<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? Also, do you not go out a lot or go on Facebook and have a social life? (not trying to be offensive here, but I want a genuine commentary)</p>
<p>Dear Jigglypuff,
Most of these people are lying.
Yours Faithfully,
Puggly</p>
<p>P.S.
Sing me a song!</p>
<p>Well, here’s why:</p>
<p>1) If you’re on CC, there’s a good chance you’re darn smart/smarter than you think</p>
<p>2) They self-study stuff like AP Psych which isn’t hard.</p>
<p>3) They passively study (like some reading everyday) for months before, but only hardcore study until a week or two before the AP tests</p>
<p>Haha they’re either lying or they’re just super smart, boasting ccers. 
But like Honorlions said, it’s possible to self study certain subjects in 2 weeks. Notably AP Psych. I’ve had the experience of doing that. It was interesting 
And no I am neither smart nor boasting. :)</p>
<p>puggly123 speaks with wisdom. Believing the claims of anonymous people on the internet has become pandemic. As they used to say in the newspaper business, “If your mother says ‘I love you’, verify [with a second source].”</p>
<p>Well as others said, it is possible (likely) that some of these people are lying, or at least not telling the full truth. They might have only really started studying the last two weeks, but they probably had some prior exposure to the content.</p>
<p>But remember that this is CC and the “average” person on here seems to have an SAT of like 1900-2000, which is somewhere around 90th percentile. That’s the average. There are plenty of people here in the 2200-2400 range, which is 99th percentile and higher. So you are talking about the top 1% of the population there, so I think it is conceivable that they could pick something up fast enough to learn it in two weeks.</p>
<p>Also, remember passing the AP test, even with a 5, is so much different than really knowing the content at a high level as you would need to in order to do well in an actual course. You basically need to get something like a 60% to get a 5 on most tests, which isn’t that high of a standard. And you usually don’t need to know things in very much detail; particularly on the history AP tests, you basically need to know the main ideas and enough details to write a decent essay.</p>
<p>I did it last year for Comparative Govt. I think it’s just because I can take to that info well, more so than math/science. I’m not a super genius. I’m on the verge of getting a B in my <em>regular</em> Calculus class. It just depends on how efficient you are and how well you can retain and learn [insert type] information.</p>
<p>Depends on what kind of brain you have. I don’t pick up on advanced math stuff or languages but I pick up on science stuff easily. AP Psych is pretty easy to do in a short time span though. Just get a vocab list, look up all the definitions, write them down, study them a few times, and you’re just about set.</p>
<p>
I agree. Most of the tests that can be self-studied within a short span of time are tests like Psychology, Human Geography, and Environmental Science.</p>