<p>I'm planning to take the AP Music Theory exam this year, even though I didn't take the class.</p>
<p>I've played the piano for 10 years and the violin for 8 years.</p>
<p>I know how to read music well, I'm decent at sight-singing/sight-reading, and I compose my own music sometimes.</p>
<p>If I get a good prep book now, could I get a 5 on the exam in May?</p>
<p>Have you ever learned music theory? I think you have, otherwise how could you compose.</p>
<p>I have learned music theory, but from my private piano teacher, not from a class in school or anything.</p>
<p>Kinda late to say anything, but the Barron’s book helps a lot. Also, if you happen to have either perfect pitch or relative pitch, you can expect to at least pass the exam with a 3 no matter what, as enough of the multiple choice and frq’s are aurally based. But without any aids, it will likely not be an easy test.</p>
<p>The test is split about 50-50 between aural and non-aural. As the above poster said, perfect pitch makes the aural half a lot simpler. For me, the aural dictations and sight-singing were guaranteed points because all I had to do was write down/sing the notes that I could already hear in my head anyway.</p>
<p>The other half, on the other hand, requires some pretty in-depth theory knowledge. I definitely didn’t study hard enough (I self-studied this last year) for the harmonizations/chord progressions and such and the second half of the FRQ was difficult; I was going off of whatever musical intuition I’d developed over the past decade instead of actual theory rules.</p>
<p>Also, it really helps to be familiar with orchestral instruments. And don’t limit yourself to classical music; there was a listening MC section based on an excerpt from a K-Pop song last year, I remember.</p>
<p>I’d think it’d be kind of hard to self study music theory</p>
<p>Still can’t technically talk about it, but I’ll just say, having perfect pitch helped a lot today. Also, multiple choice questions are reused a lot, judging by 314159265’s response above (nice name 
). And yes, if you want to do well on the second half of the FRQ’s, studying is an absolute must.</p>
<p>Okay, guys, thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>I decided to wait until next year to take it. I wouldn’t mind getting a 3 without studying, but I’d rather take my time to study some extra material to get a 4 or a 5.</p>
<p>I was just listening to the first FRQ for this year’s music theory. Now that’s a doozy. 6/8 time and it’s going pretty fast.</p>