Self-studying for AP Subject Tests: effective?

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<p>I will be a sophomore in high school next year. My courseload currently consists of AP Statistics, AP American History, AP Biology, Honors Pre-Calculus, Honors English 2, and Spanish 4. </p>

<p>I have crammed in every possible AP course my school offers into my four year schedule (Except AP Art History and AP Music Theory because I'm not considering art or music as a future college major.) But I know my junior and senior year I will be extremely busy (My school goes by trimesters, and I will be taking at least 4 AP each tri!) so I won't have as much time to self-study. I also have the actual SAT/ACTs to study for then on top of volunteering, violin, and dance intensives.</p>

<p>Thus, I figured that if I was going to grab the chance to self-study and test out, it better be next year. I did consider self-studying this summer, but I took (and I'm not done yet) Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry online via Northwestern's GLL program. On top of that I'm testing out of Spanish 3, taking a required course for graduation at summer school, and I need to make it into my local Youth Orchestra as well as get into the company at my dance academy. So I didn't have time.</p>

<p>But I'm not sure how much time I need, actually. My high school doesn't offer many AP classes like AP Environmental Science, AP Human Geography, AP World History, AP Micro/Macro, and the AP languages minus Spanish, French, and Mandarin. I'm considering self-studying for AP Environmental, AP World, and AP HG, but I'm not sure how effective that will be. How much time should I devote weekly to studying? What books should I purchase (Looking into the Princeton Review and those "AP ___ Crash Course" books)? Can I even expect a 5?</p>

<p>I know that Northwestern's online program does offer all three of those classes, but I don't think I can handle them on top of my workload, and the price makes me wince just thinking about it. So my heart is set on trying out self-studying.</p>

<p>To summarize that awkwardly lengthy post: I'd love to know how much time and effort I should devote to self-studying those three AP classes in order to score a 4, or even better, a 5.</p>

<p>I apologize if someone has already posted something similar, I'm new to the site and still trying to figure everything out.</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>Yeah, that’s a lot of AP’s. Also note that you’ll be taking ~4 AP’s per trimester (at most 12 in one year?), and the AP exams are offered only during May, so you might find yourself cramming a bit.</p>

<p>I know people who have self-studied AP’s and gotten 5’s on them, but it takes a lot of work if you’re not “naturally” good at it, or not interested in the subject.</p>

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<p>What is your motivation to take so many APs? I think it would be preferable to take APs in your stronger subjects that your school offers or that you have specific reasons for wanting to take (e.g. relevant to your future major). Then put your extra time toward volunteering, ECs, and SAT/ACT studying.</p>

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<p>My high school is very competitive and I am ranked in the top three, so I suppose I want to show that I belong up there. Also, I plan to apply to very selective colleges and I want to stand out: sure, I do a bunch of helping-others clubs, but so do many other applicants. And I dance and play violin well, but of course that’s not going to be a big deciding factor.</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in Biology or Biochemistry and minoring in English or Creative Writing. I’m sure of a science major because I want to become a hepatologist, and I want to minor in the writing/English field because I love reading and writing.</p>

<p>I think I’m a good studier in general, I don’t mind memorizing things or anything like that.</p>

<p>If I take many AP Subject tests and score well, will that improve my chances in getting into a good school, or will it look like I’m spreading myself too thin and taking them just for the sake of taking them? :/</p>

<p>Thanks for all your responses.</p>

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<p>Way too thin. AP World history isn’t something to be self studied. It is possible, but it is a huge time drain.</p>

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<p>What do you mean by “huge time drain”? A lot of material to memorize? A waste of my time? Both? I actually thought that would be the easiest since history is pure memorization to me. :/</p>

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<p>It’s just a lot to memorize. I don’t think colleges will be that impressed with like 20 APs. I feel that you will probably become burned out. I really recommend APs for your strongest subjects relevant to your future major, and honors in other areas. Your rank should stay good if you aren’t spreading yourself too thin. SAT/ACT scores are important, too. Get involved in volunteer work or an EC. You’re just starting sophomore year so take this one year at a time, don’t have all your focus be on lots and lots of APs.</p>

<p>And regarding AP World, I go to an IB school and tried to study for the AP being in a similar honors class. I worked really hard and got a 2, tried again this year and got a 3. It’s just lots of content to be able to memorize and be able to categorize and connect. You need to generalize AND know specific details. It’s do-able but stressful, and time consuming. Not a waste of time necessarily, but in my opinion not really worth it if you have other courses and goals you could be working on.</p>

