colleges, they’ll probably be wondering why you didn’t spend your time doing something more useful.</p>
<p>Don’t bother with Physics B if you’re taking Physics C. It’s basically worthless. Otherwise, your list looks manageable, if a bit of a waste because Psych/Env Sci/Human Geo (and maybe Gov) don’t really get you useful credit at many colleges. You might want to drop World if you aren’t particularly interested in history.</p>
<p>Getting the books now will be completely fine, except for maybe World due to the changes in the test. I used old books for some of my AP exams and they were perfectly fine.</p>
<p>Might as well wait.
However, you’re insane to take 14 APs in one year.
If you’re set on it though…</p>
<p>Phys b- Since you’re only taking mechanics, you’ll need to self study electricity for physics b. Physics b covers a wide range of material so I would say this is actually a somewhat tough self study, but the curve is nice, and you are taking physics C, so doable.
Phys c mechan- class
Ap calc- class
Ap world- NOT easy to self study. Unless all you are going to be doing from now until APs is studying, drop this one.
Ap us- class
Ap gov- Not that easy to self study (also depends on which gov). I recommend dropping this too.
Ap lang- class
Ap micro- class
Ap macro- somewhat easy to self study, especially since you have micro. Not a generous curve, though.
Ap bio- Not easy to self study unless you have a lot of time to memorize stuff or already have taken a biology class. I recommend dropping this.
Ap comp sci- Not easy to self study unless you have programming experience. If not, you have to put a lot of time and effort into learning Java well - a prep book only will not suffice, you should code in a computer as well to get a feel.
Ap psych- easy self study
Ap enviro- easy self study
Ap human- easy self study</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a point on taking that many APs - it won’t help for college that much. However, if you’re set on it, go for it. If you’re set on taking ALL those, it will be tough but maybe possible- if you are diligent. Some of those are certainly not easy self studies, but possible nonetheless. However, don’t take 14 APs and get 3s or 4s on some. It’s better to take “only,” for example, 9 APs and 5 all of them. Don’t self study one and then not get a 5, that’s probably a waste of time and money. If you get a 3, 2, or 1, that may actually be a bad thing. If you think you can 5 all of them and you don’t care about the significant amount of time and energy you will need to invest in the harder ones (world, gov, computer science, bio, and physics b, in that order), then kudos.
Suggestion: If AP Lit is not offered during senior year, you could take that instead of one of the harder ones if you are set on taking tons of AP’s. It requires fairly little studying beyond lang.</p>
<p>As for your original question, wait on buying the world history prep book (if you are actually going to take it). For the rest, changes will be insignificant. You may not need an additional prep book for some of the easier classes that you are taking (in fact, only in US history would I absolutely recommend buying a prep book in addition to the class).</p>
<p>@Corvids: I took/will be taking 9 AP tests this year, and I only started studying in January. If the OP has perseverance and starts as soon as possible, it is fully within his means to achieve this.</p>
<p>I mean I’m not really sure what do
Obviously I’m on CC so it means im tryna go to the ivy league
i mean i am president of 7 clubs, captain of a varsity sports team,
1600 volunteer hours, and like 4 other leadership positions. but i dont really care about any of that.
im just trying to find what i love. like i have no idea what i want to do in life.
so for world you guys dont think its possible to self study it with a barrons book?
ive been pretty good at history so i dont think gov will be a problem.
comp sci ive been doing an internship at a computer science firm, so i dont really see that being a problem.
psych/enviro/human again just to make it look like a genius. do you guys think its worth it?
and about bio, ive already taken honors bio which was easy and i know a kid who self studied ap bio for the 5 with cliffnotes and barrons. so i hope to god i can pull it off tooo.
