World History: I will discuss the generalities of all history APs (World, Euro, and US) here and then discuss the particulars of each one in its given section. The history APs are, by and large, a test of memory. If you keep up on your reading and retain it in at least the mid-term, you will recognize the majority of the material on any given history AP. If you have a lot of background knowledge from outside reading, you will be able to figure out most of the ones you don’t know for sure. The essays do not require incisive analysis; you will usually be able to arrive at a correct response without formulating any ideas of your own. The DBQ, if you have practiced, should be free points. World History in particular tends to focus on trends and general characteristics of civilizations and time periods. Some are intimidated by the test’s breadth, but you shouldn’t be, because you aren’t expected to know more than the most important points of each civilization.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>European History: While World History focuses on the generalities, European History focuses on the particulars. The most important trends - the disintegration of the Middle Ages world order and the emergence of the nation-state and the like - are in there, but you are expected to understand them in greater detail. The DBQ is just like any other history DBQ, but European History allows you a greater choice in which essay you write. You will be given two sets of three prompts, and you must choose one prompt from each set. This is good because, unlike in World History, you can pick a prompt you know a lot about. However, the prompts are very specific, and you will either need a large reserve of background knowledge or excellent historical analysis skills to give a thorough answer.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>United States History: US History strikes a balance between Euro and World, and is accordingly probably the easiest history AP. The questions are not so detail-oriented as Euro’s, but the subject matter is not so broad as World’s. The DBQ is just like the other tests’. You are given three essay prompts, and must choose two of them. This gives you more freedom of movement than World with less specific prompts than Euro’s. A lot of people find this test the easiest simply because they are the most familiar with American history and are therefore able to retain new facts more readily.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Art History: Like the other history tests, Art History is memory-based. There, the similarities end. I’ve heard people recommend Art History for self-study. Unless you have a phenomenal memory, I would advise against self-studying this test. There is a vast bank of artworks that you simply must memorize. Not only do you have to be able to correctly identify them in multiple choice, but you will also have to be prepared to discuss them on free-response. There are a whole bunch of the free response questions too. Ironically, the long essays where you get to choose whatever artworks you want to discuss are much easier. If you have a ton of time (like you’re a freshman), self-studying is possible. Otherwise, this will be a huge time-investment. The bright side is that it requires virtually no artistic inclination. The students I know who were in it for the history did much better than the students who were in it for the art.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: NO</p>
<p>Human Geography: Human Geography is a weird one. On the one hand, the material covered is pretty straight-forward. There are very few things you will need to read twice. On the other hand, unless you have a penchant for memorizing long lists of statistics, there are going to be oddball questions that you just don’t know. As in the histories, you can often reason out the answer if you have a solid base of geography knowledge. The free response questions are like the Government FRQs, or the Biology/Chemistry FRQs for that matter. Simple regurgitation of knowledge in a point-by-point fashion, sometimes followed by examples.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>U.S. Government: U.S. Government is exactly what it sounds like. You must be familiar with both the institutions of American government and American political history. Background knowledge is helpful, but the history-type questions are very predictable, so you can probably pick them up from your textbook or a review book. FRQs are like Human Geo’s: you simply explain concepts and give examples.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Comparative Government: It has “Government” in the name, and it is appropriately similar to the American Government test. However, most find Comparative Government a somewhat more difficult test. First of all, most are less familiar with the political institutions of a country like Nigeria than they are with their American counterparts. Furthermore, unlike U.S. Gov, where you only have to remember if something is true, you must remember if a statement is true for a given country. For U.S. Gov, you only need to remember that we have a bicameral legislature. For Comp Gov, you must remember that Mexico has a bicameral legislature while China does not. Luckily, the bulk of Comp Gov assumes that students look at American government as “normal,” and focus on the effects of American-style institutions (or the lack thereof). You essentially see how American institutions in other countries lead to different outcomes, or how the lack of American-style institutions are tailored to each country’s unique characteristics. Comparative Government includes a Short Definition section, which unsurprisingly asks you to define given key terms. Simple stuff.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Macroeconomics/Macroeconomics: I will discuss both Micro- and Macroeconomics together because, unlike any other two tests (with the exception of the two Physics Cs) there is no effective difference between the two except the obvious one. Macroeconomics tests the economy as a whole; Microeconomics tests the firm. Both tests test theory primarily, with some simple applications that will require a little arithmetic and a few relatively well-known historical examples. However, these are not memory tests like AP US History. Economics wants you to not only be able to regurgitate the theory, but also apply it to new (relatively basic) situations. The FRQs, which work a lot like the US Government ones, are very similar from year to year, so you should be sure to check them out on the CB website.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Psychology: Psychology is, like the history APs, a memory test. Unlike the history tests, you can study from your textbook and the review books and expect to know just about everything on the test. This is arguably the easiest AP. If you were to self-study one AP, I would say go with either this or Environmental Science. The FRQs are straightforward, much like Human Geo’s.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>English Language: The English Language free response is quite simply a writing test. You have two plain-and-simple essays and one DBQ-like essay. The multiple choice is basically SAT CR on crack. For those with good analytical minds who are naturally gifted at expository writing, this test is a cinch. You can probably 5 it with absolutely no preparation outside of reading the rubric for the DBQ-like essay. For those of you who are not naturally gifted writers, YOU MUST TAKE THIS CLASS. Now I don’t mean you must take this class to pass the AP test. I mean you must take this class, period. It develops your expository writing skills, which are essential. A well taught AP English Lang & Comp class is an enormous asset for those who need to work on their writing.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: DEPENDS</p>
