<p>Ok seriously...I see this all over the AP forums whenever someone mentions self-studying. There's all these people who say that all they did was read a study book from PR, Barron's, Kaplan's or whatever only a mere 2 weeks, week, or even 2 days before the AP exam and ended up scoring a 5. How does this happen? Does your brain process information at super lightning speeds or what? Aren't you also taking a schedule filled with AP's on the side too? Extracurriculars as well? Also, do you not go out a lot or have a social life? (not trying to be offensive here, but I want a genuine commentary)</p>
<p>It can be done for AP psych VERY easily. I’d assume that environmental and human geo could be done just as easily but I don’t have the balls to try it.</p>
<p>It’s not just those “easy APs” - APES, APHG, AP Psychology - that I’m talking about here. I’m also talking about AP Macro/Microeconomics, AP Statistics, AP Comp Gov, and even AP World History (<– is that even possible?).</p>
<p>I think it could maybe be done for govt. But macro/micro, stat, and world…I’m calling BS.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people exaggerate just how much they do.
They might do it only over two weeks, but I can assure you that’s about all they do. Freshman year, I decided two months before the test dates that “hey, it would be a great idea to self-study for two exams!” For those two months, I was a wreck. (One of the ones I took was APUSH, before I had ever taken a US history course. The only reason I made it through is thanks to my amazing teacher (who got his PhD in American History) who met with me about once a week to guide me through it all) It’s not relaxed studying. Even if they only spend a week or so before, that’s about all they’re doing for that week. I had to opt out of a lot of EC meet ups to do what I did. </p>
<p>I’m sure some of it is BS, but for those that do do it in less than a month, they’re cramming like none other.</p>
<p>It’s mostly lies, Broseph. Don’t believe it.</p>
<p>They are exaggerations, but not blatant lies</p>
<p>LIES</p>
<p>10tsar</p>
<p>i started studying for ap human geo at 10pm night before exam, never even opened book or read anything before. finished at 7am the morning of the exam. took exam an hour later. got a 5.</p>
<p>I believe AP Macro/AP Micro is doable. Probably could be self-studied in a matter of days let alone weeks. I self-studied AP Macro/AP Micro (over studied) and received 5s on both exams with about 20ish hours of work spread over 4-5 weeks.</p>
<p>I have some not-so-smart friends who aced the AP Psych test (4s and 5s) after taking a class with a good (but not stellar) teacher (who is my teacher this year, if anybody cares). So if they can get 4s and 5s after a good (but not great) class, I’m sure some ridiculously smart CC people (especially those really good memorizer history types) could learn all the stuff in 2 weeks. I mean, one of those friends said that the wrong answers on the AP Psych MC are so blatantly wrong that you don’t need to know everything perfectly to get the right answer.</p>
<p>I’m sure the same applies for stuff like Enviro (except it’d be the really science-oriented people doing it in 2 weeks instead of the history people).</p>
<p>It depends…
some people just have natural ability in a certain area and only need to learn the structure of the test in order to pass. For AP Bio, for example, you can probably pass it pretty easily without intense AP studying if you know it already. </p>
<p>AP US History is extremely easy to pass just by reading the book two days before. But then, I just knew a lot of it already.
AP English Language is also natural ability. I never reviewed for AP Eng (and my class didnt really do much) yet I got a 4 o_O.</p>
<p>So basically dont believe that people self-study for an AP 2 weeks before and get a 5 without having some amount of prior knowledge on the subject.</p>
<p>I could ace the AP Chem exam with learning 2 extra topics in a week.</p>
<p>I could take the AP CS A exam and get a 5, no studying.</p>
<p>^Thanks for yet another modest remark.</p>
<p>Doing my CC duty.</p>
<p>On the real… most of it is exaggerated. I mean look, it’s CC.</p>
<p>^Thanks for yet another modest remark.</p>
<p>It is possible on some exams but I doubt it would be possible for something like AP Bio, AP Physics or AP Chem because there are a lot of topics that in order for you to really know the material have to become second nature (however I do not know how well material must be done for you to get a 5). That takes time to internalize at least if you want to actually learn something and not forget it 2 weeks later.</p>
<p>Just because you don’t have a life for like the one week before APs doesn’t mean you don’t have any friends… think about it.</p>
<p>Some people absorb information very fast and are good at short-term retention. That said, the AP exams are also scored on a curve; if everyone else does badly and you do all right (as most last-minute crammers do), you’ll probably pull out a 4 or a 5.</p>
<p>Case in point: I wrote a story about subterranean Polish dragons sleeping beneath the Earth’s crust for one of the essays on my AP Euro exam and got a 4. My other essays were not what I’d call stellar, and I most definitely did not do well on the MC. Yes, it was a shock to me too.</p>
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<p>That just made my day. Did you buy your FRQ booklet, by any chance?</p>