HELP..which AP to self-study?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>I'm sorry if there are already threads about this...</p>

<p>I'm a junior, and my school (in Vancouver, Canada) offers a total of...1 AP class. (Calculus) and they only allow seniors to take it, I'll be taking it next year. </p>

<p>I want to apply to a US university and I feel really disadvantaged :( So I'm thinking of self-studying a couple of APs this year--I'd do more but I really need to get some good EC's in. </p>

<p>So which AP's are the best for me? I want something that colleges will be impressed with, but something that's not too hard. I'm considering the following: </p>

<p>Chinese (yes im chinese...i looked over sample questions, seem simple enough)</p>

<p>History (one of the 3, which is easiest?)</p>

<p>Economics</p>

<p>Psychology (i'm realli interested in this subject...)</p>

<p>Bio and/or Chem (The canadian system for high school science is realli screwed, but basically i'm takin 12th grade level classes for these 2 subjects this year, and according to my conselor, whom i dont trust, they cover 60% of AP material. so next yr i could prolli self-study these 2 AP subjects w/out problem?)</p>

<p>Any advice from all those who self-studied is greatly apprieciated!</p>

<p>Also, for which AP courses do colleges grant you credit??? not only exemption? or the other way around? im really confused. </p>

<p>last q, 4 the sat II, is it better to take french with or without listening?? do colleges prefer one or the other?</p>

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<p>world history is the easiest history ap. psychology and biology are also pretty easy. if you are a good science student you could manage chem. i dont know much about economics. </p>

<p>colleges have varying ap credit policies. you can look up an individual colleges policy at <a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/apcreditpolicy/index.jsp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.collegeboard.com/apcreditpolicy/index.jsp&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>hope this helps good luck.</p>

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<p>thx 4 ur response..i think i'll do world history then</p>

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<p>Definitely do Psychology. It's easy and if you have an interest in it you will do great. </p>

<p>No question about it - if you really want to impress American university officials, get a 5 on AP American History. There's nothing we Americans are more impressed with than a foreigner who knows our history. And to know that there are still Canadians out there who appreciate America and it's history, well, that just helps the whole country sleep a lot better at night.</p>

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<p>^^lol, Its not how much you know, its how you can synthesize and offer social/political commentary on a topic. AP American Hist requires you to understand every topic in an in-depth scope, a mere 2 plus hours per a day won't work. You can't possibly get far with mere memorization, you have to truly understand the details of your topic, not rely on the question to fill in the gap. Weeks before the exam, I borrowed 8-10 History related books covering different topics in American History. Remember, to specialize in each topic/event/movement perfectly so that you would be more prepared to write the essay instead of wrecklessly consuming your time on just 2 essays. Realistically, you have to write well also, even so your DBQ needs to address the question, offer an alternative explanation and suprise the reader with your knowledge. History can only be easy if you're interested in it--I've known some people who've taken the AP class but ended up hated it or thought they were going to be fine and no suprise they were the ones who failed it.</p>

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<p>@obsessed</p>

<p>the same thought occured to me. but there's also the fact that my knowledge of american historoy barely extends beyond the boston tea party. besides, im not a canadian (well, not yet, getting citizenship next april-ish..) im this chinese immigrant kid who actually lived in california 4 three years and then moved here. (cuz of US visa problems, basically couldnt get green card)</p>

<p>do you still think these officials will be impressed? also, how about a good score on the U.S. history SAT? --is that test much easier?</p>

<p>thank u so much 4 ur help! <3</p>

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<p>^^There is a signficant correllation btw those who've taken the SAT American History exam and for those who take the APUSH: People who generally pass with a "4" or a "5" score around a 720 and up. I don't know anyone who scored a 700 range without taking the AP course</p>

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<p>@gayguy </p>

<p>that is exactly what im afraid of..but im usualli pretty good with the 'social/political commentary' so i may still give it a try, noe it'll be hard tho. thx alot 4 ur input..really helped. :)</p>

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<p>ah, i see...so it's just that SAT's can avoid the essays..</p>

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<p>GayGuyOnCampus is correct about the level of understanding needed to write good DBQs and essay questions. However, let's not forget that the multiple-choice section accounts for 50% of your exam grade, and those are easy memory-recall type questions. </p>

<p>Personally, I found the MC questions on the history SAT II harder than those on the AP test. I thought the questions on the AP test were very easy - it's probably the free-response section that trips a lot of people up on that test. Since I am a good writer and enjoy history, I breezed through it. But the SAT II is entirely MC though, so the difficulty of the questions is noticeably higher to make up for the lack of essays.</p>

<p>I guess choosing what kind of test to self-study really depends on what your innate strengths are. I'm really a believer in studying things that interest you, instead of studying simply for the sake of impressing somebody else. </p>

<p>For example, if your dream is to be a Chemical Engineer, do you really need to study U.S history at all? Similarly, if you're going to be writer, isn't Calculus a waste of your time?</p>

<p>You may not know exactly what you want to do professionally yet - maybe your goal is simply to get into college. In that case, I would say study something that plays off of your innate strengths. If you're into memorization and socio-political commentary, consider history. If you like science, consider bio. I will tell you this: Every AP test is easy enough that a student who has an interest and knack for the subject can easily get a 5 by self-studying.</p>

<p>That said, every field does have its easier and harder tests. They are (IMO) as follows:
History: U.S, Euro
Science: Bio
Math: Stats
Economics: Micro</p>

<p>and the easiest test overall? Probably Psych.</p>

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<p>If your school only offers 1 AP class colleges will know that and take it into consideration. Whether colleges give credit for AP classes or not depends on the school. Some colleges don't give credit but let you take a placement test to pass out of the course.</p>

<p>I haven't taken any of the exams you listed except Bio and Chem, but if you had to choose between the two, I'd choose Chemistry (definitely easier).</p>

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<p>thx 4 all ur help, i really apprieciate it. i'll think it over this week and decide.
any other suggestions? doesn't have to be on my list..</p>

<p>@obssessed, lolz, i have no idea what i want to do 'when i grow up'. :D</p>

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<p>if you decide to do biology, you could also do environmental science - they are kind of related.</p>