(Former) Senior Dishing Out AP Advice: Q&A

Test Preparation
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<p>About Me: Well, my last AP test results just came in. Now that I know how I did on all my AP's, I feel more comfortable giving advice to students in younger grades. In my junior year, I frequented this SAT board, but eventually moved on into College Admissions and individual college boards. I've been a CC lurker/member for 2.5 years now. Now I am back to offer advice from my own testing experience. (For those of you who have been here a while, I also posted a similar thing on SAT I/II stuff last year after I finished my last SAT).</p>

<p>My Background: I have just graduated from high school and will be attending Columbia University in the fall. I have taken 13 AP's over the course of my high school career, 2 of which were self-study. I've gotten one 3 (French...my school's French program isn't very strong and I also didn't study much for it). </p>

<p>***I don't pretend I am an AP master...I've seen incredible ppl on this board take like, 10 AP's in a year with a 5-streak and get National Scholar by junior year. (I'm hoping those people can chime in w/ their advice here, too to make up for holes in mine). As you will see, I do have quite a few 4s (pretty much all from this year...mix of senior slump, 7 AP's (last yr, I only took 4), and that I was sick the whole 2 weeks). </p>

<p>So anyway, these are the tests I've taken and the best books, IMO, that I used for each:</p>

<p>*In general, PR gives the short, concise review, good for reading the night before the AP. Barrons is more in-depth (sometimes too in-depth). For my 2 self-study subjects, I used the Barrons prep book solely (no textbook at all!) and did well -- its a good companion for your textbook. I've had bad experiences with REA for history subjects. Barrons and PR are the 2 main brands I use, and I think they're very reliable.</p>

<p>European History - 5 - DON'T USE REA! Barrons and PR are good. Try to get the companion to the course txtbook (don't remember the name, unfortunately, but MANY schools use this book) -- the companion workbook is extremely helpful w/ its own outlines per chapter. </p>

<p>American History - 5 - I didn't use a review book, but I've seen the AMSCO version (most ppl used that) and it's very good. It's out of print now, I've heard, but you can still get it online or at the library.</p>

<p>Biology - 5 - I didn't use a prep book, but Cliff's has an excellent reputation for bio review. Also, the Campbell Txtbook Companion Workbook is great. </p>

<p>*Psychology - 5 - self-study...I didn't know squat about psych, no background, nothing. I read the Barrons book twice the 2 weeks leading up to the AP and got a 5. Barrons is ALL YOU NEED.</p>

<p>Comp Sci A - 5 - no review book for me -- teacher was great.</p>

<p>*Comp Sci AB - 4 - self-study...used Barron's all year long. M.C. a bit tougher than actual test but still very good. The Barron's Part 2 questions are not as similar to AP ones though. It's important to practice code-writing on the computer.</p>

<p>GoPo/Macro - 5 - PR and Kaplan.</p>

<p>English - no review book, but practice on old m.c. if possible. Your entire h.s. career should have trained you to write better essays. It's hard to suddenly learn that skill (though I suppose it's possible...).</p>

<p>French - I didn't do too well (3). I think its helpful to make up a list of good French transitions or useful words for the essay and oral part. Become used to using those words. They make your French sound more authentic. Barron's is good. Look at old Part 2's (the fill-in parts are usually very similar from year to year...u usually always see "dont" somewhere, for example). I didn't study much for this test though, so I can't offer more advice. </p>

<p>Physics - 4 - no review book, but took lots of old practice tests. There are many old m.c.packets available. I was disappointed with my 4 though...I generally did well in Physics and expected a 5. Oh well. </p>

<p>Chemistry - 4 - I took this back in 10th grade and honestly didn't study as much as I could've for it. I don't remember much about it. PR was good. Chem is another subject where getting your hands on old tests (esp. part 2) and just doing them helps.</p>

<p>Calc BC - 5 - I didn't use a prep book for this. I'd say for calc, just get as many old Part I's and Part II's as possible and do them. The AP Calculus Part II Solutions book (1987-2001 edition) is very good, by Judith Broadwin. Your calc teacher probably has his own collection of old AP multiple choice, but if not, I think you can order them from CollegeBoard. There are many yrs available.</p>

<p>Another valuable resource: apcentral.collegeboard.com
Create a teacher account and access the old free responses.</p>

<ul>
<li>Usually, it's easier to get old m.c.'s for science/math subjects (at least, I think so) and harder for history and other humanities. I highly recommend doing old real AP's whenever possible. Your school usually orders them so check with your teacher/school first before you try ordering them yourself, if you choose to.</li>
</ul>

<p>Feel free to ask questions now! I can be more specific if you have questions or certain subjects. Others can feel free to help out too! Or add more AP courses to my list!</p>

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<p>"*In general, PR gives the short, concise review, good for reading the night before the AP. Barrons is more in-depth (sometimes too in-depth)."</p>

<p>I completely agree! I read the whole PR book for US History the day before the AP exam(no joke). It was very easy to read and I was flying through the pages reading in breadth(take special note on trends because you can eliminate like 3 answers on most questions just by knowing trends). Anyways, I didn't learn a thing in class because my teacher didn't teach(she believed in the you-teach-each-other philosophy and that turned out to be disastrous). I was really concerned come AP preparation time because I wanted to focus on my other APs as well. Procrastination hit, and when I finally started to study using the Barron's book, I realized that the essay-oriented book would only be effective if I had started 2-3 months ago. Now, don't get me wrong. It's a great book and I had a personal attachment to Barron's books for SAT2s/APs, but I finally decided that I would have to find an alternate source. The Barron's book has a lot of essays and they give you some really good argumentative pieces filled with lots of facts/trends. But what I needed was an overview of American history, and Barron's does not give you that at all. They look at certain issues. Like for example, in the 60s chapter they will have a couple essays(Free Essay Format) about black rights etc, but they miss out on covering trends and general info. Barron's is a great supplement to a book and can be used as a text for self-study. </p>