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<p>FYI, very few, if any, colleges use AP scores in their admissions selection process. AP scores are intended for getting credit and/or placing out of classes once you are already admitted. Your GPA is much more important for admission purposes, so make sure that cramming in all these AP classes and self-studying doesn’t compromise that. Obviously if your school’s GPA’s are weighted you will want to take that into account when choosing classes, but self-studying for tests really is useful only for credit.</p>

<p>Keep in mind also that the number of credits you can earn from AP testing is limited at most colleges, particularly at top schools. I don’t see any way you would be able to get credit for as many AP’s as you are contemplating.</p>

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<p>I do need more volunteering, freshman year I was mostly focusing on violin and ballet so I could make it into the respective orchestra/company. I have 25 hours as of now, I need a minimum of thirty since I’m applying to National Honor Society this coming March but I’m aiming for 80+. I plan on volunteering at two local hospitals, do you think that will be better than devoting time to self-studying? I was going to do library volunteering this summer but my mom says everyone does that and it just seems like filler hours. I’m also thinking of an internship sometime in the future.</p>

<p>When it comes to ECs, do you think violin and dance (mainly ballet – I’m not a fan of other styles) are spectacular enough? I’m not sure exactly what impresses an admissions officer; I do have some leadership and awards under my belt, but…perhaps that will be for a different thread. But do you recommend pursuing another EC (Hehe, random thought: crew? It is an Ivy sport!), picking up something I quit (swimming perhaps – my school’s swim team doesn’t distinguish between junior varsity or varsity, so that may be a plus on an app…), or something else?</p>

<p>And AP World – did you even find the content interesting and/or useful? If the self-studying option is out, I could fork over another $900 to Northwestern and take that class, if it’d further embellish my college apps.</p>

<p>Lastly, and sorry for all the questions, do you think too many AP scores is a bad idea? I just reviewed my four year schedule and I’m planning to take (and take tests for): APUSH, AP Stats, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Calc BC, AP Euro, AP Spanish, AP Physics C, AP Psych, AP Lang & Comp, AP Lit & Comp, and AP Govt & Politics. Could that give colleges more of a negative impression than a positive one?</p>

<p>Thanks for your opinion (and everyone else’s) by the way, it’s been very insightful as well as valuable! Anybody else, please feel free to reply!</p>

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<p>Lisa6191 – sorry for not acknowledging you, I didn’t see your comment until I posted mine!</p>

<p>I don’t plan on using my AP credits to get me out of college apps, I just thought it would make me look more hardworking and well-rounded if I submitted all those scores to them. However, you’re right; I do need to keep my GPA up. Classes are weighted, each trimester you take an AP/Honors class you get 0.03 added to your GPA.</p>

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<p>Look up the colleges you are considering to see what APs are actually worth something in terms of subject credit. Many of the “easier to self study” APs are not worth any subject credit at many colleges (they may be called “AP lites”).</p>

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<p>^ This, not to mention that you said you’re looking at many top schools. Most top schools (like Ivies) only offer credit for a select few AP classes like Physics C or Calc BC. Some don’t even accept credits at all, I’m pretty sure.</p>

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<p>Yeah, you should definitely look at which AP’s are accepted by which colleges. For example, MIT accepts only 5’s in most AP’s, except for Calc BC, which they take 4’s and 5’s.</p>

<p>And then the funny thing is, I took two AP’s last year (Stats and Chem), mostly because I had to take a chemistry course to graduate, and I had already finished Calc AB/BC and was already taking multi-variable. But MIT doesn’t accept either of those AP’s. Also my HS required me to take the AP exams for courses I was in. So I basically skipped all the AP prep and got 5 on Stats, 3 on Chem and it doesn’t mean a thing.</p>

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<p>Harvey Mudd and Caltech do not grant any subject credit for APs, although they do want students to have calculus in high school before starting in their “freshman calculus” courses that are more like real analysis. They do have their own placement tests (presumably more difficult than AP tests) for new freshmen to place into more advanced courses than the usual ones.</p>

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<p>“I plan on volunteering at two local hospitals, do you think that will be better than devoting time to self-studying? I was going to do library volunteering this summer but my mom says everyone does that and it just seems like filler hours.”</p>

<p>Volunteering is GREAT, especially if it’s relevant to what you want to do. I would focus less on collecting hours and instead on doing things you really want to. I’ve volunteered at the library the past several summers and loved it. I think if your volunteering or EC has depth and you really enjoy it, it is fine.</p>

<p>“When it comes to ECs, do you think violin and dance (mainly ballet – I’m not a fan of other styles) are spectacular enough?”</p>

<p>If you do something for a long period of time, that is impressive. Also, if you are passionate about something somewhat unique (like ballet) it can make for an interesting essay.</p>

