Potential State AP Scholar?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
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<p>Haha if I hadn’t just finished reading American Gods I would not be up right now. </p>

<p>Interesting plan: it’s better than mine, which was concocted sometime during June 2010. I figured I could learn more APs than the ones I was studying to prep for junior year (because of SMOB) so I figured I go for 16-18 and try to get State Scholar. </p>

<p>You could nab it with 18-20. If you have the time you could just study the Physics B material during junior year as well because it’s not as in-depth as C, and you learn part of the Thermodynamics unit before AP month. So you’ll only have Fluids, Optics, Waves, and Nuclear to self-study I think. </p>

<p>Sounds like a good plan overall! I’d suggest doing Art History because some say it’s pretty easy. I took Comp Gov this year too. For all my exams the only thing that was really necessary was the AP prep book. For Comp Gov you’ll just need to read Ethel Woods’ guide. Human Geo and Psych of course should be easy, and as I said earlier if you can pull As in Quinn you’ll 5 Lit and Lang no problem. </p>

<p>In terms of Comp Sci, I heard the class/exam is a joke if you know Java. I’ve always wanted to learn it as well, but it’s too late for me for Siemens, hahaha. Good luck on that! You’ll need Comp Sci for the award. Since so many people can 5 all the exams I think part of the competition is also essays and other stuff. But for Siemens is it only juniors? I imagine that seniors wouldn’t be able to participate because scores would come out two months before college starts. I wouldn’t know. </p>

<p>World wasn’t bad to self-study this year. I had Hines and we covered a lot of Africa, Asia, and early man. Probably about 10% of World. Then Euro was another 20%. It’s a lot of memorization of trends and basically you have to understand how society developed around the world and what the culture was like, not just memorize dates. I only read Princeton Review and Barron’s for World but managed to 5 it, so it’s possible. </p>

<p>If you plan on doing any self-studying, be sure to budget your time. Each course takes about 10-20 hours minimum if you want to read and fully understand the content (I bought notebooks and took about 30-50 pages of notes on each review book; though I never ended up reviewing my notes, they helped me remember it the first time around). I also ended up doing cursory review of every subject the night before, hahaha. Procrastinated too much, for sure. There was a period from about October to January where I did virtually no studying -.-, and then I had to take the SATs. So I never actually took practice tests/quizzes for any exam either except BC and World, which was sort of bad. Oh, and spend more time on E&M because there are more parts not covered by IB than in Mechanics. </p>

<p>I hope I’m covering everything. Oh, IB Bio isn’t sufficient for the AP. Memorize Cliffs. Hahaha. </p>

<p>YEAH. So, in the end you can have 20 by junior year’s end and you’ll probably get it. I had 20, two years ago Tim had 22, some other guy once also had 18. Try not to get a 2 on E&M, hahaha. Or you’ll end up canceling it like me. </p>

<p>Time to sleep. Back to writing a paper on induced pluripotent stem cells in 6-7 hours.</p>

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<p>TheRealFake, Siemens breaks the ties by looking at your raw scores.</p>

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<p>Just read the website. Hahaha, I didn’t know that! Cool award, but it’d be insanely hard to get the highest composite scores in all of those exams.</p>

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<p>I’ve heard of people getting seimens with 5-7 (darn those small states >_>). If I can pull 5’s on all 8 and no other girls in MD do it…then I could get it. From browsing on cc, it seems like it is more competitive for males, but that could be a skewed view. I think the main challenge is taking them all by the end of Junior year because Senior exams don’t count (I’m sure lots of seniors can get 5x8…but it’s challenging to fit in all those courses by junior year). Near perfect comp scores are most important for the national award which I’m sure I won’t get anyway…so I wouldn’t bother xD.</p>

<p>Yeah, I figured self studying is time intensive…I’m sure I’ll procrastinate XD As long as I take notes over the summer/first semester and then review…it should be okay. The only things I’m worried about are the econ’s…I might get a textbook for those, just in case. </p>

<p>Thanks a lot for all the advice! It is very much appreciated:)</p>

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<p>Siemens would be easier for females, hahaha. It’s like females applying to MIT. :P</p>

<p>Since people consider Comp. and Enviro the easiest you’re probably right, you’d need perfects on those. This is a harder award than I thought it was. To factor in composite scores means you actually need to know everything on the test instead of acing the MC and BSing the free response, which is what I did for all my tests xD</p>

<p>Make a schedule! I made a schedule. I love schedules!</p>

<p>For Econ I used 5 Steps to a 5 and Princeton Review. If you want a textbook, ask Vicari – he was nice and let me borrow the book his IB/AP mixed class used this year. I also ordered a used copy of the Mankiw textbook from Amazon. I actually have used textbooks for all my courses, even Human Geo. It’s a shame I haven’t cracked open half of them, hahaha. What a waste of money due to procrastination.</p>

