How to handle too many APs?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>I hope I am posting this in a right category.</p>

<p>I have been an A+ student all of my life. This year I am a junior. When the year started I thought I was on the right track to success. My family immigrated to America just in time for me to start my freshman year. My 9th grade classes were all regular, sophomore year I took 1 AP (most that we could take), was bored in my math class and so decided to do 3 math classes in a year. Reading through CC posts I have set a path for myself to take as many APs as possible during my junior year (good plan!) and here I am now with 5 of them in a schedule of 6 classes a year. I only know one other person in my class who has set himself up for this craziness. By the way, he doesn't seem to be doing well, looks like he is in serious need of a vacation and sleep. Back to the story, in the beginning of the year I was so sure I could handle it, but as time passed it got harder and harder. Now just before the Christmas break it seems like I cannot do this any more, I do not know how other people have survived. Maybe our school is just hard and gives more homework than others. But I realized as I struggle to get things done, I sometimes do not have enough time to study for my tests and do bad on them. Math especially, I do not understand how this could have happened, math was always so easy for me. This year, I am pretty sure my calc teacher believes I am a complete idiot. In other classes, like Bio, USH I seem to study before the test, but the question, however is not if you studied, but if you studied the right thing. No one is going (able) to memorize the whole book (well at least not those w/ 5+ APs). Sometimes I have a feeling that people cheat on every test. </p>

<p>So I guess my question is: How do people handle such a heavy AP course load?
Is there anything I am doing wrong?</p>

<p>So sorry for such a long post and thank you all for your answers.</p>

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<p>I feel you dude. The best advice I can offer you is that you tackle each course one at a time, and don’t lose track of your time. I’m going to be taking five or six this year and I have found that spending too much time reading and studying for one class will bring you down in others. For classes like APUSH Psych and Bio another thing to do is just get a group of friends to study with because those are memorization-based classes. And also, believe it or not, a B will not immediately take away your chances of going to a great college. Accepting that may help you to eliminate a bunch of stress.</p>

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<p>Two tips:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Relax; don’t try too hard. IMO, it’s more important to sleep well than to finish all your homework.</p></li>
<li><p>Drop a couple of the classes if you still can.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Jonmrcool,would you think the best way to study for bio is to try to memorize the Campbell chs?</p>

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<p>Well I am not in Bio AP, but a couple buddies I study with have that one and (since we study five classes in total, each of us get either a one or two class break during the study session) they outline chapters and highlight important terms in the Campbell ap book. If it isnt too tough I say go for it.</p>

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<p>Review books are your friends. Plus, if you spend one hour every day studying then you should do well. And when you study make sure you study… If you spend a large part of that time procrastinating, surfing the internet, wasting a ton of time on this website or Facebook etc. then your studying might not amount to much.</p>