<p>Okay, I've decided to self study 3 APs next year, here is my question.</p>
<p>I don't want to know about books. I don't want to hear about which APs are the easiest. None of that stuff.</p>
<p>I just wanted to hear any tips or suggestions about self studying. When did you start? How long did you study? How did you take notes? How did you review? Any comments on how to make the best of the self studying process would be appreciated.</p>
<p>In the late stages, last couple weeks before the exam, highlighting the review books <em>really</em> helped for me. It makes you weed out the important material (assuming that you're not highlighting everything), and can make for good review the night before/in the morning right before the exam. </p>
<p>Not really what you're looking for, but a good general tip.</p>
<p>Read/study the textbook thoroughly before even touching the prepbook (for choosing textbooks, I normally check the table of contents against CB's Topic outline. Then I read amazon reviews to see which one is best. Also, it's very helpful to choose a textbook that comes with a online tutorial or complementary workbook). </p>
<p>Then a few weeks-ish before the exam, start the prepbook. As you go through the review material, cross check it with what you learned in the textbook. If it's the same, great. If not, pencil the missing info in. This really helps you make the connections to learn the material. Highlight the most important points along the way. Take all the practice tests, paying close attention to the ones you got wrong. Restudy any weak areas.</p>
<p>It sounds time-consuming. But it's just a lot of baby steps written out. GL2U!</p>
<p>I would go the opposite. Crack open those review books in September. Remember, an AP class's purpose is not to teach you the material - it's to teach you the material necessary to pass the AP exam. Particularly, what you're missing is the teacher telling you exactly what is important to know. </p>
<p>Plus, you've got no teacher to pace your way through the materal for you. Since you're behind the ball anyway you should make sure that you razor-focus in on the stuff you really need.</p>
<p>And, don't procrastinate, at all, otherwise the last 4 weeks before the exam are going to be hell. Just keep a steady, constant, intense but not so much that is stressful, amount of effort starting August/September and things will be a lot better coming May.</p>
<p>Work practice problems. Lots of them.</p>
<p>Lastly, people generally suck at self-judgement on how much they know about certain specific sub-topics and questions. Around January start keeping a big list of topics you need to work on. As you work practice problems and practice exams, note which subjects and questions you get wrong, guess on, or are just plain uncomfortable with. Add them to your list, study them a while, and take them off when you are better with them. </p>
<p>One important consequence of the above (knowing which topics you are weak at) is that since you are penalized for wrong answers, but not for blank, you should recognize which you should leave blank and which you should guess. You can leave a startling number of questions blank (sometimes up to 1/3 of the MC, on some AP exam subjects) and still get a 5 if you get all of the other questions right and do well on free response/written.</p>