<p>Looking at the AP Exam Score Distributions from 2009 in Maryland, the mean score for all exams is less than 4. Except Chinese, which has a mean of 4.73. Funnily enough, Human Geography and Environmental Science have the lowest means of 2.53 and 2.57.</p>

<p>On a separate note, I really hope I get invited to the MoCo AP Report Press Release. That’d be pretty cool.</p>

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<p>Well, as far as I know, comps are only necessary with ties…so hopefully there won’t be one :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I’ll make one…tomorrow…no seriously. I will. I kind of have to now, since apparently I’ll be teaching this little Korean girl English and I have to think of some sort of curriculum…I might as well have a schedule-making day and plan out the AP’s as well. The thing I like most about schedules is the satisfaction you get when you do something and you get to cross it off :D</p>

<p>I have so many amazon windows open with textbooks…it’s ridiculous. The used ones are really cheap and it’s so hard to resist buying all of them even when you know you’ll probably just end up using the prep books. Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have a credit card XD</p>

<p>Those means are rather sad :confused: but I guess it makes sense when you think about it…it’s just not what you’d expect.</p>

<p>That <em>would</em> be pretty cool.</p>

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<p>Wait, don’t you have to take all 8 exams to even qualify?</p>

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<p>Yeah, you need to take all 8. And the likelihood of someone taking all 8 in Maryland is pretty high, even if you’re a female. So I’d try my best on those 8 exams. Compared to the other ones you’ve listed, Physics C is pretty hard (in my opinion). Then again, I’m better at humanities.</p>

<p>I first started majorly using CC for the consolidated list of prep books, hahaha. And then I also looked around for textbooks for each course. But if you don’t have much time, don’t bother with a textbook. The prep books were definitely sufficient for 5s on every exam I took. You could ask around for old released exams that you could use to practice (teachers pull them out in March/April). </p>

<p>The mean scores for Human Geo and Enviro are lowest because the kind of person that typically takes the class in school is not the kind of person you’d expect to spend too much time studying for the AP exam. On top of that, Human Geo is typically a freshman social studies class, and many freshmen who’ve never taken APs will do poorly because of their lack of experience/preparation.</p>

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<p>“The Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement are awarded each year to students with the greatest number of scores of 5 on eight AP math and science exams.”</p>

<p>^From the website</p>

<p>So you don’t HAVE to take all 8. The minimum is actually 3 fives…that’s why some states occasionally don’t have both a male and a female (rather depressing actually). But in MD you definitely need high 5’s (lol).</p>

<p>Link: [Siemens</a> Awards & Programs](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/k-12/awards/siemens-ap]Siemens”>AP Awards & Recognitions – AP Students | College Board)</p>

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<p>Jesus, I forgot I had started this thread…well, I got my scores back this year: 5 on Bio(s)/US Hist/US Gov(s), 4 on Enviro(s, ?? No idea how that happened).</p>

<p>I’ll take it, though; total of 3 weeks prep for Bio, 3 hours for US Gov, 1 hour for Enviro, and 0 hours for US History. I was busy working on a proposal for a competition…to put an experiment in space! That’s an exclamation point because my team’s proposal (which I wrote a LOT of) won, our experiment launched on Atlantis :D!</p>

<p>Anyway, updated plan:</p>

<p>J:
Comp Sci A, Physics B, Psychics C: E&M(s), Physics C: M(s), Lang, Calc AB(s), World, Comp Gov(s), Euro(s), Human Geo (s), Chemistry(s)</p>

<p>S:
Calc BC(s), Stats, Psych, Lit, Art History, micro, macro. </p>

<p>Total: 22, self: 10</p>

<p>Now, that would put me at 15 APs at the end of Junior year. I could, possibly, move Micro/Macro/Art History/Psych/maybe even Stats to Jr year, which would put me at 19-20 at the end of Jr year. </p>

<p>Someone said earlier that the award is given after Jr year, if that’s so I am definitely going to move those APs down to Jr year. If not, though, is it worth it to move them up? </p>

<p>Oh, and if I move them up I could learn a foreign language my Sr year, which would put me at 23 total, and I could add in a Studio Art 2D/3D/Drawing class, which would put me at 24+. Thoughts?</p>

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<p>Good job getting something into space! :smiley: You can get State AP Scholar as a senior too, but it won’t help for college. </p>

<p>I’m a rising senior and I just got the male State AP Scholar award for Maryland this year. I got it with 20 exams with an average score of 4.5. I decided to go for the award last year and took 18 exams this year with 16 self studied because I’m in the IB program. It’s completely doable depending on how much time you want to spend taking APs in junior year. I also took the SATs (first and only time, thankfully) and had other ECAs that required 15-30 hours per week. From what I see, you plan on doing 16, which shouldn’t be too hard. In my opinion, Macro/Micro, Stat, and E&M were the hardest to self-study with no background knowledge. It may be different for you, though. </p>

