Self Studying AP's

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>I have a couple general questions of self studying AP’s for next year.</p>

<li><p>So, if I study by myself with no classes and just self reading prep books and textbooks, am I allowed to take the AP test? Do I need to talk to my counselor or can I just sign up for the tests? I heard that I have to take the class online or at a college in the summer in order to take the AP exam.</p></li>
<li><p>How difficult is it to self-study AP Biology with just Honors Biology under my belt?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the best books to use for AP Macroeconomics/Microeconomics with no background knowledge?</p></li>
<li><p>Is Ethel Wood’s Comparative Government all I need for successfully getting a 5 on the AP Comparative Government exam?</p></li>
<li><p>Are prep books the only thing I need to review in order to get a 4 or an 5?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>i can only really answer number 1.
I would at least talk to your counselor about self-studying a few months in advance. The school has to find a proctor and a room especially if you’re the onyl one taking it
Some schools have rules about self-studying and will not allow it so I would def make sure before you start</p>

<p>You do not have to take a course but it will help
If you are good at not procrastinating and keeping track of your own work…a review book should be sufficient</p>

3

<ol>
<li>It depends on how in depth your honors Bio course went. For my school, I took honors Biology in 9th grade, and am currently taking Biology 2 (AP) in 11th grade. </li>
</ol>

<p>The differences are huge, as the biology 2 course goes much more in depth than the 9th grade honors class ever did. There is memorization, but for me, it felt like that you actually had to understand the concepts of the subjects and had to go into detail, not just cover the bare basics. With that in mind, there is a lot to know about the test, including labs that you should do in class. This is why I would encourage you to take a Biology class, just because you will be naturally more exposed to the material, and won’t have to study as much for the AP exam when it comes.</p>

<p>I am fairly sure that you can get a 4 or even a 5 if you self study yourself, and use a prep book (use Cliffs), but I doubt it is something you can do a month before the test as you probably will have to study for other AP tests and other classwork. There will probably be some students who did score high by just cramming the week before, but for me at least, it was probably the hardest AP test I have taken thus far (I’ve taken World History, US History, English Lang, and Psychology) just because of the wealth of information you need to know.</p>

<p>The actual AP test wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I’d like to attribute that to the actual Biology class itself. Some people just learn better through classroom interaction and discussion, and I happen to be one of them.</p>

<p>Like I said before, I still believe it is possible to self study for the exam;just make sure to start studying well in advance for the test and I truly think you can score well.</p>

<ol>
<li>This really depends on what class you are taking. For a class like Chemistry (taking it next year), I’ve heard that the books aren’t near enough to score a 3, let alone a 4 or 5. This is from students I know, so no doubt there will be different views from other students. </li>
</ol>

<p>But for a class like Psychology, where the concepts are generally simple with easy to understand language (something that Biology doesn’t really have), it is highly possible to score a 5 with just a reading through a prep book and taking a few practice tests. I’ve heard the same is true for Environmental Science.</p>

4

<ol>
<li>I took the ap biology exam this year using my honors bio knowledge. I wouldn’t say its hard, i mean my honors course went really in to detail however we didn’t go very far into photosynthesis/cell respiration. So… that was the only tough part for me though.</li>
</ol>

5

<ol>
<li><p>You can take the AP exams without online course or school course. Most schools would let you take the exams, but some schools wouldn’t let you, probably because they are afraid you might receive a low score ruining the school’s reputation. At my school, two people took AP exams that my school does not offer as classes. They signed up for the exams on March, the month when people signed up for the AP exams. However, there were complications. The school has to find a proctor, which was difficult.</p></li>
<li><p>I heard that AP Biology is a difficult course because there was much memorization. Honors Biology would help you a little bit in the course. Besides, I saw AP Bio textbook, ant it was huge (thousand pages of small font information).</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know about prep book. However, textbooks, I recommend Economics by McConnell and Brue.</p></li>
<li><p>no background in studying comparative government</p></li>
<li><p>Many self-studiers said that prep books help them achieve a 5 on their AP exams. I kind of find that hard to believe, except for Calculus and maybe Chem. I bought PR for APWH, Chem, and Calc. For APWH, the information was too general. Information for Chem was alright. Calc alright. For the three courses, textbooks provide me better knowledge than does prep books. So, if you want to study by prep book alone, I hope you do well on the exams.</p></li>
</ol>

6

<ol>
<li>I studied bio with just honors, and a semester of Bio II (not AP) out of 4. It worked out fine. I had campbell’s but I rarely looked in it. I mainly used cliffs. The honors bio book had amazing pictures. It was campbell’s “concept and connections.” You could start early, but it won’t really help you because you tend to forget things that you are pressured into memorizing. Everything I learned came from March, April, and May. Be prepared for some intense studying, and put your social life on hold. I think it worked out pretty well. I’m expecting a 5. Cliffs is the way to go! But i suggest reading your honor’s bio book for anatomy stuff because cliffs lacks illustrations.</li>
</ol>

<p>In response to #5, prep book alone is tough to go by. You have to supplement with online resources such as previous exams, teacher’s notes, practice questions, review packets (!!!), and review ppts. For bio- the labs! use scribd.com. Of the two subject I self-studied (bio and ush) I had over 10 websites for each. In the end my strategy was to do as many questions as I could, but those websites were good references.</p>

7

<p>Some prep books can get you by. For Biology, Cliffnotes is really good, it has all the information you need to get a 5, but it’s all about how much time you put into knowing everything.</p>