<p>My school isn't exactly what you would call rigorous. So, to make up for it, I've decided to self-study four APs (actually I've decided during the summer but w/e). Are the books I'm using really good? How should I go about self-teaching physics? Is physics easy? Should I even attempt it? FYI, I've read almost every thread made about the book list. I am bored, and I wanted to start a thread count XD</p>
<p>PHYSICS B
Wilson, Jerry D., and Anthony J. Buffa. College Physics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. </p>
<p>Princeton Review AP Physics B book</p>
<p>STATISTICS
Yates, Daniel S., David S. Moore, and George P. McCabe. The Practice of Statistics. New York: W.H. Freeman</p>
<p>Barrons AP Statistics book</p>
<p>ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Berg, Linda, and Peter H. Raven. Environment. New York: John Wiley & Sons. </p>
<p>Smartypants Guide to Environmental Science</p>
<p>PSYCHOLOGY
Myers, David G. Psychology. New York: Worth.</p>
<p>Barrons AP Psychology book</p>
<p>(p.s. I'm taking AP English Language, US History, and Biology in school)</p>
<p>Never heard of your physics book, but PR is way to go for physics so I hear.</p>
<p>I think we used Basic Practice of Statistics in conjunction with another stats book. But honestly, the Barron’s book is all you need for stats. That, and some caffeine pills. Even the most interesting aspects of AP stats are quite boring when you realize you can’t derive all the nice looking inference formulas.</p>
<p>Last year one of my friends self-studied stat in addition to the five or so APs he was taking in school. I think he started reading through one of the review books a few weeks before the test and got a 5. That one shouldn’t be too tough for you.</p>
<p>Simply memorize all the formulas by heart. It just takes a nice, thick textbook with diagrams and plenty of practice problems. Then you run through a prep-book.</p>
<p>Psychology should be a breeze, especially with the Myers book.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Environmental science, some say it sucks.</p>
<p>Haha, i am self-studying similar subjects to you:
Environmental Science
Psychology
AP Calc AB
AP Econ (taking course) - Macro/Micro</p>
<p>Anyways, for Environmental I am using Smartypants and REA as prep books, and Raven and Berg (i already have it) for textbook (more like a big study guide tbh)
Raven and Berg have a lot of study questions in it, with multiple choice, so I think its worth the money.
For Psychology, im using 5 steps to a 5 and thats it. I’ve heard its easy, so im going to go through the book entirely, and see where i stand on the practice exams. If more practice is needed I will probaly go out and get a textbook. </p>
<p>haha don’t worry, getting a 5 in stats is not that hard. it’s mostly memorizing equations/processes. </p>
<p>For physics, doing all of the medium level problems and using the equations is all you need for the free response. remember that kinematics, circular motion, projectile motion, static equilibrium and conservation of energy come up over and over in more unfamiliar situations, not just obvious applications. </p>
<p>Most of the MC calculation problems are fairly easy but for some conceptual questions, you have to read the textbook. I screwed myself over on one of the only abstract concepts (electric fields) I’ve encountered so far because I didn’t read.</p>
<p>All of your prep book choices are good. I would recommend you not waste your time with a psych textbook, though it may be useful for the other subjects.</p>
<p>I have the 4th edition, which i believe is outdated, but from i’ve heard the other editions are pretty similar, and i try to get my books as cheap as possible, and the older the edition the cheaper they are </p>
<p>Btw, how is the psych textbook? And is the barrons prep book really good for psych, or is it like all the other prep books. Im wondering this because cc’ers reccomended Barrons and PR for Psych, but a few said 5 steps to a 5 was also great for Psych. So let me know how you find the prep and textbooks, please =)</p>
<p>Good, because I have the forth edition also. And its not outdated really because it’s only four years old. And I get my books for cheap too using your ideology.</p>
<p>The psychology text is an extremely easy text with great pictures. But, the book is slightly wordy and its exceeds 700 pages. I don’t have the PR for AP psychology but I have Barrons and I was slightly surprised at the small size. I thought surely this couldn’t be enough. But I flipped through a few pages and saw it was a typical Barrons book: extremely crammed text on very thin paper. So I may not be using the textbook after all, which is okay because it’s my school’s book anayway :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t have any previous knowledge of calulus and wouldn’t even consider skipping physics B because I had such a poor honors physics class. But I plan on self-studying for the C tests next year anyway.</p>
<p>Be careful when picking a stats book. I’ve heard that some of the common ones actually aren’t that great, in that the authors don’t understand some of the crucial subtleties of statistics, and thus end up propogating statistical fallcies.</p>
<p>Don’t self study Physics B without a background in it.
I’ve seen many other people in my class who took the AP test and failed. Luckily, I decided to take AP Bio(junior year) and AP Chem(senior year) instead. </p>
<p>AP Stats, Environ. Sci, and Psychology should be fine. Those subjects are good for self study.</p>
<p>If you really want to self study a science, I would sugggest AP Biology. The test tests you on labs(which you can read or see through virtual labs), molecular and ecological science.</p>
<p>I’m self study AP Cal BC, while in AB, and AP Macro.</p>
<p>i disagree about not studying Physics B. If you actually read through the textbook, do the problems at the end of the chapter, and then review and take practice tests with whatever prep book, I can’t imagine anyone failing. The material can be hard at times, but it’s doable.</p>
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and wouldn’t even consider skipping physics B because I had such a poor honors physics class. But I plan on self-studying for the C tests next year anyway.</p>