<p>I never realized that PR books could be good after hearing about 'Joe Bloggs'. But I was wrong. For the SAT, I don't like them because they focus on the average high schooler, but for the AP exams(the couple I have used), they do a very good job of covering the material and the books are very straightforward and easier to read than Barron's. I haven't looked at any other companies, because a combination of Barron's/PR works and will continue to work well for me. Using amazon.com customer reviews really helps in making the decision between the two, because a subject's book is written by an author who may or not be as good as Barron's/PR expected them to be.</p>

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<p>bumping it up</p>

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<p>the giant AHAP review online is good for US history. so is REA( but they give you a lot of crap u dont need)</p>

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<p>I find the biggest help in studying, provided that you took the actual class with a competent teacher, is taking as many real past AP tests as you can. This way, you get a feel for the difficulty and duration of the actual test and you don't feel stressed during the exam. I would recommend spending most to all of April just doing this, up until the test day. Also, for math and science tests, it does virtually no good to memorize formulas/methods and such unless you actually understand why it works the way it does, unless you have a VERY good memory. You'll be cramming so much (especially if you take multiple tests) that you're bound to forget a lot of the information you studied right before the test.</p>

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<p>I have a question that is sort of irrelevant. </p>

<p>My school offers a very limited number of APs. I want to self-study an AP, but how would I go about that if my school doesn't even have the courses that I want to self-study? If anyone can help or offer advice, I would gladly appreciate it.</p>

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<p>Go to the AP coordinator at your school and have them order the exams you want to take, they cost about 85 dollars per exam.</p>

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<p>here's my advice</p>

<p>Exam - Prep Book - Grade I Received</p>

<p>Calculus BC - ARCO - 5
Computer Science AB - Barrons - 4
Chemistry - ARCO/PR - 5
Biology - Cliffnotes - 5
European History - Modern European History by Birdsall S. Viault/PR - 5
US History - REA/PR - 5
Statistics - PR - 5
Spanish Language - Barrons/PR - 4</p>

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<p>Emma, some schools will refuse to offer exams for classes they don't teach. Hopefully that is not the case at your school, but if it is, then call other nearby schools and talk to the AP Coordinators there to see if they offer the exams you want to take.</p>

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<p>Environmental Science - get the textbook by T. Miller. Barron's doesn't work. I don't know about REA and PR. They're new this/next year.</p>

<p>Nobody's mentioned it yet and I haven't taken it yet, but everyone says Barron's is awesome for Human Geography.</p>

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<p>Oh, and has anyone taken both the economics exams? Are they similar? Do the curricula overlap? My friend is taking a general econ class and wants to self study both, but she isn't sure whether they'll complement or contrast each other.</p>

<p>What do you guys recommend for the French exams, and what are the difference between them? Are they self study-able?</p>

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<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

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<p>Econ -- if you understand the general gist of economics, both macro and micro are easy to study. My AP econ class soph year did about 10% micro at the beginning of the year before concentrating on macro (it was essentially macro, and everyone but me took only AP macro) - but micro was easy self-study. If your friend understands the Barron's text, she'll be fine. (For econ, I personally feel that Understanding is key - simply memorizing might not get you so far)</p>

<p>As for Env Sci, I used Barron's and REA, with some quick glances at the Amazing Guides. REA saved my life. Use it.</p>

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<p>Any thing good for AP Chemistry? My teacher suggested 5 steps to a 5 for the class.</p>

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<p>I liked Princeton Review AP Chem. I read Barron's for a long time but I don't think it helped me that much ... PR was a very good review. For practice problems, I used old exams.</p>

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<p>I second using PR and old exams to prep for Chem. For any of the math and science tests, there are a bunch of old exams out there (most teachers or schools have a collection) and the CB often uses similar or the exact same questions from year to year.</p>

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<p>Environmental Science: definitely use the Miller textbook. (the practice tests in REA are helpful, but too easy)</p>

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<p>MUAH!
it has to be 10 characters so im making it longer. bye..</p>

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<p>wrathofgod64, did you take classes to complement your study of prep books. If so, which ones? And which ones did you self-study for? Thanks!</p>

<p>I'm thinking about self-studying 4 AP subjects this year; most likely Psych, Environmental Science, Statistics, and World History. (from everyone's comments those appear to be the easiest to self-study). This will be on top of the 4 class AP subjects I'm taking (Physics, English Lit, Chem II, U.S. History). Do you think it's possible?</p>

<p>I only want to do this to get National Scholar my Junior year and be able to put it on college App. Anyway, what exactly are macro/micro econ? Do they have to do with business/marketing? Because, I'm very good in those subjects! Thanks!</p>

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<p>Macro looks at econ from a large market scale. Like an economy of a country. Micro looks at organization level economy. Go to the collegeboard website, then to the AP section and select macro/micron economics. Go into topic outline and it tells you the major topics for each subject.</p>