Official 2011 AP Self Study Thread

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>Yeah it might be a little early yet before we start cramming for AP Self Study's, but I was just wondering what you guys (and girls) are all self studying for May 2011?</p>

<p>I'm thinking for sure:
AP EVS
AP Psych
APUSH</p>

<p>Not sure about:
AP Micro/AP Macro (how much time would it require to self study and get a 5?)</p>

<p>I know there have been threads in the past about this, but I was thinking if we could share our advice on exams we've already self studied (best prep books, how tough the exam was, how much you studied, etc.) that would be great! Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>What are the 5 easiest to self-study?</p>

3

<p>5 Easiest:

  1. AP Human Geography (Read Barron’s a week before exam and you’ll get a 5)
  2. AP Environmental Science
  3. AP Psychology</p>

<p>The last two sort of depend on what subjects you excel in. If you excel in math and are taking AP Calc AB, you could self study BC topics and take the BC Exam (43% got 5’s in 2009 on the BC exam). If your native language isn’t English, you could take that AP exam. If you are a strong music student, then AP Music Theory wouldn’t be too hard.</p>

<p>For example, a kid at my school (who doesn’t have a clue about AP courses and in general isn’t a very good student) was able to answer about 80% of the AP World History questions in my prep book correctly because he’s a history whiz. He could have taken the exam without looking at a book once and gotten a 5. Take a look at some practice AP questions on the College Board website to see if there is any AP exam that “clicks” for you or looks like it would be manageable to study.</p>

4

<p>I’m self-studying Micro.</p>

<p>Well, I intend to…but I’m procrastinating, as usual :wink: </p>

<p>How do you go about self-studying? So far, I’m reading the PR review book, looking at CollegeBoard released questions, and reviewing random AP Micro material that I find online. Unfortunately I’m not sure how accurate the last method is.</p>

5

<p>So far I’ve only self-studied AP HUGE and I guess you could say AP World (took an online class for it, but it didn’t completely prepare me for the exam). For both of those, I’d taken a few glimpses at the prep book throughout the year, but didn’t start actually somewhat studying until April. Then once it gets to late April, it’s cram time. I also find it useful to see other school’s class websites for the class you’re self studying. You can see what they’re practicing and also find links to notes and other info.</p>

<p>This year is going to be a whole different ball game though with up to 5 self studies. (I realize this isn’t a lot for most people on CC, but it’s making me nervous.)</p>

6

<p>I’m self-studying U.S. Government and Politics and Comparative Government and Politics :D</p>

7

<p>You guys are going to think I’m ■■■■■■■■, but I’m not, I swear.</p>

<p>I’m self-studying AP Computer Science and AP Physics C: Mechanics.</p>

<p>I learned to program over the summer, so for AP CS, I’m just working on getting used to the exam.</p>

<p>For AP Physics, my school denied my request for an independent study course, so to prove that I’m not too stupid for this, I’m doing the first half of AP Physics C. I started when school started, and I’ll be done with the material by the end of January–from there I can just review.</p>

<p>The reason I’m doing this is because my school doesn’t offer the sorts of classes I’d be interested in (it’s an all-girls school), and I don’t have the money for online classes, so I have to teach myself…</p>

<p>Since I’m going into engineering, even if I retake the classes, I’ll at least have been exposed to this sort of material, and I’ll have the AP score to prove it.</p>

8

<p>I am going to half self study for Latin. I have alotttt to go</p>

9

<p>I’m self studying AP Bio, AP Micro, AP Enviro, AP Psych and AP US Gov.
Eventually, I’ll stop procrastinating. :)</p>

10

<p>I’m trying to self study : Envir. Sci., Human Geo, Macro, Micro, and MAYBE Comp Sci. A</p>

<p>do you recommend any really good prep books for Comp Sci A? I plan to use a prep book and get tutored by a friend who already took it, and got a 5, do you think that is good enough?</p>

11

<p>I’ve heard that the best prep book for AP Comp Sci is Barron’s. Also, you can go on the College Board website to get past free response questions.</p>

12

<p>thanks! also any suggestions if self studying for Stats is possible? or would one have to take the course?</p>

13

<p>I self-studied for 12 AP exams last year. The easiest was probably human geography, with the hardest being ap physics (which I received a 2 on). I took the statistics class, and received a 5 on the test–basically teaching myself. Depends on your other committments, but ap stat is definitely workable. Congrats to all of those that self-study computer science and languages!</p>

14

<p>Human Geo! I think. No one has ever self studied at my school.</p>

15

<p>no one at my school has even heard of the term “self study” :D</p>

16

<p>^^
How do you self study for 12 exams and have 5-7 school classes?</p>

<p>I plan to self-study both Physics C’s(simple since I’m taking Physics B and got a 5 in Calc BC) and maybe AP Euro and World.</p>

17

<p>I’m self-studying Human Geography and Comparative Government this year. I was originally just doing Human Geography, but them I realized what the AP test was like…</p>

<p>One more would give me eight AP tests by the end of this year (junior), but I can’t pick one I actually care about enough to learn. (Environmental Science and Psychology seem so boring)</p>

18

<p>^
I’m also taking 8 exams this year(Bio, 3 Physics, Eng Lang, 3 Histories)</p>

19

<p>^ That’s a lot of exams.</p>

20

<p>^
I changed my mind; now I’m taking 9(in order to lessen my load next year and beat the person from my school who once took 8 exams).</p>