<p>I made a thread that included this question yesterday, but I was disappointed in the responses, so I'll make it exclusively for this question today, because I'm becoming increasingly in love with the idea.</p>
<p>How successful have you guys been when doing the independent studies thing, especially on AP tests? And what kind of resources did you use? Did you just go throught the course description on CollegeBoard, and made sure you learned everything mentioned, or picked up a textbook and read it from cover to cover, generally learning the subject?</p>
<p>Oh, and be sure to mention which test it was you took, and the amount of difficulty you had with it (independent studies people only!). I was thinking of doing Chemistry, Computer Science, or Statistics, since regrettably none are offered at my school. The problem I'm seeing is that the first two seem like you need some hands-on stuff to work with, which might not be so easy to do out of the classroom.</p>
<p>I've self-studied C++ along with many libraries by myself (still mastering skills, C++ can never be studied in fully :) ), and Java (CS) is pretty easy from first look so there should be no problem. I'm a hardcore self-studier actually, so you might not want to take advice from me :)</p>
<p>Biology - 5 - I'd already studied like HELL for the SAT II the year before, so all it took was a quick refresher with an AP book the day before the exam.</p>
<p>Environmental Science - 4 - I tried using the Barron's book for the longest time, which SUCKED. Then I used a basic ecology textbook from my school and Environmental Science by Tyler Miller. If I hadn't used the textbooks, I wouldn't have gotten a 4. My friend used Princeton Review, I believe, and got a 5 with no course. He may have used Barron's as well, but he studied a lot more than I did.</p>
<p>Human Geography - 5 - Just read through the Barron's book and used common sense. I think I also got lucky, too, though. For example, one of the free response questions was on South Asian countries. I'm Indian, so it was a breeze for me. A sense of world affairs is essential to doing well.</p>
<p>Psychology - 3 - just use the Barron's book. Too bad I only read like 1/3 of it, haha. It was my last AP. I got lazy.</p>
<p>Statistics - 4 - the material is easy to understand if you're good at math in general, but applying it correctly take a LOT of practice. You can't learn to do this stuff right in a week. Maybe two weeks. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend self-studying Comp Sci unless if you have an expert readily available to you (like a parent or sibling or really reallly good friend who wouldn't mind helping you out a lot) to help you fix your mistakes. I mean, it's possible, as I've taught myself C, C++, and umm I think one more language (I don't remember now, it was a long time ago). But I wouldn't recommend it unless you absolutely love programming. I'd recommend Stats if you're going to start now. Chemistry is doable, but I generally think math is easier to self-study than science because it's much more structured: learn a principle, then apply it to a bunch of direct problems, then figure out how to manipulate the strategies you've learned in bigger multi-step problems.</p>
<p>Here's a short answer: I know plenty of people who do them and do well. I've done a few independent studies myself but they AP exams were not offered in the subjects I chose. Since I'm really into history I did not some unique history classes with one of my teachers. I had a good experience. You need to be motivates, enthusiastic and care about the learning part, do NOT do it just so you can rack up APs.</p>
<p>Hahaha, no, independently studying something I don't like, not likely to happen. I'd rather stick to the bare minimum classroom study for history, and there's no need to self-study English, since there's only two tests for it. I think that'd be so easy, though. Just reading, and analyzing... learning a few things here and there, writing.. I'd love that.</p>
<p>I just might try one of them, just to see how I'd do.</p>
<p>Self-studied these APs:
World History - 4
USH - 5
Euro - 5
Physics C Mech - 3
Human geo - 5
Chem - 4
Bio - 4</p>
<p>anything is possible</p>