thanks so much for all your input, keep it coming!</p>
<p>It is entirely possible to self-study Bio; at least three of my friends have done it. I know of one person at our school who has self-studied World, but I don’t really know him. If you know how to program in Java, you’ll have no problem with Comp Sci; I barely know how, yet I feel like I pretty much aced the MC and did decently on the FR after just reading Barron’s.</p>
<p>Self-studying Psych/Env Sci/Human Geo (or really, mostly anything) is pointless unless you’re really interested. Colleges know those are relatively easy and it might look like you’re just trying to pad your application. I would spend my time/money on someone I enjoy more (whether it be a sport, music, math competitions, or Starcraft).</p>
<p>Well, you seem to be fine for the rest, but I would drop world.</p>
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</p>
<p>Those don’t make you look like a genius. It might be slightly impressive, but they are known for being really easy self studies.</p>
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<p>Well, 1600 hours is really impressive, and depending on how prestigious your sports team and those leadership positions are they could be what gets you into the Ivy League. As CC and others have taught me, self studying APs is pretty minor as far as increasing your college chances is concerned.</p>
<p>President of SEVEN clubs? And then four more positions? Looks like resume padding. Seeing as you “don’t care about any of them” it is. That’s a red flag.</p>
<p>As for that many AP exams, go for it if you want to go insane next year trying to achieve something that, in the long run, won’t matter. All the sophomores at my school this year laugh and say “school is so ridiculously easy, I think I will sign up for 8 more APs next year” and act like sophomore year is comparable to junior year. Did you consider SATs? The course load in addition to the AP exam load? SAT IIs? There is so much to do junior year, because it’s the last full year before college applications. </p>
<p>Bottom line: Find ECs you care about because even if you take 16 APs and don’t really care about anything else, you can expect rejection letters from the Ivies come next year.</p>
<p>no i do care about the clubs because i do all of them because they have had an impact on my life. however, in the long run it will all be insignificant. my interest in the clubs is nothing compared to everything im looking for in my life. the reason for the aps is because i have no idea what i want to do in life and as a result, im literally exploring everything.
ofcourse i know its going to be incredibly hard, thats the point. yeah sats are driving me crazy as well. what do you recompensed cutting if i must?</p>
<p>SAT and SAT2s are practically a non-factor, but on all else I agree with Metrical. It doesn’t sound like you’re committed to your ECs or self-studying APs, even if you are good at them because people who really are would not think that they are insignificant in the long run, or that they are “nothing.”</p>
<p>I understand what you’re saying. But the time to “experiment” is not now if you want to go to Ivies. And especially, don’t experiment with APs. </p>
<p>But seriously? President of 7 clubs and 4 leadership postitions and 1600 hours? Holy ■■■ thats crazy man. Do you have clubs every day or somethihng? I honestly dont see how that works</p>
<p>I would cut on doubling up. Don’t take like 4 science APs and 4 history APs.</p>
<p>i mean in the end you can portray me as resume padding or whatever you want. it doesnt matter.
sure ive had moments like other people where i wonder why im doing this and everything seems pointless, but hasnt everyone?
in terms of aps, i wanna go to a school like m&t at wharton, where engineering and business is pressed on you over and over. i worry that if i dont go all in next year, i wont be considered a serious applicant.
what do you all think?</p>
<p>wharton school of business - basically its a super super specialized program using engineering and business which only accepts 50 people. so yeah.
my ambition has got to be 10x greater than my talent for me to even get a look.</p>
<p>One step at a time, dude. As others have said on this thread, APs don’t confer a significant advantage in terms of admissions. Plus, if you’re shooting for Penn, chances are that you won’t really be placing out of too many classes because I’m assuming the AP credit policy is very rigid there (I’m not 100% sure on this as I was waitlisted at Penn and didn’t really look into their AP credit policy; can anyone confirm this?).</p>
<p>So, I would really take a good look at what you’re trying to accomplish here and realize that you should be spending more time developing significant interest in one or two ECs rather than spending time taking 50 APs or having a minimal role in 50 ECs. Spreading yourself thin is the kiss of death for applications to competitive schools.</p>