<p>“But do you recommend pursuing another EC (Hehe, random thought: crew? It is an Ivy sport!), picking up something I quit (swimming perhaps – my school’s swim team doesn’t distinguish between junior varsity or varsity, so that may be a plus on an app…), or something else?”</p>

<p>If you are spending lots of time studying, volunteering, doing ECs, etc. I would not recommend tacking on a random sport unless it is something you really enjoy. You will be overwhelmed and may seem spread thin. It is best to focus on your volunteering, a few clubs, and other interests, and spend a lot of time on them and have leadership positions, as opposed to being members of many, many teams.</p>

<p>“And AP World – did you even find the content interesting and/or useful? If the self-studying option is out, I could fork over another $900 to Northwestern and take that class, if it’d further embellish my college apps.”</p>

<p>I’m personally not a history person so I did not enjoy it very much. I think it’s good to have a nice overview of world history to apply to other classes but in my opinion the information wasn’t very important or universally applicable and I have forgotten almost everything. If you really love world history, you will do fine, either self-studying or taking a course somewhere. Maybe look for a summer program, so you can go more in-depth and focus on it when you do not have other responsibilities.</p>

<p>“Lastly, and sorry for all the questions, do you think too many AP scores is a bad idea? I just reviewed my four year schedule and I’m planning to take (and take tests for): APUSH, AP Stats, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Calc BC, AP Euro, AP Spanish, AP Physics C, AP Psych, AP Lang & Comp, AP Lit & Comp, and AP Govt & Politics. Could that give colleges more of a negative impression than a positive one?”</p>

<p>I don’t think it will give a bad impression unless you do really badly on them. I just don’t think AP scores are as much a consideration as SAT/ACT scores, SAT IIs, GPA, class rank, ECs, recs, etc. So if those things will suffer because of your courseload I would be wary.</p>

<p>Let me know if you have any other questions! I am not really sure about the specifics of AP courses that much because I go to an IB school but I can help you with other things.</p>

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<p>Please don’t take this the wrong way, but as a parent this thread is actually making me kind of sad. Whatever happened to being a teenager, enjoying high school and participating in activities that are actually meaningful to you? Of course it is important to work hard and be involved, but the amount of cramming in of classes and activities that you are describing sounds to me like a recipe for unhappiness and ultimately burnout. Crafting your entire high school experience based solely on how it will look on a college application is not only exhausting but is also generally ineffective. Ad coms at top schools are more than able to discern who is building a resume and who really feels passionate about what they are doing. The fact is that the VAST majority of applications at top schools will have as many or more activities than are being described here, and it won’t make one bit of difference. Colleges today are much more impressed with depth of involvement in a few meaningful activities than they are with a laundry list of every activity that is supposedly impressive on an application. </p>

<p>Do you actually enjoy any of the activities you are describing? If so, I would focus on becoming more involved with those activities. Don’t worry about whether your EC’s are “spectacular” enough, worry about whether you actually want to be involved with them at all! If you are happy and passionate about what you are doing, this will show in your applications and essays when the time comes. Conversely, if you are completely overwhelmed and burned out, that will come across as well. </p>

<p>You have gotten some good advice on this thread, but it is up to you what you do with it. I hope you can take a step back and really evaluate what you are doing and why. Good luck.</p>

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<p>i self studied and got 3 on the one i studied=( which ap’s do stanford and UC berkely acce[t for credit?</p>

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<p>Missmbv – Thank you for all your advice and patience. I will definitely follow it and involve myself in more volunteering opportunities throughout the rest of my high school career.</p>

<p>Lisa6191 – I’m sorry you feel that way, I just want to push myself the hardest while I still can. There’s only one shot at Harvard (and many other top colleges.) I feel like I do have some meaningful ECs like violin and dance, so I’m not completely about academics. But thank you for your opinions and advice too, I’ll consider them.</p>

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<p>I am still open to new opinions, advice, and experiences if anyone would like to share!</p>

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<p>Kids tend to think self-studying for APs makes them look smart and motivated. Ime, adcoms know you miss the classroom interaction and practice in research and analysis. And a grade.</p>

<p>You need to pump up your community service for any top school that reviews holistically. Something where you roll up your sleeves, serve the needy and commit, over the next 2.5 years. I always say: what you do to further your own interests, what you do for your group (hs clubs, church or culture,) and what you do for your community.</p>

<p>General work at a hospital can be good, but research or lab work is better (even lab work where you are the grunt, cleaning test tubes, is a start.) </p>

<p>Your dance and music commitments are good; now you need serious balance. Try looking at MITChris’s posts.</p>