How to Self-Study APs? (Homeschooled)

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>I am a homeschooled student without a great deal of money to toss around, thus by definition every AP I take is self-study. From a purely AP perspective, my background is very simple: I know pretty much everything about math (that would come up on an AP) and pretty much nothing about anything else. In particular, with the exception of Calc and Stats (and probably Comp Sci), for every other exam I know absolutely nothing about the subject and have never done anything with it whatsoever. </p>

<p>I see lots of threads about self-studying APs, but they all seem to assume some prior experience with the subjects as nearly every book recommendation is one by a test prep company that seems more aimed at a test-specific review than at actually learning the subject. However, with no experience in the area whatsoever, I don't know if these threads are actually saying that someone with 0 prior experience should pick up a book by Barron or whatever and they'll be solid. </p>

<p>For me, it makes very little sense to take an AP unless I'm almost certain I can get a 5 on it. Because I'm homeschooled, time is basically a non-factor. I can sit and study whatever resource for essentially as long as I need to, avoiding the busywork often associated with APs. </p>

<p>Despite this, being homeschooled also effectively necessitates a lot of standardized test scores, hence the APs being magnified in importance. I don't have a whole lot of interest in subjects other than math, but I can easily put in the effort to get 5s on APs. I don't want to cop out and take ridiculous things like "Human Geography" just to pad up the number of tests I take, but I also don't want to take so many "hard" APs that I risk not getting 5s on them. </p>

<p>This post probably sounds very arrogant at this point, so I'll stop for a second and clarify what I mean. I don't mean to imply I'm a demigod that should glance through a couple of books and then march royally into a testing area to collect my rightful 5s that serve the sole purpose of being more ink on a college application. What I do mean is that as a homeschooler, I need to be much more proactive in collecting standardized testing scores as I don't have what would typically be considered a high school transcript. My advantage lies in that I have plenty of time and motivation to earn the high scores, but I honestly have no idea how to go about this. </p>

<p>So, essentially, my question boils down to this. I have no background in <subject> whatsoever, but I want to study <subject> and get a 5 on the AP test for it. Is the best way to go about this finding what would typically be considered a textbook (e.g. I've seen Zumdahl recommended for Chemistry on here) and studying it, buying a review book (e.g. Barrons/Princeton/whatever) and going through it, googling "<subject> videos" and learning that way, or some other method? </subject></subject></subject></p>

<p>(For reference, I don't care about recommendations for AP Art History or Music Theory or languages or such, I more want to know about things like Physics/Chem/Bio/Micro+Macro/English/History/etc.)</p>

<p>Thanks for reading.</p>

2

<p>Honestly, you said it better then me. I’m in need for some advice also.</p>

3

<p>I know there are kids on here talking about self-studying the science APs but I really have to wonder about the fact that they aren’t doing any labs. Labs should be an important part of a science class. My daughter has taken most of the APs you were specifically interested in. Her AP chem teacher insisted they keep a good lab notebook and told the kids to save them in case the college wanted to see what they had done. I really wonder what colleges think of labless self-study credits for what is supposed to be an experimental science. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to self-study these things. I just have issues with the idea that you can really assess a year’s work on a single 3-hour test. Many of the kids who self-study seem to have the attitude that the test is all that matters, and all those “busywork” labs and papers don’t, but in the end I think they are really short-changing themselves if they think cramming a test-prep book is the same as a lot of reading and reflection. </p>

<p>For English and History, I suggest you contact your local high school (or the best one in your area) explain you are homeschooled trying to do AP work, and ask if they have a reading list or detailed curriculum for their AP English and History classes you could get a copy of. You may be able to collect some off the web also. Then you can see what they are reading and go read it. You’ll also want to practice writing in the required formats, under timed conditions. Also, look around on the college board website.
For English, you can find some recommended reading here [AP</a> Central - English Literature Author Pages](<a href=“Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board”>Supporting Students from Day One to Exam Day – AP Central | College Board)</p>

<p>Many top colleges want to see SAT2 exam scores for admission, but I don’t know of any which ask for AP scores. I don’t think my daughter bothered to send those to the colleges, she just self-reported them somewhere on her application. So you might consider SAT2 exams as an alternative. The scheduling is much more flexible.</p>

<p>I don’t know that much about home schooling, but in our state, it is regulated and the curriculum has to be approved. I’m concerned about you saying you don’t know anything outside of math, because really you should be studying a variety of subjects. You should look up what colleges expect from applicants.</p>