<p>In my opinion, you probably don’t need to hit 24 APs if your only purpose is the award. According to the College Board, <5 people had 24 exams in 2010, and that was the maximum anyone had (though I’m sure some CCers may beg to differ). The 2009 male State AP Scholar in MD had 22, and one before him had 18. It varies, but 22 should be sufficient. Even 20 was good enough for me for me. I’m not taking any more AP exams during senior year except my 4 IB HLs. </p>

<p>Out of curiosity, which county do you attend school? I’d guess MoCo.</p>

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<p>Charles County, haha. I go to Lackey High School - ranked 173/240 in MD for test scores. Ghettoist school in the County. Betcha didn’t that, huh :P</p>

<p>Really, though, 16 seems to be the most I can do next year, unless I want to self study got AP Lit/a foreign language/Art/Music, which I can’t/won’t do well. That’s probably what I’m going to end up doing, 16 that is. </p>

<p>Congrats on State AP, I hope I’ll be able to get it with 20, too. I’m planning on taking the SAT once or twice (2280 no studying ATM), the PSAT, 7 SAT IIs to go with my APs, and maybe try for Semi-Finalist for USABI. I do a lot of clubs, but most of the time commitment for them is fulfilled during school hours. I can only hope I can manage my time well enough to be able to still do the Duke of Edinburgh Award and swim competitively; hell, I might even still be able to keep doing competitive gaming.</p>

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<p>No point to “State Scholar.” The award comes after you have already started college, so not even a data point on college aps. It is a piece of paper, ie no money etc. My student didn’t even know what it was when it came. Just take the AP’s you’re interested in.<br>
At some point it becomes self defeating… ie colleges assume you can’t talk; all you’ve done is study.</p>

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<p>^I earned State Scholar and I’m currently a rising senior. I’m also an elected public official, so I doubt colleges will assume I have poor speaking skills.</p>

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<p>I’m a good enough speaker to become the vice-president of my class, President of my school’s Key Club for two years in a row, the Captain position on my school’s programming competition team, and place my Effective Communications MESA Team first regionals for two years in a row. Plus, the interview is for seeing if I’m devoid of a personality (which I’m not). </p>

<p>Please don’t automatically assume that just because someone is planning on pushing themselves to try and find their limit that they will sacrifice a social life, which is what your post seemed to be stating (at least to me). You seem as if you’d be one of those who would say “What’s the point of taking that many? There isn’t a difference between X and X-5!” I’m sorry, but I really don’t see it that way. As I said earlier, I’m trying to find my limits and improving my college application is just a bonus. If I can improve it significantly, then I’ll go ahead and push myself past what I’ve planned. I am ready, willing, and able to do this many, so PLEASE don’t try to demean my course of action, which is what you did, even if you weren’t trying to.</p>

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<p>It’s CC. Everyone has an impressive resume, and each kid takes more APs than the next. We accept it and respect each other because that’s our culture.</p>

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<p>^Exactly. </p>

<p>Oh, and since you had 20 at the end of your Jr year, I’m going to add Lit and hit 21 :wink: (you’re still in the running for it with 20, I don’t want to take any chances. Hopefully you don’t decide to change your mind and take another 10!)</p>

<p>My ultimate goal is 24 or 25. I want to set a record nobody in my school can ever hope to match. High achievers come into my school, “Yeah I’ll take 8, man I’m aiming so high, HOLY HSIT!” <- That’s the kind of record I want to leave behind.</p>

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<p>Admirable! In that case I feel I should specify, I actually have 21 exams, but one of them is a 2 which I’m thinking about cancelling. Just in case it made a difference in your plans. I probably don’t plan on taking any more during senior year, though I originally wanted to do Latin, Japanese, Physics B, Comp Sci, and Art History. Hahaha, I guess it lost its appeal after the award, although I’d still love to learn it. </p>

<p>I’ve already set the record for one year at my school and I think that’s good enough. (: If you do get 25 you might have the most exams ever. On a College Board document regarding 2007-2010 exam data, they said that the most exams students had were 24 total - and even then only around 4 kids had that many.</p>

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<p>^That would be amazing. I’d love to hold a record like that!</p>

<p>I’d advise canceling the two, just because it’s a score of “Unqualified”, which you don’t want on ANY test. That’s just my two cents, though. </p>

<p>And you said you were in an IB course of studies, right? How does that work? I’ve heard something about an IB Diploma, are you working toward that? I can only hope you don’t take the tests, but I can’t really stop you. </p>

<p>Oh, and one last question (for this post): What school do you go to in MoCo?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice! Turns out my school sends a letter to colleges “proving” you’re an IB Diploma candidate. Except they also include all of your AP/IB scores on the letter, so I’d probably be better off cancelling it.</p>

<p>I go to RM in MoCo. We used to be ranked number one in the county because of our IB program, where kids would take a disproportionate amount of APs and IBs. Haha, rest assured I won’t be taking any more AP exams. I’m taking 4 IB HLs this year anyways, and I’ve got other things on my plate. (: Good luck and go for it!</p>