<p>English Literature: Finally, those literature analysis skills you have been working on for years come into AP play. AP English Lit’s multiple choice is almost exactly like SAT II Literature. It can be frustrating trying to figure out not what the passages mean to you, but what they mean to the test writers. Luckily for you English-minded people who despise literature interpretation multiple choice, the AP Lit essays give you a chance to shine. You will be given works to analyze for two of the essays and will get to use works of your choice for the final essay. Well, not really works of your choice. Works of literary merit. In some cases, the line of literary merit is clear. The Great Gatsby and Hamlet are works of literary merit. Harry Potter and Cujo are not. There is a gray area in between, but it’s safest to read off the suggested works list in past AP prompts so you have a bank of works that are assuredly of literary merit. This one I advise self-studying against, unless you are an especially gifted analyzer of fiction. You really do need to practice for these essays.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: NO</p>
<p>Chemistry: Unlike Bio or any of the social sciences, Chemistry is a concept-based test in the spirit of Physics, Calc, and English. Yes, I realize it is weird to say Chem has more in common with English or Calc than its fellow sciences Bio and EnviroSci, but it really does. There actually isn’t a lot of information to AP Chemistry. I could probably condense Chem into a glossary of ten pages. I won’t, but I could. However, you have to not only memorize what those concepts are, but also understand how to apply them. You learn what properties make a substance have a lower boiling point and the properties of elements separately. You may well never hear in your class that methane has a lower boiling point than water, but you will learn everything you need to know in order to deduce that. Chem is a manageable test, but I would not recommend self-studying it. I mean, I’m sure you could, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It tends to be easier for people to pick up facts on their own than it is to thoroughly understand concepts.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: NO</p>
<p>Biology: As far as AP is concerned, biology is the science of facts. Lots and lots of facts. More than any test with the possible exception of Art History, biology demands an excellent memory (or a very good work ethic and patience for memorization). Besides Punnet Squares, which are laughably easy, you will not have to do anything except regurgitate information you learned in your textbook. For some, this is easy. You don’t even have to think. For others, this sounds like a nightmare. You have to do the opposite of think; you have to study. But since there are no especially difficult concepts, this one should be a relatively simple (if laborious) self-study if that’s what you want to do.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Environmental Science: Along with AP Psych, AP EnviroSci is considered one of the easiest AP tests. In terms of the types and emphases of questions, it is more like Human Geography and Psychology than it is like any other science. You must understand a healthy mix of facts and concepts, but if the facts were the size of a pool of water and the concepts were the depth, EnviroSci would be both small and shallow. You can easily pick up everything you need to know for the test from reading a couple review books. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you not only don’t need a class, but that unless the class is well-taught by a dynamic teacher, a class is a waste of time.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Physics B: Physics B, like Chem, is a concept test. With more math. Physics B won’t require anything above algebra and a little basic trigonometry, so most questions won’t be too bad. Unfortunately, the test (especially the Free Response) loves to occasionally string these simple operations together so that it is easy to slip. There are two approaches to Physics B. You can either thoroughly understand the concepts and therefore see how any given problem fits together, or you can practice the hell out of the test until there are very few things you haven’t seen before. A healthy mix of both would, of course, be best. Since it is hard to teach yourself the concepts so thoroughly (the review books are not sufficient for that purpose) and also demanding to practice like crazy, I would recommend against self-studying against this one.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: NO</p>
<p>Physics C: Physics C is a lot like Physics B, only it has calculus. Very insightful of me, huh? Well, most of the questions will be simple plug-and-chug or concept-based. Then there’s those rough ones that want you to put twelve ideas together to get an answer. Total pain. Mathy, thrill-seeking types (conventionally “lame” thrill-seeking, at that) absolutely love this test, even more than they love Calc BC. It is applied calculus! How fun is that? From experience, I can tell you to not self-study this one. The review books available to you are either too simple (PR and McGraw Hill, that means you) or frustratingly complex but off-topic (Barrons).
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: NO</p>
<p>Calculus AB: Calculus AB is just math. There really isn’t anything about it to distinguish it from the rest of the classes in your math sequence, except there are fewer adults who have taken it to tell you horror stories about it. The Calc in AB is pretty straightforward. If you understand the concepts and have practiced some, you will find very few curveballs in the AP test. Accordingly, if you must self-study, this isn’t so bad a choice. Chances are you won’t be able to pick up everything just by reading it, but with a little practice, it shouldn’t be extraordinarily difficult.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES</p>
<p>Calculus BC: Calculus AB and Calculus BC share both “Calculus” and the B. There’s a lot more in that than you might think. A fair share of the Calculus BC curriculum is really the second half of Calc AB; you even get an AB subscore to see how you did on the AB-based portion. The C stands for curve-ball, because the BC test throws you some weird ones that AB doesn’t. Parametrics aren’t too bad, but polar coordinates require you to adopt a new way of looking at the coordinate plane, which can be tough (especially if you are trying to teach yourself). The C part of the curriculum is decidedly harder than the A part you leave behind, but you’re also older, smarter and more practiced in math. Hence the ultra-high 5 rate. If you have taken AB, self-studying BC should be manageable.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: DEPENDS</p>
<p>Statistics: Statistics is math, supposedly. The idea that Stats is the “third math test” is misleading. I would give that title to Physics C, and call AP Stats “AP Reading Carefully, Knowing Rules, Using Your Calculator, and Explaining Yourself.” There is nothing hard about what you learn in AP Stats. You can use calculus, but you don’t need anything past Algebra II. Nonetheless, Stats can be a tremendous pain. You get your TI-89 for the entire test, which is nice (imagine the possibilities…), but you also have to read every question carefully and write. A ton. I had to write so much for my Stats class, my Stats folder was just as thick as my Literature folder. If you are not good at math, you still might be able to do well on this test since it is really about rule-following more than anything else.
SELF STUDY FRIENDLY: YES