****OFFICIAL AP Environmental Science Thread 2013-2014****

<p>This might be early, but I thought we might as well start now...
Hi fellow future-enviro-people! :)</p>

<p>I’m taking it next year! I’ve heard that it is super time consuming, is this true?</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s time consuming since I really enjoy the materials I learn. But there’s a lot of memorization though. Most people on CC think it’s easy, but I don’t think so; you gotta put your time into it. I recommend using the Princeton Review as your primary source of studying, besides, make sure you practice the released free response since collegeboard usually 'recycle" those questions.</p>

<p>Self-studying! Hopefully I can get a head start in the summer so I won’t have a mental breakdown near-May .__.</p>

<p>I’m self-studying this, too. </p>

<p>I have</p>

<p>Environmental Science- A Global Concern 11th Edition</p>

<p>Is this a good textbook? I also have 5 steps to a 5 but I will but the PR for this later.</p>

<p>I have been self studied it for 3 days straight, pretty sure I got a 5. Just get princeton review and some barrons flashcard and just read and memorizes. The test is all common sense + some fancy vocab.</p>

<p>does anybody have a schedule suggestion on how/when to start self studying for this thing? i need a 5 on this exam!!! i have unlimited review/test prep books at my disposal, any help would be much appreciated</p>

<p>IMO 5 steps isn’t a good resource, full of information not even mentioned on the test (scored a 5 this year 2013)</p>

<p>I heard Crash Course was a good book. SparkNotes and StudyIsland have all these ap tests and chapter reviews but they don’t freaking have it for AP Enviro. And that really sucks because StudyIsland really helped me with bio.</p>

<p>Self-studied last year, got a 5 using ONLY PR and did ALL released free-response questions</p>

<p>@leo0895 How long did it take you to study overall? Like, finish the book and everything because I don’t want to study too early and then forget everything.</p>

<p>@Annl233 I heard that APES is different for each school and it depends on the teacher as well. But for my school (Edison High School Huntington Beach, California) the course is not extensive as our rival school (Fountain Valley High School). And because of this, most of the kids at our school who take the class struggle and are independent learners. All in all, it just depends on how you are given the material!</p>

<p>I self-studied this last year with PR. I had decent background knowledge in ecology, but all I did was read about half of the book, do a few practice questions, and then skim through the second half because I was too busy (AKA lazy) to read it. That alone was enough to get a 5. So my advice is, study as much as you think you need to to feel comfortable with the material, but don’t overstudy or stress about it because it really is not a difficult exam.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>I know that the rigorousness of a class kind of depends on the school but i’m self-studying this, and this is my first ap so i’m kinda nervous. Also, I emailed my counselor saying that I’m planning on self-studying this course and asked him if i’d get credit for taking the ap test. I know I would, but just making sure. And he replied saying come meet me when school starts. Now i’m scared, he’ll probably try sticking me in an AP class. I have enough classes as it is, I probably shouldn’t had told him. I don’t think many people self-study in my school. Did y’all get the same treatment from your counselors when you them you were self-studying?</p>

<p>What topic are you guys on?
I’m on laws of thermodynamics in the SPs’ Guide. That is, the first page. Haha</p>

<p>So guys I’m thinking of buying a prep book now for the 2014 AP Enviro exam. I was thinking of getting Barron’s. Is that any good? Or would you guys still suggest PR?</p>

<p>Princeton Review. Barron’s if you want to make sure you get that 5 (apparently it overpreps you). I just ordered SmartyPants. AP Enviro is probably the only AP that doesn’t give summer work.</p>

<p>I had a great APES teacher last year, but in April I got myself the REA AP Environmental Science Crash Course. This was great preparation for some of the conceptual multiple choice questions and all of the FRQ questions. I highly recommend the crash course during the second semester. I ended up getting a 4 on the exam and I believe that the REA book helped refresh all of the information I had learned during the year.</p>

<p>Two quick questions:

  1. I am currently in both bio honors and chem honors. Will I be able to simultaneously self-study the content (do I need a solid understanding of bio/chem concepts before embarking on self-studying APES)?
  2. How much of a time commitment is self-studying APES? Does someone have a quantitative number in terms of hours (e.g. 30 hours)?</p>

<p>Last year in my AP Chemistry class, my teacher recommended us to take the APES test without taking the class when AP test sign-ups started. We thought she was crazy, but we did it. After the AP Chemistry test we studied general topics in class for two weeks and with no study at home I got a 4 along with almost everyone else with only a few 2’s. If you are strong in science, you shouldn’t have to put too much work into it. Chemistry and biology help to a degree but the test was mostly global warming and pollution. Good Luck!</p>

<p>after taking ap bio and ap chem, this class is SUCH a joke. but we have lab reports and projects all the time :P</p>